Mobile Chicken Coop

[SevenCorners]

Your idea sounds HEAVY, why not make it out of pvc? I have a couple of neighbors [Dave Mathews of Dave Mathews Band] who built one for over 50 chickens out of pvc and used 2 trailer wheels on back end. When moving all that is needed is for you to lift the front and walk to new section of field. That way the chickens can work over the ground every couple of days. I will try and get a couple of pics for you. You can then officially sell the meat birds as free range.

 

[fenneran]

PVC would have been fine, but I had 2X4's around and like I said earlier, I wanted to make sure foxes could not knock it over or even lift it up a little. I move the cage every day so they have new grass to eat and it keeps the impact to the section they are on to a minimum. Yes, its a little heavy, but not more than I (or my wife) can handle, and I know it's not going anywhere, even in a good gust of wind.

edited to say: wooops. Sevencorners, I just noticed you were not responding to me, but the original post. ignore my rant /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[dooleysm]

I'm worried about my concoction blowing over or away in the wind. It seems like a lightweight model would tip over on the first hard wind.

Additionally, pulling stuff around with my tractor makes me smile. Pushing stuff around under my own power makes me sweat /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[ALBALD1]

before getting chickens, check this site. they have a whole section for coops & buildings. This will be your best source of info for anything chicken. to me, the main thing is make it so you can easily access the eggs w/out going inside. thats just a really nice convenience sometimes.. http://p072.ezboard.com/bbackyardchickens

 

[EastTexFrank]

There is also a site called "Chicken Tractor Gallery by Katey" that might give you some ideas. There are tons of photos of coops that people have built. I haven't been there in a while but it seems like a busy site. Those chicken people are just like us tractor guys, they sure like to talk about their birds.