Hoop Houses -Plus and Minuses

[Beekissed]

You know? I'd love to! I had a great deal of fun building this hoop house and putting in little touches to the design that I liked and watching it rise from the ground to form this chicken hut after seeing all the materials lying flat, just a little bit of nothing....that rose to form something substantial and a great shelter~when I got done I was thinking, "I could live in this!". It was kinda cool.

From this.....



.....to this in 10 days of fun and creative construction... I loved it! Not often you get to see results that quickly on a one man construction project.

 

[yinepu]

When we brought ours home they bent them double like they did yours.. but laid them down on edge in the bed of the truck.. lol.. so ours didn't stick up nearly as high as your did!

Anyone ever tried using a cut off disc on an angle grinder to cut those cattle panels?

It's my was my favorite power tool....works lickity split on the 14ga fending and 3/4" EMT conduit.....while building my run this fall.

My husband used a rotary cutter to cut ours.. worked great

 

[Beekissed]

When we brought ours home they bent them double like they did yours.. but laid them down on edge in the bed of the truck.. lol.. so ours didn't stick up nearly as high as your did!


My husband used a rotary cutter to cut ours.. worked great

I would have preferred that to this way, much less movement of the panels as one is driving~we had to ratchet strap these down to decrease that bounce...as it was, Mama was afraid her truck was going to get scratched, so I was lucky to even persuade her to haul them for me.

 

[yogifink]

Quote:
The panels are 16' sections, so its not the panel size, its the width of the run, that determined the heigth of the hoop. Mine is a bit under 9 feet wide, leaving almost 6 feet of standing room in the center. BeeKissed, that picture of your panels in the back of your truck had me rolling, and they thought I was crazy when I tossed a wheel barrow on top of my old SUV to get it home, lol! My pickup has an 8 foot bed, so I brought some longer lumber (like 10 foot) and a cinder block or two, laid the lumber down with the panels on top and then the bricks (towards the front of the bed) to weight things down. Tail gate up.

 

[Beekissed]

We haul a lot of ungainly loads in our trucks around here...sometimes I feel like the Clampett clan moving to Beverly Hills. Very conspicuous loads and you have to drive through town looking straight ahead so you won't see people gawking and pointing....

Sort of like this....

 

[Cknldy]

Thanks yogifink. I went to Lowe's and can you believe with 3 young people working the outdoor section not one ever heard of or knew what a cattle panel was?! I said 'like welded wire fence only cut in a rectangle and flat.' 'Oh, I saw something like that over there!' REALLY? Using just one panel at 9' wide would give plenty of square footage for the birds of each breed that I have. I plan to add houses built from free recycled pallets and lumber like what I already have.

 

[Cknldy]

Would totally be me if it wasn't illegal here

 

[yogifink]

Quote:
You'll have to go to a tractor supply or a local feed store to get cattle/combo panels, the big box store doesn't see them.. I used 4 panels, at 8 feet wide, by 16 feet long and 6ish feet tall. Good enough space for 12 standards.

 

[Mac14]

Love the pictures! Oh great, I'm getting plans in my head!

 

[joan1708]

Great looking hoop coops!