Chicken Tractor or Chicken Tank?

[dmccarty]

For a couple of years our youngest has wanted chickens. She is always wanting something. I long suspected that the wifey also wanted chickens but was letting the child be the lead on the chick acquisition mission.

A month or so back we they bought six chickens and I had to build a coop. I swear the chick doubled in size in the first week. We thought I would have a 2-3 months to build a coop. In fact we had weeks to build a coop.

I had looked at a bunch of chicken coop designs over the year or so and sketched out some designs as well. As usually what I had in mind was a bit over kill and would be permanent. I would also have to clear out some undergrowth before building.

We are lucky in that our local community college has a pretty good garden/agriculture focus and we paid them a visit. The school has a large area fenced in and has two flocks of chickens. We talked with the person who runs the program for an hour or so and walked around the garden area seeing what they had done. Their chicken coops where typical structures built with whatever was on hand and cheap. Mostly PVC.

The one we looked at closely used thin PVC pipe that was bent to form an arch. Galvanized metal roof was then attached leaving a gap at the bottom for ventilation. One end was open while the other end was finished in wire mesh and had a door. I liked the idea because it looked cheap and fast to build but I did not like the PVC.

I googled.

I found similar designs that used cattle panels instead of PVC. My guess is that the PVC would have been cheaper but the panels will hold up forever.

So I went with a hoop design using cattle panels, 2x4x8' PT, 2x2x8', 5/4x6x8', zip ties, wheels, clothesline, 1/2 wire cloth, and a tarp. I figure if the chicken's go away I can reuse much of what I built.

We have foxes, coyotes, owls, hawks, buzzards, snakes, and possums so having a critter proof coop is a requirement. The foxes used to steal chickens from a place to our SW. Not sure if the chicken owners finally protected the chickens or if the foxes got them all.

With that in mind, here is a photo of the finished coop.

The coop was supposed to be moveable but with the use of PT wood and our wet clay I am not sure if I will be able to move it myself unless I lay down boards for the wheels to ride on. At this point I think what was supposed to have been a Chicken Tractor is more like a Chicken Tank. :laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

To build the coop, I used 2x4x8' and 5/4x6x8' to build the bottom frame. The 5/4x6x8 was used to nail the 2x4 forming a U channel that would hold the cattle panels. I could have save some money and wait by only using one 2x4 but I wanted to make sure that the cattle panel could not be pushed in by animals. After the build I think the inner 2x4 was not needed because the cattle panel was very hard to push in and there was enough structure on the end walls to make it hard or impossible for the local critters to move the panel. The inner 2x4 was useful to hold the wheels though.

Another 5/4 board was use to hold the two U channels. A 2x4 or 2x6 might have been better but I was trying to save weight. We shall see how well this works.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

The cattle panels were nice to use because they help "measure" the placement of the end walls, wire, and tarps. The one "mistake" I made was to not check the center of the hoop formed by the panel. The center of the hoop is not quite at four feet. This was because the cattle panel hoops would jiggle and wiggle. Well, it is a chicken coop. Not fine furniture.

After the cattle panels where set in the U channel, 2x4s were nailed to hold down the panels and give the coop more strength.

Two cattle panels were needed to cover the 8'x8' coop. The panel where 16'x50" or 52". I used zip ties to hold the two panels together.

Here is what the coop looked like with the hoop formed and the rear wall being built.

The 2x2 spacing might be overkill but I figured if a four legged critter was going to try to get in the bottom of the coop has to be strong. The 2x2 will later hold the 1/2 wire cloth.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

After the solid end wall was in place I started attaching the 1/2 hardware cloth. The farm store had to order us a full 100' roll and it was $120. I used up most of the roll.

Cutting the wire was PITA. I knew it would be. I did NOT want to have to use hand powered wire cutters since I would have to cut some much wire. At first I use a dremel with cut off wheels. A wheel might last two four foot cuts before breaking. Maybe a metal cutoff wheel would work better if they have them. The ones I used where ceramic. In the end I used wire cutter which was faster but after two afternoon of cutting I had overused the muscles on my hand and it was ice and meds time for a couple of days.

More zip ties where used to hold the wire cloth to the cattle panels and to each other.

The entire coop wrap in 1/2 wire clothe.

I have an air powered nail gun that was used to build the wooden structure. I bought an air powered stable gun to attach the hardware clothe to the wood. Without the air powered stable gun I would still be out there working and my hand wold be in great pain. The stable gun was $90ish at Amazon. It payed for itself on this one project.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

Here is the door end wall. Two things to notice. One is that one side wall is larger than the other because of the hoop wiggle I mentioned earlier. The other is the gap above the door.

At some point I will have to cut a board or plywood to cover that gap. A critter could climb up and get into the coop via that gap. At this point the chicks are not feathered out and we bring them into the house at night so I have some time before doing this one piece.

I build the door starting with the hinge side first. This worked well. By the way, if you work by yourself get a couple of pairs of hand clamps. I don't know how I would work without them. :thumbsup:

Door hinge...

I had to fur out the end wall to have a "level" plane on which to stable the hardware cloth. You can see the 2x2's used to fur out the wall.

Here is the latch...

I bought a kit at Lowes that had the hinges and latch. It had everything I needed and works well. There is a string running to a large washer that opens the latch if you get locked inside.

I worried about the door sagging but it held up well. But then it sagged. So I will have to get a wire to pull up the one latch side.

Finally the tarp went on, of course it was the windy out when the tarp was going up. :laughing:

I used clothes line to attach the tarp. The cattle panels were very handy tie downs for the line. Most of the line was attached with a truckers hitch will allowed me to really tighten the tarp down. It is like a drum. :thumbsup:

It helps to have someone inside the coop to pass the clothes line, and zip ties, to the other side of the hardware clothe though a pair of tweezers will work but take longer. I cut small lengths of line to form loops low on the coop. The loops where then used to snake a longer line from one end to the other holding down the side of the tarp. It works well.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

Wheels. Oh the Wheels. We wanted to be able to move the Chicken Tractor by hand so I figured wheels would be a good idea. Well the first set of wheels I bought at Lowes were expensive and too small. TSC has MUCH better wheels and much cheaper. However I think they wheels I bought might be too small.

The wheels have to be Goldilocks sized. Not too big but not too small. At this point the Chicken Tractor is more like a Chicken Tank. The wheels are likely too small for the wet ground we have. Larger wheels would be better. But larger wheels would increase the gap between the bottom of the coop and the ground. The vulnerability of the Chicken Tank is just like a real tank. On the underside. With larger wheels the gap would make it easier to dig under the side wall of the coop....

Installing, uninstalling, and reinstalling the wheels took up quite a bit of time. Not sure if it was worth it yet. Once the PT wood and our soil dries out we will find out.

The wheels are on the inside of the coop. This way if critters do try to dig inside the coop, I can attach fence on the ground outside the coop to stop digging.

There is wire covering the gaps in the frame. The only way in is under the frame.

The wheels are connected to the 2x4 with a bolt, nut and couple of washer.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

The coop is a couple of weeks old and the chickens are inside it every day. We move the chickens into the house at night but they are really getting to big to move. The last couple of nights and some nights this week will be in the upper 30s and the chickens have to be inside since they do not have their feathers yet.

On the cooler days we have been running a heat lamp depending on the temperature. We really should have waited a month or so before buying the chicks. They grew much faster than we thought they would.

In side the coop I put up a couple of 2x2 for roosts and more 2x2 to hold bedding boxes.

The coop is sitting on the back of the house. Soon I will have to move it but I will have to use the JD tractor to move the Chicken Tank. My pallet forks are only 42/48 inches long so they will not fit all the way across the coop. My plan is to get some 5/4x6x12 and 2x4x12 lumber and make more U channels. I have to measure the wide of the panel forks but I think the U channels will fit over the forks. I can scoot the U channels under the coop, put them on the forks and then use ratchet straps to hold the U channels to the forks. It is a plan. Hopefully it works. :laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[Don87]

Nice build, thanks for sharing.

If you want better wheels, i have an idea for ya.

Go to the local junkyard, pick up the rear hubs and wheels/tires from a front wheel drive car. Only 4 bolts hold them onto the axle. You can bolt them directly to the outside of your coup and it will roll much easier.

 

[RobertBrown]

Good ideas and thanks for taking the time to document your progress.
I have a tractor design and have considered some of the challenges you are now faced with.



The wheels can be as tall as you want if you offset the axle. If you want to take the time to fabricate a couple of brackets (steel /welding) you could use bicycle wheels.
The brackets or offsets could be located behind the coop rather than the sides, just a few (4+-) feet apart. Wheel barrow wheels might be better as they are fat and relatively tall.
Using 2 wheels and lifting one side to roll it. In the stationary position, the wheels would be just off the ground or touching it.
Why don't I see any next boxes? I think you are going to need these aren't you?

 

[dmccarty]

Good ideas and thanks for taking the time to document your progress.
I have a tractor design and have considered some of the challenges you are now faced with.



The wheels can be as tall as you want if you offset the axle. If you want to take the time to fabricate a couple of brackets (steel /welding) you could use bicycle wheels.
The brackets or offsets could be located behind the coop rather than the sides, just a few (4+-) feet apart. Wheel barrow wheels might be better as they are fat and relatively tall.
Using 2 wheels and lifting one side to roll it. In the stationary position, the wheels would be just off the ground or touching it.
Why don't I see any next boxes? I think you are going to need these aren't you?

The taller wheels will allows critters to dig under the coop. Being able to move the coop by hand would be nice but I am not sure if we will do it much. The wheels were danged expensive as it was and the bigger better tires are even more money. I looked at wheel barrow tires which would certainly handle the ground but given we might not move the coop much I will just wait and see. The wheel barrow tires where a lot more money and I was trying to stay away from tires that would leak. If we really want to move the coop I think we will have to go with larger wheels and attach fencing that will lay on the ground to stop digging.

The bedding nests will have to be added. I put in some 2x2s to hold the nest boxes but we have not added them yet. We won't get any eggs until August or September. Figure it will take three years of eggs to pay for the coop.

The youngest does go out and sit in the coop several times a day to play with the chicks. That makes it worth the time and money I suppose.

The lady at the community college said watching chicken was Chicken TV. She is right. They are kinda fun to watch. Throw them a bug and watch them chase each other around. :laughing: Certainly better than Reality TV.

Later,
Dan