Introducing my "Chicken Chateaux" and a question about food and water replacement

[FLCracker]

Here is my chicken tractor. I took ideas from all the tractors on this site that I liked and rolled them into my design.

Although it doesn't have wheels it is designed to be picked up and move using the cross brace at the far ends. It does take 2 people though since I chose to forgo the wheels. It has 2 levels, with the bottom level being open to the ground. The door is in the center and can be seen in the final picture. From this door I can easily access both levels and also rotate the ramp up to it's closed position at night when the girls are on the upper level. There are 6 nest boxes, and 2 roost poles. The nest boxes are easily accessible from the ends by sliding the panel to the left or right. Underneath the roost pole is mesh so hopefully the chicken poop will drop thru to the ground. I have 3 coats of urethane on it to protect it from the elements and to aid in keeping it clean (should be able to just hose it off). There is also a small gap under the next boxes so from the middle door with the panels removed on the ends a spray from the hose should be able to flush the floor of the coop out for cleaning. If I had it to do over I would have used the PVC roof material for the nest partitions also to keep the weight down.

Now for my question- Should the feed bowl be placed on the lower or upper level? In the morning the ramp will be let down for them to forage and scratch, and in the evening the ramp will be locked in the up position to help keep them protected from digging predators. I was going to make water available on both levels. Thanks for your input.

 

[AMA Chick]

Really nice! I'd probably put feed in the upper level, just bc I would feel better knowing they could eat it when they are locked in

 

[KimKimWilliamso]

Ive been using the chicks feeder/water for the inside of the coop, and a new Adult Chicken Feeder/Water outdoors, that way they have access to food/water wherever they decide to be. Works nice, cause the chick feeder/waterer is nice and small. Coop looks great!

 

[FLCrackerChic]

Wow! What an awesome coop! What craftmanship! I would suggest you put the feed on the lower level because from my experience they do all their eating on the ground and during the day. If you are closing them up only at night than they won't be eating then anyway. I would also suggest that when they get older that you let them out to scratch around. Our chickens roam around outside their coop during the day but never go too far and always go back into the coop when the sun goes down. And no one trained them to do that!