um, this was supposed to be a portable coop or tractor!!

[Mark]

Foxtrapper,

Thanks for the photos!

Mark

 

[foxtrapper]

Here's a bunch of clickable pictures of the coop I have.

As for the wheels, the unit balances quite nicely on the two wheels. You control it with the two handles. Obviously you can dig either end into the ground, and being almost 8 feet long, it doesn't deal with particularly rough terrain well.

There are no skids per-se on the bottom, but the bottom does have 2x2 framing that the siding or screens attach to, and that the unit rests on when set down.

Bucket is just a generic flat backed watering bucket from TSC or such, with a little drinking cup screwed into it.

 

[siouxbee]

wow, those are awesome photos -- thanks for the details!!!!! they're very helpful. we're now working on a taxi to take the girls from the portable pen to the coop, and I'll definitely be using your wheel idea.

 

[aran]

that is too schaweet! Does the automatic egg roller out the door thing work as good as it looks? Do you get any egg breakage? What is the stuff inside the nesting boxes?

 

[foxtrapper]

This is not my design. It's the original henspa. I have built a copy cat for my inlaws with some changes, but they are minor and construction related. The overall design I find leaves very little need for improvement.

The egg rollout works great, especially with sawdust down there to catch the eggs. Currently, it is bare so the eggs roll over to the corner. I've had one egg break in the few years I've been using the thing. And that egg rolled over into a brick I had sitting there for some reason.

The carpet stuff I've no idea where it came from, but it looks like an astroturf like material. The unit I made I used the indoor/outdoor carpeting from Lowes. That worked, but not as well because it's not as stiff, so it slips and bunches up at the bottom.

Only change I'd make with the nest box design really is to lower th egg rollout opening. The current flock has two birds that spend time head down, looking out that window. And I've had a little egg pecking as a result. They can't eat the eggs as they roll away as soon as they peck at it, but they've damaged a few from the pecking.

 

[Mark]

Foxtrapper,

Thanks for the info!

How often do you move the tractor? Do you move it far?

Has a predator ever broken into the tractor?

Mark

 

[stgagnon]

Hi:

I've been wondering how the Henspa wheels work; thanks Foxtrapper for showing us your design.

I have a question about how the wheel "frame" attaches to the coop. It looks like the wheel axle falls right at the midpoint of the coop. And when you lift the handles, the whole thing pivots on what? Is that bolt (or something) that we see to the left of the wheel attached to the coop? If so, how is it attached?

Thanks so much for any info you have. I am about to buy a Chick-n-Barn (http://www.waremfginc.com/products.asp?p=01495 ) , and I want to modify it to be movable.

-Suz.