New mobile pasture coop

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adkhunter1590

adkhunter1590

Chirping
Apr 14, 2015
94
46
76
Albany, NY
My Coop
My Coop
Hello everyone. I just wanted to share some pics of a new mobile pasture coop I’m working on that will house the 100 new chicks we have growing in our living room at the moment! Lol. Winter has really dragged itself out this year here in upstate NY so it’s been too cold to have the chicks in the garage or our stationary coop outside next to the house.
I’ve been eyeballing mobile pasture coops since last summer and finally decided this was the year we would dive in and make it happen. I got some help from my neighbor who’s a full time farmer on finding a good set of wagon running gear and went to work on fully rehabbing it.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/FgrzcHtIv0u7ZoIp1
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Cw7odxbjoIu4mZHu2
https://photos.app.goo.gl/7uoglxqzoirst5Ut1

After sanding the running gear down and giving it a fresh coat of paint along with the wheels we put on new pressure treated 4x6-16 ft boards to be the main frame rails. Topped those off with pressure treated 4x4s. O and all 4 wheels got some new used tires since the ones that came on it weren’t much good.

All other lumber for this build is going to be rough cut pine or hemlock. I like working with true dimensional lumber, much easier and it’s much stronger. Probably overkill for a chicken coop but I wanted it to be sturdy for a long time. My neighbor had a 4by8ft panel of heavy gauge expanded metal that we centered in the middle of the floor in order to let droppings fall through to fertilize our fields. A daily sweep with a broom around the edges should keep the inside pretty clean. The added ventilation is another bonus.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZVqD4GrgW1Iq0AFu2

https://photos.app.goo.gl/oyClQ71sjTb7W9VI2

Here’s the first wall going up. This side is 6 ft tall and the other side will be 7ft. The 7ft wall will have 2 windows and a full size steel exterior door that was recycled from a home remodel project.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/PzYRXKXkfa4a3ibd2

https://photos.app.goo.gl/RHGVriwnSVSmy1ST2

That’s as far as we’ve gotten so far. I have to pick up more lumber this weekend to finish the end walls and roof framing. I work full time so I’m picking away at this thing whenever I get a spare few hours. The siding will be board and batten rough cut as well. Lowe’s has cheap single pane single hung windows meant for pole barns and such that I’ll pick up next week hopefully. O and the most exciting part will be the solar powered automatic chicken door that will be installed as well! Also planning on building a small deck off the back to hold a 55gal barrel to feed a pvc water nipple system that will run underneath the coop. I’m trying to make this coop extremely easy to maintain our flock as we lead pretty busy lives. I’ll update this as work progresses but I couldn’t contain my excitement any longer and had to show somebody! Haha.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/5cFavnUvr4Uuljg23
 
O and I almost forgot to mention nest boxes. Instead of traditional style boxes we are going to spring for some rollaway boxes by hengear.
https://hengear.com/

Will most likely mount these against the front or back walls, maybe both. We don’t want to spend a lot of time cleaning eggs so this should help cut down on that by a huge amount. Hengear also has a controller to drop the roost bars at a preset time in the morning so I can keep the girls from sleeping in the boxes but I won’t have to rush out in the AM to drop the bar so they can start to lay. I’ll tie this into the battery/solar panel system.
By using these boxes I’ll also be able to remove them during winter and remount them inside my winter coop. I’ve put a lot of thought into how to make this the easiest coop to operate and switch between summer and winter coops. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to chime in, I’m always looking for better ideas on how to do things.
 
jthornton said:
Don't click on the photo icon, use the Upload a File button.

How do you plan on keeping the nipple system from freezing in the winter?

I'd bet a lot of poop will get stuck to the grating...

JT
Click to expand...


At the moment I don’t plan on using this for winter housing. I have another coop and run already that I can move them into. I’ve got heated waterers in the other coop already.

The upload a file button is the one I’m hitting, but it says my iPhone contains no pictures. Not sure how to fix that issue. I wish you could still use Tapatalk for this forum.

I plan on poop getting stuck to the grating. The holes are pretty large that most should fall through. Anything that doesnt should go right down after running a stiff bristle broom over it quick. Roost bars will be hinged so I can lift them up to have easy access to work inside.
 
I can see why the auto roost bar is needed in a commercial hen house, watching the video the roosts are lower than the nest boxes so you would have to close them off before night time to prevent the chickens from roosting in the nest box. I assume the nest boxes are placed at a comfortable height for a person to collect eggs in the commercial hen house.

You will love the clean eggs from a roll out nest box. My neighbor has to wash all her eggs from the conventional nests she has. I built a roll out nest box and except for the occasional feather the eggs are spotless. About once every other week I pull out the false floor and use a brush to clean the dirt and feathers off.

JT
 
Well progress stalled out a bit due to the weather turning back towards winter. But I’m glad to say that I finished up the framing this past weekend. Now onto the metal roof, windows and siding. Most all those materials will be picked up throughout the week and hopefully accomplish at least the roof and windows this weekend in between working and family duties. Once the siding is up I’ll move to the inside to get roosts made up. Then the chicks can move into it while I wait on the auto door to be delivered. Coming along really well I think so far, other than fighting this never ending winter!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/MWvyqHZDJpk9aO692

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1ex0huBMiO8Ava3s1

https://photos.app.goo.gl/IyvN2uSgSPVbhpzt1
 
Productive weekend here at the farm. Siding boards are up, windows and doors in, roof on. Just need to finish up a few odds and ends tomorrow and it will be ready for paint. Going with barn red on the outside and will trim the windows and doors in white paint to make it look nice. Going to paint the inside white to make it brighter and help preserve the wood. I’ll start fiddling around with the water system later this week also. Really anxious to get this all done so I can move the chicks into their new home!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/uHcLRPrz7oYZXgWP2

https://photos.app.goo.gl/B1SHgzri3K0g9ERn1

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mdzyaeeZmgWEXV4p1

https://photos.app.goo.gl/TbxrlSYXwkUHxoh92
 

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