Some of you all have asked for more info, and David was interested in more in-depth information on our designs, so I decided to do a blog on each of our chicken coops we made. The old cliche’ about if cant be an example, be a warning? That may be us!!!! 🙂
The first design I will share is the chicken ark. The basic idea came from this design on backyard chickens, the chicken mahal.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-chicken-mahal
You will see right off ours is similar, but different.
My handyman/ mechanic/ buddy’s family grow chickens, and his dad is a professional carpenter. So he had so ideas that he felt were better, and cheaper.
As you can see, the website guy built his out of all redwood. Probably treated? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. We used boards my dad had left over, and Stevie “stripped” them down to smaller size boards.
The next thing is you notice we used tin- again leftover from other projects. Not as pretty as the redwood, but should last and do the job.
The website guy also used the whole top part of his ark for a roost/ laying area. Stevie felt like it was too big for 3 or 4 chickens, and that they would like the extra sunlight. we provided by just putting tin over half the pen.
We also put a long board- 7 feet or so through the top of the pen instead of two on the bottom for the handles. This served 2 purposes- the long board was the board we attached other boards to, and it made it easier for someone to lift. We felt if the pen went to a home with someone with a sore back, it would be easier to lift.
Next is the access door. By not using wood for the siding, we also saved money by stretching chicken wire across all of the sides and bottom. Stevie drove me crazy- he put in over 1,000 staples on each tractor. He was adamant against predator protection; I just hated to staple so much!
We also added the access door on the top – again for easier access to remove food/ water/ chickens. The nail? It is there to catch the door when it opens up!
Then the wheels. This will be a theme you will see again on the bigger tractor we made. He put the wheels on the inside of the boards to use less space and easier to move/park.
Again, this was 1/2 day or little more to complete. If we didn’t have the wood or wire it would have been a much worse job. Its 7 feet long, and 3 feet wide. We did not make a blueprint, Stevie just built from the webpage link and his own experience.
Please ask questions on design, specific measurements, more pictures, etc if you wish. I can get anything you want before we give it away to a family 🙂
Tuesday I will put a blog up on another design!
Thanks for all of the information and photos!