Is this terrible or brilliant??

[Ridgerunner]

It'd been several years since I've seen this discussed on this forum. Or it may have been over on the sister Gardening forum. The basic idea then was to put one of these over the raised beds after the gardening season was finished and let the chickens clean it up for you, eating the growth and scratching it up. And fertilizing it, of course. Preparing it for you to plant. I was never that keen on the idea.

It's basically a chicken tractor that instead of pulling it around you position it over a raised bed. One problem with a chicken tractor is that you need to move it regularly to keep the poop from building up to a point that it starts to stink. When I was doing a tractor that was about every other day. How often you would have to change it will depend on the size, number of chickens, and I found rain and wet had a big effect. It sounds like you are on the wet side in Oregon, you may be moving it regularly. With five birds in an 4x8 in a damp climate, probably every two days would be normal. That's not long enough for them to really strip the roots and such out if you let it grow up, especially in grass.

You don't want to plant in fresh chicken poop. It's high enough in nitrogen to damage the roots of plants, possibly to the point of killing them. It needs to compost or break down before planting time. There are different things that influence how long that takes. I'd think in your climate with the mild temperatures and the damp a month would probably be plenty.

For a coop or coop/run you need food, water, protection from predators, and protection from the environment. I think you can manage all that if you set your mind to it.

I'm all about testing things out to see how it actually works, I would love to read about your actual results instead of what I think would happen. I've been wrong before. That's why I feel like I can give so much advice, I've been wrong a lot before. I think you'll find it takes more work than you need to be doing if you are not in good shape to do it.

Good luck!

 

[kodster]

Check out what Justin Rhodes does to prep his garden beds for planting in the spring. He does a similar arrangement of housing his flock over the garden beds. You can find him on YT. He has quite the following for homesteading. This sounds like what you are trying to accomplish. An A-frame would be easier to move from bed to bed for you, but as someone else suggested, perhaps make the slope being 12" up, leaving the space below vertical, for more space for the flock to get into the corners of the bed.

Justin Rhodes lives in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains in North Carolina, so a similar climate to Oregon.

 

[lillyahoo]

I built 2 of these 4 years ago - one A-frame and one 'box' style. They both work great, but over time the box style has been easier to access and clean, because it has a real hinged door.

I used scrap metal roofing for the box coop and a 4'x8' Harbor Freight tarp for the roost area on the A-frame. (I suggest getting the 'extreme' weather version if you're going to use the coops for a while.) In winter, I put a tarp over the whole top of the A-frame, and if it's going to be very cold I use greenhouse plastic around the sides (leaving air space on the ends) and put in a thermostat-controlled ceramic bulb heater.

They were originally only meant to hold some hens and chicks for one year, but I've left them up because they work so great for small coop space. I did have to screw the coops down to the beds after a cougar knocked off the A-frame one night (and took my favorite hen). And I suggest using either hardware cloth or poultry wire plus 2"x4" welded wire over that to keep out the lesser predators.

I'm in Oregon, too, so it rains a lot, but the raised floor from the garden dirt does a good job of keeping things dry. And along with the bed boards, it's an excellent way to keep diggers out, too.

 

[Rise722]

What type of wire are you using on the sides - hardware cloth? It would have to be fastened tightly so coons could not get in at night...

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

That’s basically how I prepare garden beds:

 

[lillyahoo]

I used 1" poultry wire covered by 2"x4" welded wire. The combo is cheaper than hardware cloth and just as effective.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-3-ft-x-50-ft-14-Gauge-Welded-Wire-710246110/317745255

 

[aart]

I used 1" poultry wire covered by 2"x4" welded wire. The combo is cheaper than hardware cloth and just as effective.

Not as effective....any hole that is less than 3/4" can let in weasels, rats, arms of raccoons, etc.

 

[Goldenlace]

I would think that if you added a tarp to help with rain and provide shade you would need to be sure there is enough ventilation still. Some way to get to their water and feed and eggs without lifting the whole top so they don’t fly out.

 

[lillyahoo]

I have a removable panel in the A-frame that serves as a door (you can see it sitting toward the left end on the picture). It could also be hinged at the top or side, but mine just fits tightly into the space and can be removed completely.

The ends of the A-frame let in a good amount of air, and I usually fold the tarp back from the run end during the day. And when it's warm, I keep it back at night, too, and add a small fan.

This might not be enough where it's hotter, but it's been pretty warm here this summer and I let the A-frame girls out during the day, so they're not getting cooked.

 

[4timandlisa]

Just thinking out loud here…regarding ventilation on an A-frame…if you use ridge vent (like what is used on the roof of a house), or build a ridge vent/inverted “V” along the length of the ridge, you would be able to cover the A-frame up to the vent for protection from wind/rain/snow, and still have *some* ventilation.