OT Mobile Chicken Coop

[Greg in MN]

I promised this a while ago so here it is. One of our four mobile chicken coops.

<a href="http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm177/wierschke/?action=view&current=farm004.jpg" target="_blank">

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I raise about 150 broilers every four weeks, and starting is September the coops will be used for turkeys. We also raise pullets and have some laying hens running around. It is almost like free eggs, because they clean up after the broilers. I feed them once in a while, but nothing like the ration they get in the winter when they go inside.

The coops are moved once or twice a day. The feed comsumption is reduced by about 25% when the chickens are out on pasture. They get all the grass they want and the rations of grain a day along with all the water they can drink. I use a gravitey feed water conected to a 5 gallon pail.

I also built a lot of my own processing equipment out of stuff on the farm. I always sold out of chickens at least 8 weeks in advance. The family only gets chicken if I happen to run one over moving the pen.

 

[Dunk]

(quoted from post at 23:25:45 06/25/08) I promised this a while ago so here it is. One of our four mobile chicken coops.

Thanks, Greg!!!!

Finally!!!!!

I have done a lot of research on that on the Internet, and I will have to say that is one of the largest I have ever seen by far.

So do you move it by hand, or with an N tractor?

 

[Scott1ky]

Hey those are a neat idea. My mom was talking about wanting one of those mobile coops awhile back. When I was a kid we used to have chickens on our farm. The trouble was that some kind of animal kept snatching them. It would be good to have something like that, then they could have chickens again. Do you have plans that you followed to make them?

Thanks
Scott

 

[Zeusdog]

I guess you move it around enough, you never havta fertilize.

 

[Greg in MN]

I really don't have a plan, but they keep getting modified each generation. Next week I start on the 5 generation. The plan is to build it 10 X 12 I use 2X4 on the bottom and 2x2 every where eles. I have this little pice of wood that my cuttings are scribbled on. I use liquid nails and little pices of 45 degree lumver to brace everything. I also use drain tile cut in half for runners.

Dunk,
I would love to use the N, but its just to noisy. I can't hear the chickens sqauwk when they get caught up in something, so I have a dolly out in the field. I also have two support trailers. One with water and one with feed. They get moved by the N.

 

[Ultradog MN]

Great post.
As Dunk says, you must move them with your tractor?
I wish I had room for a few feathered "pets" here in the city.
My granddad did the same thing with a pig when I was a kid. Pulled it to fresh grass every day or two with his Allis B.
He didn't need the netting over the top though.
Pigs can't fly. Or so I've been told.

 

[Anonymous-0]

We have one very similar, even has the metal roofing on one half. I used a couple of the large lawnmower wheels on one end to help make the move easier. I found these in a scrap pile, and they are the type on some mowers with the large spoked wheels on the rear. Weak point seems to be the bolt that attaches to the frame, and bends easily. Other than that it works very well. I should have used treated wood though, or treated it myself.

 

[edhOH]

There are a bunch of people in my area that raise them as "semi free range birds". Same concept, but they use old hog panels and make a pen 20 feet long and 10 feet wide, bending the hog panels into a modified A frame, kinda looks like a miniature greenhouse structure. Cover the panels with chicken wire, zip tie a tarp over half of it for shade and voila, a mobile chicken coop.
I like your design too, it'll hold a bunch more birds than the kind I have seen.

I have a small building that works just fine for 100 birds, although I'd prefer to have them on grass, but you make due with what you got!

Thanks for the pic!

 

[Anonymous-0]

That's cool.

My brother has something just like that. Think he usually has about 80 birds in his. Pulls it around with his John Deere Gator. His yard is super green, all the time!

He's trying to convince me to build one, LOL!

 

[Greg in MN]

What ever you do don't pull it around the yard unless you really enjoy mowing. The lawn grows almost nonstop. I pulled them across the lawn when I first started out. I'm still mowing a nice green lawn!

 

[Anonymous-0]

nice set up. I raise a few for eggs, I just built them a new coop,
<a href="http://s49.photobucket.com/albums/f297/maplehillfrm/?action=view&current=100_3549.jpg" target="_blank">

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I like your gravity fed water system, can you tell me how that works?. right now my pen is all covered so the hawks dont get my birds,, and its kind of a pain to water them,, I would like to know how you keep the water from overflowing in the pan below??
<a href="http://s49.photobucket.com/albums/f297/maplehillfrm/?action=view&current=100_3547.jpg" target="_blank">

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I always thought about making a portable, they sure do finish teh grass quickly in a stationary pen,

thanks.pat

 

[Greg in MN]

The wateres are really easy to make. I buy a little giant water like this one.

<a href="http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm177/wierschke/?action=view&current=2550.jpg" target="_blank">

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I use about 2.5 feet of black hose and a fitting and clamp and connect it to the waterer, Then I drill a hole in the 5 gallon bucket a little smaller than the hose, and pull it through with a pliers. Use a white pail so you don't have bug problems, and always use clean water. The filters can clog on the wateres really easy. They are easy to clean, but it is a pain if you can prevent it.

 

[Greg in MN]

The wateres are really easy to make. I buy a little giant water like this one.

<a href="http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm177/wierschke/?action=view&current=2550.jpg" target="_blank">

</a>

I use about 2.5 feet of black hose and a fitting and clamp and connect it to the waterer, Then I drill a hole in the 5 gallon bucket a little smaller than the hose, and pull it through with a pliers. Use a white pail so you don't have bug problems, and always use clean water. The filters can clog on the wateres really easy. They are easy to clean, but it is a pain if you can prevent it.

 

[Anonymous-0]

thanks I will have to look for something like that in teh tsc here, I dont thnink I ever saw anything like that, but sure does look like the ticket, thansk again,pat

 

[Dunk]

(quoted from post at 13:24:45 06/27/08) thanks I will have to look for something like that in teh tsc here, I dont thnink I ever saw anything like that, but sure does look like the ticket, thansk again,pat

Here they are online, Pat

http://dblrsupply.pinnaclecart.com/products/Adult_Fount-3425-442.html

 

[Anonymous-0]

thansk dunk, I actually let my fingers do the walking and found them on another site on teh net, I am going to order it today, thansk pat