Somehow, I feel this is analogous to the whole problem of Peak Oil.

Seriously, though. By "flap of wire", do you mean a 6 inches of chicken wire running straight out from the bottom of the pen? Not sure how else to envision that with a portable pen.

Hey, I just had a syncronistic moment. Chicken tractor made from a geodesic dome (from the greenhouse thread)

Dome 1
Dome 2

You can change the scale to suit and use pvc pipes or bamboo for a frame.

I use a 1 foot piece of wire running straight out along the ground from the bottom of the pen on all sides. The front piece needs to be hooked up against the vertical wire with a piece of baling wire before moving the pen - if you need to turn the pen the side pieces need to be hooked up also so they don't get run over and bent under the bottom edge. This makes it a little more time consuming to move the pen, but it's worth it from a chicken-saving standpoint. Since I put these wire flaps on, we haven't lost anymore chickens to raccoons.

I bought it via ebay, having done a search on "Permaculture Books" from "Universal Athenaeum," who buy books from Libraries, and re-sell them... A great deal...

Here's the publishing info:

Chicken Tractor: The Permaculture Guide To Happy Hens and Healthy Soil

Andy W. Lee and Patricia Foreman
pgs. 320
ISBN: 0-9624648-6-4

In this book, the authors lay out a brilliant plan for a mobile chicken hutch. With this plan, the chickens work for you and with you, as you provide them with food and love.

They provide plans for several different types of Chicken hutches... one that stays in place for 12 weeks to raise foodd chickens and build the foundation for a new raised bed garden; one that fits over existing raised beds to fertilize and control weeds and bugs; one that simply is moveable to fertilize ares of a yard, and one that works in conjustion with a greenhouse, which is mutually beneficial to the Chix and the produce.

In the 12-week chick to harvest cycle, you can create enough compost strata to establish a new raised bed garden... just add some extra soil, and a frame.

We ALL know what happens to a stationary chicken coop.. The poop builds up, attracts flies, the ground around the coop gets torn up, and muddy... So, MOVE your coop! Put it where you NEED it...

This book is a JOY to read, a treat to absorb, and simply, an all-around great resource for anyone interested in keeping chickens....

I hope this helped you!


Tony B.

250 chickens = 1 animal unit? I've got a long way to go. I built a mobile pen similar to Ludi's. (It doesn't look anywhere as nice and I refuse to post a picture lest I prove to the world my gross incompetence at rough carpentry). Even after optimizing for weight, its proving not very mobile though. I might experiment with adding lawn mower wheels for once weekly moving.

After my first batch of Javas left the brooder I turned around and ordered more chicks, poults and keets (lots of ticks around here). The brooder I made looks alot better than the "portable" ark. This is my first mail order batch though. Anybody have any specific advice for recieving mail order chicks? Looks like I just need to make sure they get food and water immediately.

I spent most of the day today building my chicken tractor. The frame is complete. Now I just have to weather proof the wood and put the wire on. It should be done tomorrow.

I made it four feet wide, eight feet long and three feet high. It will fit great over my 4 X 8 foot garden beds. I built it so after I harvest the broilers, I can turn it into an enclosed coop, with nest boxes and a open yard. It will be home for the layer hens.

Cliff

I have some lovely British chicken pen plans I want to make. They move about like a wheel barrow so you can position them over your garden areas for fertilizer. And I've been learning about nesting, egg production and feed.

But I'm worried about bird flu. Should I be when I buy my Rhode Island reds? Any types you recommend? Should I get a goose for property defense or can you eat their eggs too?

Just built a mobile chicken coop with a dozen nesting boxes. Spent a total of $62.

http://www.EcoReality.org/wiki/Chicken_tractor

When we arrived here two years ago our "chicken coop" was a long abandoned dilapidated double run beagle pen stuck out in the woods 60 yards from the house. The runs were/are 6' high 2"x3" welded wire with barb wire running around the bottom and 3 or 4 strands running around the top effectively making the pen 8' high. The outside pens are 12' x 20'. I rebuilt the attached coops with the lumber from the beagle houses which were 4'x16' and boards from free pallets from our local farm supply store and some tin for the roof. and they are each 8'x8'. They each have a wall of tin nesting boxes and a roosting bar. The coops are 2' off the ground and the floors are 6'x8' hardware cloth and 2'x8' wood floor for human access. We have had 2 dominiques and one bantie cross hen hatch chicks. Our system was to put the hens and chicks in one pen by themselves. The chicks could scoot in and out of the pen through the welded wire but never strayed far from the mother hens. At night the hens lead the chicks back into the coop to brood them for the night. Recently the chicks got to big to squeeze through the wire so we opened up the pen door so the hens can join the chicks in the outside world. We keep a waterer and feeder in the coop and spread chick starter out in the pen on the ground.

A month into it and so far we have not lost a chick, which is unusual. The pen is in heavy woods with good ground cover so that decreases hawk predation. The setup keeps the hens and chicks in the center of the rest of the free-ranging birds. At our old place in Maine our biggest predator problem was our own cats. Same cats here but no problems. I haven't seen the roosters beating up on the cats but that may explain the difference. The hens are feisty, especially the bantam, who I could see attacking a cat threatening the chicks.

Last year we couldn't hatch a chick with our buff orphingtons. So this year we got the dominiques and bantams and crossed them with our Salmon Faverole rooster. Seeing what we get is half the fun. Egg production has been steady. I prefer the dominique eggs to the bigger eggs from our leghorn hens.

I'd like to get some english gamehens if I could find some that weren't $20 apiece. I'm not cheap, just thrifty!

On the previous page, I posted a link to info about a "chicken tractor" we just built. I think it's pretty well raccoon-proof.

The key is total enclosure, including the bottom. Predators can dig under fencing or walls that sit on the earth.

About a dozen, according to Storey's Guide to Raising Poultry.

This is a fantastic thread! I've been reading all the posts in anticipation of getting chickens. A friend of ours offered to hatch a few chickens for us under a broody hen, and so last thursday I received the call that they are old enough to be delivered.

So I've spent the day building what will be our 'small' chicken house, used for separating out chickens from the main chicken house (where we intend to have about 30 or 40 separated into a few groups.

So basically these chicks are our first 'toe in the water' experience with the whole backyard chicken thing!, and here are the photos from today building the chicken house. I'll post some more photos tomorrow night when I've gotten a little more complete.

Nice work on the coop, Hagakure. I'll be interested in seeing the final product and learning how it worked for you.

We cleaned out our coop yesterday. We let it go 6 months, which was too long. The floor is mostly hardware wire to let droppings fall through to the tarp set under the coop. I couldn't pull out the tarp because it was too heavy with poo and straw. I had to bring the tractor into the chicken yard and clip the tarp to a rope and pull it out to the garden patch by our little creek. I spread and tilled in the nice dry, crumbly fertilizer. Melons and squash will be going into this particular bed this year (last year it was corn, which we're still eating) so I won't be planting there for another 6 weeks. That time should give the poo a chance to break down a bit more.

After scraping off some caked on poo we power washed the interior. We let it dry today and tomorrow I'll lay down some new barley straw. We also cleaned out the chick coop and I'll lay in fresh straw there as well. We have an order coming from McMurray of another 32 female chicks of various breeds. This will bring our flock to about 60 birds.

We don't restrict their movement in any way. They roam the entire property and get most of their food from the land. They love to scratch through the horse droppings out in pasture. They find lots of bugs to eat and a great variety of vegetable matter. This is in addition to their layer feed and scratch grains.

I've been selling eggs and the girls are now making a profit. This money pays for their feed and bought the new set of chicks. This spring and summer I'll be selling eggs at the farmer's market in Moscow.

DA,
Cleaning out the coop is a chore that invariably always gets let go too long around here. I just hate doing it, and before I realize it, it's 6 months and a huge job. Mine gets cleaned out with a scoop shovel and a wheelbarrow, though, so it sounds like even if you had to pull out the tractor, yours probably got done faster than mine will . I've been telling myself for weeks now I need to get it done. Spring is nearly here though, and I really do need to get all that fertilizer out of the house . Not to mention, the hot weather tends to stir up a funk, so the birds will be happier once it's clean.

We sell a lot of eggs, too. During the summer months, our hens more than make a profit and pay for their own food. During the winter, though, we end up spending more for food since they don't have access to as many green things and bugs.

Can I ask what price you have on your eggs? Folks around here appreciate that the eggs are farm fresh eggs, but most don't care whether or not they're free range or not. Thus, I can't get the price I would if I took them into a farmer's market and marketed them as free range. Last summer we sold at the market a few times, but most of our customers are locals.

Kathy

Patience,
Our chickens are free range, but not completely free range... if I can explain. I have about 2 1/2 - 3 acres for them to run on. The outside perimeter of the area is fenced in 2x4 wire fencing. The chickens have enough room to run around that they rarely think about flying over the fence (which they can), but the 2x4 wire keeps predators out, with the exception of hawks. We've had a couple little ones picked off by hawks during the past couple years, but the bigger issue around here would be coyotes and stray dogs. The fencing keeps the chickens (at least the smart ones who stay inside) safe.

The fenced area, btw, is also the area that my goats run in, so the wire keeps them safe as well. Cross-fencing inside is 6x6 wire panels. The chickens can get through, but the goats cannot. That way I have the chickens' house and the area where I feed them where the goats can't access it. That keeps the goats from getting into the chicken grain when I toss it out.

Lumpy,
You didn't ask me but I'll throw in my 2 cents anyway . Probably 95% of our customers are locals. The only advertising I do is a sign at the end of my driveway that says "fresh eggs." Word of mouth is the best advertising there is. We've had regular customers since the first day we hung out the sign, and generally there are many who we have to turn away or ask to come back, because even with 70+ laying hens, we never have as many eggs as customers. Right now, there are 11 dozen eggs in my kitchen - the oldest of which is 5 days old. A lady called me last night (one of my regulars) and told me she'll be by to buy everything I've got this morning. She distributes them to all her family. We rarely get worried about getting overrun with eggs.

Our babies are kept separate from the larger flock until they're big enough to fly and can escape from the bigger chickens if they get picked on. Letting all the birds free range, though, means we can put them together faster than we would be able to if they were in a run together (with no way to escape the bigger birds). And, they have a larger area to separate themselves. Our birds have pretty well segregated themselves into about 3 flocks. They can all run in the same 3 acres, but they hang in groups, usually dominated by 1 or 2 roosters in each group. The smaller roosters run everywhere and get run off by the bigger roosters when they bug them too much .

"Vegetarian" chickens is nothing more than a marketing gimick. I agree - chickens eat a lot of bugs, and for that I am happy. They keep them out of my yard lol.

Kathy

Goodmaj.

'Muck' is pretty normal as far as I know. I'm not expert though. Others might know. Maybe you could describe it in more detail. It's probably just pop, but I wouldn't worry too much about contamination in that case. I'm not sure washing them is a good idea though... I recall something about making the shells less protective that way...

--------

Update on the crazy coop project...

Todays effort. From the picture below, it appears the nests rests on the ground, but when it's made up it will not. I'm going to mount this entire structure of tall stumps about a meter above ground. So the nests will be well elevated.

The support beams seen on the bottom will also be cut out, so we'll effectively be able to walk inside it. But we'll collect the eggs from the sides. I'll probably create a simple 'tray' that will rest beneath all this to collect droppings for the fruit trees.