Justin Rhodes Chick shaw

[Fisherlmiranda]

Justin Rhodes did a video with him on his great American farm tour. Really nice design. He uses them for meaties, but no reason they wouldn’t work for all sorts of things. His book is very good... very thorough instructions, shopping, cutting list. We’ll be starting on it first warm day. Soon, I hope.

Oh yes! I remember them now, yes I like that design for meat birds too, I was telling my husband that it is big enough to be multi-purpose, could be used for Turkey or to quarantine a small animal. We hope to add meat chickens in 2020. Right now we just have 10 egg ducks and the cows. So were adding egg chickens and bee hive this year and hopefully meat birds and the butcher equipment in 2020!

 

[Redhead Rae]

Oh yes! I remember them now, yes I like that design for meat birds too, I was telling my husband that it is big enough to be multi-purpose, could be used for Turkey or to quarantine a small animal. We hope to add meat chickens in 2020. Right now we just have 10 egg ducks and the cows. So were adding egg chickens and bee hive this year and hopefully meat birds and the butcher equipment in 2020!

I would like to add, the “meatshaw” as Justin Rhodes calls it is almost certainly a 3 season housing system. It doesn’t have any walls and will not protect from winter winds. I would steer clear of it as a permanent housing system unless you live somewhere tropical like FL. Even then I would be careful because it can get below freezing there.

 

[CindyinSD]

You don’t use the Suskovich tractor for winter housing. You take off the tarp and wait for spring. Or you could cover it with plastic and use it as a cold frame... or attach greenhouse panels and then you could probably keep chickens in it through the winter... only then it would most likely end up as a permanent greenhouse. You’d definitely need to anchor it down if you were to do that. I think I’ll eventually make one to try out the Joel Salatin “Raken house” (rabbits above, old lady layers on the ground in the deep litter to stir up the rabbit droppings.) That would be so cool, and a nice retirement for the old girls instead of the stew pot.

Justin Rhodes just posted a video in which he says his chickshaw kept his flock comfortably through a zero degree night. That’s pretty cold, and maybe they’d be okay at -20 or maybe not. They probably would, but with the open floor I’d be up all night worrying anyway... and I have a high expectation of my girls’ toughness.

 

[Fisherlmiranda]

I'm building on right now but it's more open like his sheep shaw. I used metal roofing and I'm using sturdy fencing we have left over. We only need it for 14 weeks at a time. I plan on doing one for the turkeys too in March when they arrive.

I'd love to see pictures of it

 

[CRChicken]

I would love to see finished pics too!

 

[Fisherlmiranda]

I have the plans... They’re so cool, but I haven’t decided for sure whether to use them. I kind of don’t think I will. Counting up the roost space he provides for, I think it would be okay for a bedroom only for my 17 layers. The problem is that we have very long days in summer. I’m not getting up at 4:30am every morning to open the door for them. Not happening. Soooo, they’re gonna need a roomier coop.

I bought materials to make one of John Suskovich’s walk-in tractors for some Color Yield chicks I’ve ordered (meat birds), and if I like it, I’ll likely make a couple more as portable coops (not for confinement-style pasturing) for the layers and for the heritage turkeys I also ordered. I’ll let the new layer chicks stay in the permanent coops and yards all summer as they grow up.

The Suskovich tractors will provide shelter for the meaties, the mature layers and the turkeys as they follow my three heifers around their progressive grazing adventures (hopefully eating up all the fly larvae and spreading out the cow patties as they go.) That’s the plan, anyway.

I’ll be interested how the chickshaw works for you. Maybe I’ll find a use for it at some point. Hope so.

I'm considering putting an auto open system on it some how for that reason! But yes that's what I want to do to is follow our beef cows with it! I'll have to look up this coop your talking about. I'm sure I've come across it in my research but the name isn't ringing a bell.

 

[CindyinSD]

My place is really hilly, too. JS calls for 9” wheels, which I used for the first one, but I couldn’t find them for the second so I bought 10”. For my terrain I like the 10” better. I have the meaties on a fairly smooth slope and the 9” ones work okay for them but even there, 10” would be easier.

The layers are following the cows and they’re currently on top of a hill. As long as their roosts are fairly horizontal it doesn’t matter if the tractor isn’t flat. I provide them with paddocks of e-netting which corrals them and protects them from ground-based predators. (We have coyotes, cougars and the rare bobcat. No raccoons. No stray dogs/cats.) So, if there are gaps under the edges of the tractor because of uneven ground, that’s not a big danger.

The one thing I don’t like about the tractors is that they’re fairly heavy, especially once you add nesting boxes. I’m sure I could figure out a way to move them with the 4-wheeler, but you couldn’t do that with chickens inside. They’d get hurt. They’re intended to be moved by hand, one tractor length at a time, while watching to make sure the chickens aren’t getting too close to the edges.

As long as you’re not trying to move them over lots of obstacles like branches, big rocks, etc., or across long distances or mushy ground, they’re not really a problem.

Your chickshaw build looks awesome! I think I’m still gonna end up building one. It’s a lot more mobile than the tractor and would be great to have if only for purposes of fowl transportation when I need to move them farther than a few tractor lengths. I do like that if I’m not up at first light (about 4:30 a.m. here this time of year) to let them out, they do still have some room to move around in. They’re not stuck in a tiny box on a roost. So, pluses and minuses for both.

 

[Fisherlmiranda]

My place is really hilly, too. JS calls for 9” wheels, which I used for the first one, but I couldn’t find them for the second so I bought 10”. For my terrain I like the 10” better. I have the meaties on a fairly smooth slope and the 9” ones work okay for them but even there, 10” would be easier.

The layers are following the cows and they’re currently on top of a hill. As long as their roosts are fairly horizontal it doesn’t matter if the tractor isn’t flat. I provide them with paddocks of e-netting which corrals them and protects them from ground-based predators. (We have coyotes, cougars and the rare bobcat. No raccoons. No stray dogs/cats.) So, if there are gaps under the edges of the tractor because of uneven ground, that’s not a big danger.

View attachment 1800741

The one thing I don’t like about the tractors is that they’re fairly heavy, especially once you add nesting boxes. I’m sure I could figure out a way to move them with the 4-wheeler, but you couldn’t do that with chickens inside. They’d get hurt. They’re intended to be moved by hand, one tractor length at a time, while watching to make sure the chickens aren’t getting too close to the edges.

As long as you’re not trying to move them over lots of obstacles like branches, big rocks, etc., or across long distances or mushy ground, they’re not really a problem.

Your chickshaw build looks awesome! I think I’m still gonna end up building one. It’s a lot more mobile than the tractor and would be great to have if only for purposes of fowl transportation when I need to move them farther than a few tractor lengths. I do like that if I’m not up at first light (about 4:30 a.m. here this time of year) to let them out, they do still have some room to move around in. They’re not stuck in a tiny box on a roost. So, pluses and minuses for both.

I'm kinda considering how to put an automatic door on it. I get up about 7 with the kids but dont make it out to feed till like 730. And I agree they need out before then. But those doors are expensive. We paid $200 for the one on the ducks pen. I know you can build your own some how. But it just seems like to much work when I watch youtube videos on it. I'd rather buy the tidy one that's intended for this use. I think I'll end up building one of these tractors for when I need to isolate a bird or small animal. It seems handy to have. I see alot of homesters using them.

 

[Fisherlmiranda]

Yeah, I hear you. I’m out there around 6 and it’s not early enough for the birdies at all.

Got the solar door on my coop!

 

[gtaus]

Anyone watch YouTuber Justin Rhodes? If you don't you should!

I watch Justin Rhodes on YouTube all the time. I have not built his chickshaw because I have layers, not meat birds which I believe his system was designed for primarily. Also, I live on a lake and have lots of bald eagles and hawks overhead, so any open fenced in system would not work for me. I have a chicken run covered with bird netting to protect my flock from aerial predators. But his chicksaw design works for him and I hope you have great success with it too. Keep the thread updated as I would love to read about your experience with this system.