Mobile coop

[Farmer Kim]

I decided to design my own coop because the ones I have seen seem stupid. I don't want to sit in my poop and I don't want my babies in there's. I don't want to eat my poop and I don't want them eating there's. I have designed an 8ft by 6ft run that's 7 ft tall at the ends with a little house on top with a feeding area and water and little nesting boxes inside the walls just six spread out and some up in the loft. I put roosting bars all over covered the inside walls with insulation and pond liner except the bottom I don't need to go in because the whole bottom drops to angle and can sprayed they have their little run door. My question is will a moving my coop with the quad runner upset the babies or should I move them to new grass and fun stuff by hand I won't spill their food or water but I made this coop so they could have plenty of new grass and stuff everyday so at night when they go in we move the little house, but they don't want to lay eggs is this upsetting them to hear a loud engine.

 

[farmgirllvo]

How long have you been using this set up? With the loud noises? They will probably get used to it over time and be ok, but I might consider letting them out while you move their coop

 

[aart]

Welcome to BYC!

Will they be locked safe in coop when you move it? Should be OK then.
It will freak them out at first but they can get used it.

Example: First time they hear mower, crazy hysteria, flying against run walls, running for coop cover. Next time they come running TO mower, they know it means insects jumping and clippings to chow down.

Why pond liner?
Got pics...or better yet, video of moving coop with quad?

 

[Farmer Kim]

The design is still on paper its the rabbit cage I have them in that we moved I am still trying to figure some things out about pictures and videos. I am working with a carpenter and two farmers who have been doing chickens for a long time between them they have about forty years experience. I am going to upload the design plans as soon as figure out how to take a picture of them that can be read. My older chickens I moved into the rabbit cage as test they are my best egg layers, but now they are so freaking out, but the little guys should be okay because like many of you said already they will adapt and realize when the house moves there's new food everybody's happy. The reason I wanted the coop to move is because I have ten acres I just don't want to live in a really big bird cage to protect them from predators I figured the coop up top and the yard underneath even if a predator dug up under and got in the yard it wouldn't be able to jump up four feet and then five more feet to the dog door and even if got to under floor and opened it he will only get pooped on the run goes out the top into the yard and there's no way to access the walls inside from underneath the yard. The chickens go out of loft onto the yard roost through a door they push open its a dog door thick plastic they just walk through to go in an out but it's nine feet up and there's two roosting bars to get into the yard below raccoons don't have wings they can't jump four and half feet and chickens believe it or not some of my older chickens can fly up to eight and half feet for like thirty feet I know one got out chased him in the woods for seven hours. The nesting boxes and food and water all of that including if chicken dies the whole side of the roof opens at two places and props up. So there's access for me if there's a problem also makes for staying down and cleaning easy moving them takes care of poop problems and they can till garden up and get a good meal cuts down on feed tremendously they get excercise and they can still have plenty of room. Hopefully all forty will be good now everyone keeps saying square footage per bird and all of that but if they have tons of natural food with feed I don't see why the sixty square feet with only forty inside is such an issue the coop moves every night of I have too I could move it twice a day they do anything for Scooby snacks I have discovered they have thing for berries you come near coop with any berries they all try to get in the coop at the same time. Bought four pints raspberries blueberries and five pounds of strawberries they were entertained all day. The coops loft is two and half feet high and eight feet long an six feet wide. The house the loft sits on is six feet wide by five feet long and four feet tall. The yard is seven feet long underneath and six feet wide now they have acces to all the space around the on the two sides but not the wide pets the shorter parts this would make a lot more sense with photos I will try in the next two days to get photos of the plans uploaded this has been time consuming but the plans were free and the carpenter is helping for free and the farmers gladly helped design it for free so right now all the cost is coming with materials so before I put what's on paper to wood I just wanted the in put of people here because I didn't like the images of how I saw my food living and everybody who sees this crazy design says you have built your chickens Trump tower. Others say it's a chicken prison that many birds wouldn't be happy in such a small space because they won't have enough room turn around but in the winter which I live in Northern Michigan in Mt. Forest which is a township of Pinconning so we get snow and ice a cold negative temps I have to have at least forty birds in that space or they will die body heat from chickens with their heater should keep them toasty warm in those icy cold nights an days.
Again if there's anyone who can give me a good reason why forty birds In these spaces won't work please give me specs that would work keeping in mind I live in an area where we get negative temps and lots of ice and lots of snow and it gets really cold. Now I did keep twenty birds in a six by three and half foot space for the winter months and lost three cause they froze to death inone night the others weren't doing much better I brought them in the house and they lived in bathroom for two nights and two days my husband was really mad then some ducks just showed up in our yard freezing we thought they didn't have a home so we put fifteen ducks in with the seventeen chickens we had left and they all made it they huddled together ducks and chickens but they stayed warm enough after that and believe it or not there was plenty of room for more to fit the chickens would all roost on their perch and the ducks would all gather right underneath it was funny don't have pictures cause it was cold and I was just making sure everyone had plenty of food and plenty of water that wasn't frozen so I didn't run around with my phone. After we found the ducks owner he promptly took his kids home but now I have ducks from some babies eggs that hatched from his ducks before he took them and now people are saying they can't live together but they did all winter just fine but now some people have said the ducks have stuff in their waste that can kill the chickens which is why I just decided to build them their own house. So the ducks could have the pond area which I dont let the chickens because that's how brownie died she drowned so there's my whole one year an two months worth of expertise with chickens they have smelly poop so figured moving it around would help keep them happy and me because I like them just not the poop smell. They would always have some place new to scratch eat play do chicken things and nobody would get testy because the yard is new everyday.

 

[aart]

How about some paragraphs?......I can't read that.