rain and moving hen houses

[chicken rover]

Do chickens stay in their house if its raining?
Heres a crazy question:
How fast would you speculate a henhouse could move without the hens noticing it move? I am talking about a self propeled henhouse with no humans or tractors moving it. It would move only during the day and stop at night. Would they be scared to go in it?
Also....If they don't percieve the house is moving will they stay with it or close to it?

 

[redoak]

My hens and roosters go out in all but the heaviest of rains. I've moved their coop a couple times during the day while they were near it and they didn't seem to notice. I only moved the coop about 75 feet but I had to do a rather large figure 8 to reposition it for winter. They had no trouble going into the coop and roosting at nighttime.

 

[Omran]

I have no Idea, but I never was a fan of tractor hen house.
I just like to tell you Welcome to the BYC and have alot of fun with us here.

Omran

 

[chicken rover]

Thanks for the welcome! Its a great site and I love everyones comments

 

[Mahonri]

If you ever get the self roving tractor working, please post some pics!

 

[chicken rover]

How often do chickens go in and out of their hen house if they are on pasture everyday? Do they come out in the am and come back in the pm or are they coming and going all day?

 

[redoak]

My hens go back in the coop to lay eggs, my rooster gets let out in the am and stays out until dusk. Once in a while a hen will go into the coop and if her favorite nest box is occupied she will leave and come back later to lay her egg.

 

[momofdrew]

my girls aren't laying yet so they stay out all day

 

[chicken rover]

I am in the middle of designing a GPS guided chicken rover that you as the owner can go out and pick as many points (within reason) that the rover (moving henhouse) will go. It will travel to one point (coordinate) then the next allowing you the opportunity to pick the areas that the chickens range on. Key to the design is that the chickens are encouraged (fooled) into "following" the house. The rover stops at night, and sometime after dusk the door closes. It opens at first light. The GPS system tells the door , based on its coordinates and time of day, when to open and close. The question is given that it is silent and its movement is imperceptible to the chickens, how far will they go with it? They think that they are staying close to it but they will be actually moving. Is this too far out there as an idea?
The rover is self sustaining as it is both a water collector (100 gallons) and has solar power and batteries. It has the capability of lights at night and can accomodate other eletrical needs.
I am debating whether to make it small (30 chickens) vs. large (200 chickens). the idea being that 3 of these could cover more territory than one. The main goal of this is to follow cows, sheep and goats on a rotational pasturing system. It allows for healthier chickens and helps to build topsoil by putting the chickens close to as many cow patties as possible. However, it would work even without the other animals as it encourages the chickens to move about and be safe close to their house.
Any suggestions from anyone?