farmer's notebook

Portable Chicken Coop

This is what our portable chicken coop (AKA a "chicken tractor") looked like when we first put it out in October 2004. We started with 8 hens and one rooster:

Today (January 2007) we have seven of the original hens and Antonio, the beautiful rooster. The portable coop has held up well. The galvanized 1 inch chicken wire has corroded around the stainless screws that hold it in place. The green door went floppy and needed to be reinforced. A deer ran into the side of the wire cage and broke one of the supports. The chickens do well, love being moved each morning, and don't try to get out. They dogs don't bother them, and we have had no coyote problems or other predator problems, although occasionally a bald eagle, a big red-tailed hawk, or what I think are falcons sometimes cruise by or sit in a nearby tree with interest.

    

Things I will modify next time I build a portable coop:

  • I'll add a trap door in the top of the open section, to make it easier to put water and food into the coop
  • I'll try to find some stainless chicken wire to replace the galvanized.
  • I'll try to make the whole thing a little lighter weight. My wife Bernie has trouble moving this uphill (2-5% grade).
  • I might make the wheels bigger, to go over rough ground more easily.

A few observations about the chickens:

  • They are amazingly sensitive to daylight period! They stop laying as the days shorten in fall. In 2006, one of the hens started laying December 22. This year we started getting eggs again December 31.
  • They love greens and bugs! They will pass up grain any day to dig in straw for bugs.
  • Our Americaunas/Aracaunas dig a lot. But, at least in our soil, calling them a replacement for tillage is an overstatement - more like pothole makers.
  • We love our eggs, and are now officially egg snobs. An omelet made with three of these eggs is not an omelet made from those pale, yellowish store eggs.
  •  I'm not looking forward to stewing one of these hens when they stop laying. The quandary of livestock - love 'em and eat' em?!?

Check out this page on my site that describes a how to make a simple, robust hanging chicken waterer to permanently replace that broken plastic thing...

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Polypropylene Fencing

Summer of 2006 I finally completed installation of our deer protection fencing. I used schedule 40 galvanized steel posts in concrete as the support and gates, and a plastic fencing sold by Fickle Hill Fence and Supply out of California.

     

I am happy with the fence material to date. Here are my notes:

  • The fencing rolls are light weight enough for one person to handle. They go up pretty easily with (UV-resistant) zip ties.
  • I failed to weave some visible tape into the fencing (per Fickle Hill's recommendation) so deer could see, and react to, the almost invisible, black fence. As a result, deer would sometimes get into our (1 acre) yard before the fencing perimeter was completed. The dogs chased them, and they would crash through the polypro mesh, rending holes sometimes several feet off the ground. These holes were easy to patch with small zip ties. The deer obviously didn't like the experience, because that stopped happening in the first few weeks after installation. And deer never broke in, they were breaking out.
  • We had big wind storms this winter, and some branches fell on and collapsed the fence. I had to re-string the top wire when this happened, but the polypro fencing itself popped right back into place and was easy to repair.
  • Even though we had a very dry summer outside the fence (a lot of hungry deer), and had an irrigated deer paradise inside the fence, we had no break-ins. Check out the harvest!

     

       

I'll keep this website updated regarding how this polypropylene fencing holds up over time.

Kind Regards,

Dan Vorhis

Home

      Hit Counter