the weight of building materials

[NorTracNY]

Good post. The one thing that I don't see is for those people that are considering the tractor method, you are not going to be able to do it for more than 4-5 chickens.
I believe my coop at 17.5sq ft inside and 60sq ft outside is about at the limit. I'm young and in good shape. I can lift the tractor to put on the wheels every other day and move it, but I can't see most people doing it. I like my tractor and it's doing what I thought and hoped, but I'd probably been just fine building a simple coop and free ranging.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I think being able to look up the weight of materials is a great idea! If you haven't built things before and had to lug 2 x 4s or sheets of plywood around, it's hard to realize how heavy they are. They don't LOOK that heavy!

Tractors can also be made with 2 x 2s instead of 2 x 4s and plastic roofing over wire, instead of heavier materials. That's what we did. You can even use some of the plastic roofing for walls. Some people have even used plastic signs. If it's layered with wire, you don't always need super heavy materials for the roof and walls in a tractor.

For a little larger, heavier coop for winter time that's stationary, but can be more easily moved to a new home, I'd think about bolting the walls together. I'm sure someone from the forum did that last year, I just can't remember who it was. A coop can also be built right on a small trailer. I guess then it's a mini-mobile home!

 

[clawmute]

If you use any pressure treated lumber it can weigh several times as much as an untreated similar size member, depending on moisture content. Wood species comes into play. Fir or western cedar will be lighter than the more dense yellow pine.

The tables are pretty good for untreated wood, but can't be depended upon for the PT.

 

[cjeanean]

wow, that definately puts things into perspective. Thanks!

 

[joebryant]

Anne and I put up a 2x6 16 feet long yesterday. It had 16 feet of four-foot-wide 1/2-inch harcware cloth attached to it. It went between the top of two eight feet high posts.
Sounds light-weight and easy, and I thought that it would be; t'aint. Heavy and awkward to work with up that high! The job wore out both of us.
When I do the other walls, I'm going to first screw temporary 2x4's under where the 2x6's with wire attached go so that they can have something to rest on; that way we won't have to HOLD their weight in place while they're being screwed to the posts one end at a time.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Another quick way of accomplishing the same thing -- so that you can actually do it pretty well with just one person, in fact -- is to put a stout nail in on the opposite side of the post, preferably a bit higher than the beam will go, or as high as you can if the beam is already going to go as high as possible on the side of the post. Then take two pieces of stout rope (I use the baler twine off 700-lb square bales, it is quite strong). Put yer ladder, if using one, at one of the posts. Hike the end of your beam up to approximately the level where you want it, and tie it up there with one of the pieces of rope, looping it around to the back of the post and over the nail. So now one end of the beam is approximately up. Move to the other post. Often you can just nail/screw that end of the beam up now, without having to tie it first. But if for some reason you can't, or if it's important to have the first end of the beam *exactly* right before attaching the second end, tie up the second end the same way and go back and adjust the first end to the exact right height.

I've used this putting up 20-ft pressure-treated 2x12's, going 14' up in the air. Singlehanded. It was less fun than a barrel of monkeys, but it wasn't that bad and by gosh I got it DONE, and done safely. For smaller projects like yours it is really easy and makes life ever so much more pleasant IMO

Pat