The ultimate portable coop... with the right help?

[Killlakilljoys]

Howdy folks! I have a but of a unique (or maybe not) problem... I need the sectional couch of chicken coops- and i have no idea how to do it! For some context, i live in central Indiana so its godda be wind proof! its godda be cold proof! its godda be... portable? yeah it does.
my main deal is that while i know im gonna live where i do for a couple years or more, i cant stand the thought of spending my waitress wage dollars on something i cant either put in a storage shed or park in a storage spot... and it needs to house two flocks.
before you get all animal justice on me, i DO have friends and family who could take said chickens off my hands in the event of a move.. or i could sell em at auction. ill be having Ayam Cemali's after all. Im just against leaving behind my labor of feather love!
that being said... is there such thing as a modular coop, and if so, what is the best way i can do such a thing? i was thinking screwing separate pieces together to form a whole, and able to pack the walls and fencing down flat-ish (similar to a pre-fab). then it just comes down to the roof, if i dont use a flat garden bed type one! maybe stack the bachelor pad over the hen house? who knows... definitely not me right now.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Hey there interesting dilemma how many birds in each coop assuming the numbers are reasonable

 

[pennyJo1960]

2 of my coops are made of shipping crates Free so very close to prefab
I do not use floors but bury hardwire cloth 12 inches into the ground so nothing can dig in

 

[Killlakilljoys]

Hey there interesting dilemma how many birds in each coop assuming the numbers are reasonable

Hey! I'm srarting with 12 fertile eggs so lets assume after some breeding, no more than 12 to a coop. that on its own is a lot for me, and accounts for somehow hatching all of them... And to one gender!

 

[Aunt Angus]

This is interesting. I am interested in seeing what folx suggest. I'll have to think on it a bit...

 

[Aunt Angus]

2 of my coops are made of shipping crates Free so very close to prefab
I do not use floors but bury hardwire cloth 12 inches into the ground so nothing can dig in

Do you have pics? That sounds super cool!!!

 

[cmom]

I'd have to do some research on that concept. Most likely your hatch ratio will be 50/50 male/female or close to that. I have had hatches where I have had more females than males. Good luck and have fun...

 

[pennyJo1960]

12 each is quite a few birds but hatching them may not get all 12 figure out 4 square feet per bird or there abouts you would need 48 square feet so the building needs to be a minimum of 10 x 10

 

[paintedChix]

gotta say it!

CP hoop houses! Built as tractors or semi-permanent. Easy to take down and move with you - I've moved built tractors and I've taken them apart to move in sections. Can use tarps, green house panels or other roofing. You can winterize it. They do stand up to lots of wind. 2 CP make a coop about 8x8' that you can stand up in. You can add hooped panels covered in wire for a run. I've found that in emergency weather situations, as many as 20 have been shoved in that size BUT really only works well with less than 10 when have to be locked into coop alone for more than a few days - simply not enough room.

Lots of designs here on BYC.

Heres' several styles I've done (some are sheds for storage, not the chickens but could be used for the chickens, too).

Temp quarters for the ponies while moving - lease pasture & put up our fencing panels/gates, built this shed to store buckets, feed & small squares. Most paddocks got round bales for the number of ponies we had here from Oct 2014 - Jan 2015.




Next 2 sets show "temporary sheds" built to house feed/hay and halters/leads for the ponies. The mini in pic below is a boarder. These are simply tied together with haystring. Built in 2015 - still tied and holding with haystring!! Plan to make it bigger than it is currently & Also picking it up off ground onto cement blocks for footers.



This one is bigger than one above. Same purpose. Panels on left side came loose during the hurricane Florence in Sept 2018. Have yet to fully secure it, but the wind doens't bother it, so... a project that will be done eventually. When do that, it will be expanded to 16wx12d size from the 12wx8d size it currently is. Also planned on picking it up off ground onto cement blocks for footers.



How the 3 tractors look - all built in fall 2014 & moved down the road a total of 30 miles in 2 separate trips/time frames. They are now in place and will not be moved again. The wood bases are now rotting out - though they were built out of pressure treated lumber. The chicken wire has rusted and the chickens and ponies have dealt it all harsh blows. Will have to fence the coops off from the ponies and will also have to replace all chicken wire with HC or combo of 2x4" wire and HC.



These 2 are only 4x8 - 1 CP. The one sitting directly on the ground will be raised up to allow for DLM. I totally forgot and had put it all together and had chickens in it and was like ... scratching my head..."what happened, why doesn't it look right?"... LOL


These are permanent as well. When done - there will be 4 of them almost back to back with the squared pens behind this. Leaving the wood posts in the ground that had a grape trellis on it threw the dimensions off some. Oh well. I didn't want to dig them out. I used the cut off portions to build bases of next coops. My next one will be built with old tires as the base. They will be filled with the compost from pens #2 & #3. Hoping to figure out how to saw the tires in 1/2 so can use them for the front as well - where the gate will be. Hoping to use NO WOOD at all - we'll see if it works.





** edited to add - I am a 50's something woman and have put most of these together by myself! If I can do it, so can anyone else.

 

[Cryss]

gotta say it!

CP hoop houses! Built as tractors or semi-permanent. Easy to take down and move with you - I've moved built tractors and I've taken them apart to move in sections. Can use tarps, green house panels or other roofing. You can winterize it. They do stand up to lots of wind. 2 CP make a coop about 8x8' that you can stand up in. You can add hooped panels covered in wire for a run. I've found that in emergency weather situations, as many as 20 have been shoved in that size BUT really only works well with less than 10 when have to be locked into coop alone for more than a few days - simply not enough room.

Lots of designs here on BYC.

Heres' several styles I've done (some are sheds for storage, not the chickens but could be used for the chickens, too).

Temp quarters for the ponies while moving - lease pasture & put up our fencing panels/gates, built this shed to store buckets, feed & small squares. Most paddocks got round bales for the number of ponies we had here from Oct 2014 - Jan 2015.


View attachment 1686422 View attachment 1686427

Next 2 sets show "temporary sheds" built to house feed/hay and halters/leads for the ponies. The mini in pic below is a boarder. These are simply tied together with haystring. Built in 2015 - still tied and holding with haystring!! Plan to make it bigger than it is currently & Also picking it up off ground onto cement blocks for footers.

View attachment 1686426 View attachment 1686423

This one is bigger than one above. Same purpose. Panels on left side came loose during the hurricane Florence in Sept 2018. Have yet to fully secure it, but the wind doens't bother it, so... a project that will be done eventually. When do that, it will be expanded to 16wx12d size from the 12wx8d size it currently is. Also planned on picking it up off ground onto cement blocks for footers.

View attachment 1686424 View attachment 1686425

How the 3 tractors look - all built in fall 2014 & moved down the road a total of 30 miles in 2 separate trips/time frames. They are now in place and will not be moved again. The wood bases are now rotting out - though they were built out of pressure treated lumber. The chicken wire has rusted and the chickens and ponies have dealt it all harsh blows. Will have to fence the coops off from the ponies and will also have to replace all chicken wire with HC or combo of 2x4" wire and HC.

View attachment 1686406 View attachment 1686421

These 2 are only 4x8 - 1 CP. The one sitting directly on the ground will be raised up to allow for DLM. I totally forgot and had put it all together and had chickens in it and was like ... scratching my head..."what happened, why doesn't it look right?"... LOL

View attachment 1686408 View attachment 1686409 View attachment 1686410 View attachment 1686411
These are permanent as well. When done - there will be 4 of them almost back to back with the squared pens behind this. Leaving the wood posts in the ground that had a grape trellis on it threw the dimensions off some. Oh well. I didn't want to dig them out. I used the cut off portions to build bases of next coops. My next one will be built with old tires as the base. They will be filled with the compost from pens #2 & #3. Hoping to figure out how to saw the tires in 1/2 so can use them for the front as well - where the gate will be. Hoping to use NO WOOD at all - we'll see if it works.

View attachment 1686413 View attachment 1686412 View attachment 1686420

View attachment 1686433 View attachment 1686434 View attachment 1686435

** edited to add - I am a 50's something woman and have put most of these together by myself! If I can do it, so can anyone else.

I love your pallet/CP combos! I have questions but don't want to hijack this thread. Do you have a thread that would be more appropriate or should I start one?

OP if you can disassemble your present coops you might not need to build new. If roofing is a problem for that then the cattle panel idea could be incorporated. If you really need to make new coops I think @paintedChix has a good idea.