My chicken tractor coop build

[Iulik]

So, we have a 10 acre property, but it is not fenced in and i am sure there are quite a few different predators that would like to eat our chicks, and after long planning and searching i have decided to build a chicken coop that i can move with my tractor once every couple of weeks to fresh grass, we have about 500 feet of fairly flat ground and i am planning to just move it back and forth. An inspiration for me was the carolina coops black and blue modern vegas coop but with modifications to keep it mobile. I am a fairly lasy person and the idea of having a small coop and cleaning it often did not appeal to me, so this will be about 30 feet long.
Now i am in the construction business so i get a bunch of stuff for free and that allows me to build it fairly cheap. First thing i got 8x 16 foot 2x8 that i glued and nailed into 2 long skids and have a 2x6 plate at the bottom. theory is it should slide on the grass fairly easy but have not tested yet so we will see, i think the tractor will make short work of it though so i am not too worried.
The coop is raised about 2 feet from the ground and made it similar to a pole barn that are glued nailed and screwed with 2 lag bolts on a lap joint , they are pretty sturdy, even with just the roof and floor framing. This will have a metal roof which will have 2 foot overhangs all around.
The run will be the same idea, 4x4s and half of it will have a metal roof and half will just leave hardware cloth, just in case they want to get a tan
These are some pics of the progress so far, i have about 5 weeks till they will be ready to move in so i have to get it done by then.

 

[Iulik]

Got a little bit more done this week, slowly getting there,got to add another coat to everything today and move it on the grass, add the fencing and roof, hopefully i can get it today

 

[Iulik]

this is a rough sketch of what it should look like, front doors will be the coop opening, on the back i will have a water tank and feed container with pvc pipes feeders that i can refill as rare as possible and on left side should be egg hutches with a shelf above for random tools. Will see how it goes

 

[Iulik]

Pretty cool.
How many birds will you keep?
Can't wait to see it finished and 'on the move'(a video would be great!)

We have 23 baby chicks right now, hope they all survive

 

[Iulik]

How do you plan to move it?

You can see the red muscle in the back in the second photo

 

[Iulik]

Ohhhh, that looks much better!

Haha, no way i can move anything with that lawn mower i barely moved just the skids from my concrete walkway to where they are now, which was like 30 feet away

 

[Iulik]

Well, i have been pretty busy with work but managed to do a little work here and there and finished almost all the posts, just have to do one more, next step is moving this bad boy out of here and do the roofing

 

[Iulik]

Aand this is a few days later with the posts all connected, need to take a better top picture.

 

[Iulik]

A little more updates, i'm moving slower than i though, chickens spend the whole day inside already

 

[Iulik]

How was it to move?

Its not too bad, its a pretty big tractor though, i raised the front so i get less resistance when i moved it to the pasture, but now its pretty easy, grass is pretty slippery