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A Beginner’s Chicken Ark

By Community Chickens on June 23, 2010 Visit Community's Website.

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Guest post by Stacia Equi

When my parents moved to a more rural area about five years ago, I talked my mom into getting chickens. It wasn’t difficult; all I said was, “You should get chickens, you could have fresh eggs.” Because I proposed the idea, I was roped into building the coop.

I lived 3,000 miles away at that time and had come home for a visit (which I did only every two years or so). My mom had the chicks, six Buff Orpingtons, in the garage in a brooder. She handed me a plan she had found in Organic Gardening, and I said, “Yeah, of course we can build this in a day.” I was being foolishly optimistic because I was leaving two days later.

The plan cleverly uses the wood called for, and the resulting coop is portable. A gangplank inside can be lowered to give the poultry access to a chicken wire-enclosed area below. (For a somewhat similar portable miniature chicken coop design, check out this Mother Earth News mini-coop design.) I made a few changes to the original plans, but the basic shell was built in one day. Mom has made some changes to it through the years, customizing it for her situation, and it rarely moves from the shady corner of the yard. It’s still in one piece, and currently has two occupants, but it can house more than a dozen chickens. That’s good, because Mom’s getting 12 more in a few weeks.

The first picture of the chicken ark shows the side with the nesting box access door down. I used a piece of scrap greenhouse plastic for the top end, so there would be some natural light. Mom eventually replaced one entire long side with the insulated greenhouse plastic. (When originally built, the sides were plywood.)
I don’t remember the dimensions of the coop floor, but the sides are each a 4-by-8-foot sheet of plywood. A green rope controls the gangplank. The picture of the side of the coop shows the gangplank with the nesting boxes to the right. The plywood side is hinged up for full access to the coop floor, so it can be easily cleaned.

Eventually, the legs were wrapped in chicken wire to provide a secure area for the chickens to have access to the ground unsupervised. The two handles are 12-foot-long two-by-fours, which make it easy for two people to lift and move the entire coop (in essence having it do double duty as a chicken tractor). It’s heavy though, with the three sheets of plywood and all the two-by-fours, but it is portable.

There was still some work to be done to the coop, but what you see in the pictures was built in one day. (We purchased the supplies in the morning and started working after lunch.) A roosting bar runs the length of the interior, and a lamp in the roof peak provides warmth and light during winter so they keep laying.
This was the beginning of my mother’s chicken adventure, which has now led to my own. I’m currently rehabbing a scary coop that came with our new house, and raising 26 chicks in the garden shed, in an ever expanding brooder. Ah, the adventure!

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  • Mother Earth News
  • Stacia Equi

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4 Comments


Kaleo
9 years ago

(Reply)



A great idea. To lighten it, making the portable chicken tractor idea more feasible, use smaller dimension lumber. The plywood sides essentially just keep out the weather; 1/4 inch outdoor/marine plywood will do. Much of the roost floor could be wire instead of heavier plywood, for folks in southern climes anyway (I live in Hawaii), which will also keep the roost area cleaner. Instead of 2x4s, use 2x2s; when tied together with glued/screwed 1/4″ ply, the structure will be very rigid against lengthwise stresses, and the triangular structure will make it absolutely solid for cross-wise stresses. The handles on each end are short, probably projecting no more than 18 inches, so 2x2s are probably adequate (they may bend a little when lifting the coop, but that’s okay); pay attention to the 2×2 grain, keeping it vertical (parallel) in relation to the ‘A’ frame pieces (if the grain is perpendicular to the ‘A’ frame pieces, it will be weaker, more likely to break from the coop’s weight when lifting).

JenPB
9 years ago

(Reply)



Yes, thanks for sharing! 🙂

Emma Dorsey
9 years ago

(Reply)



This is very cool. I love it!Thanks for sharing!

**ALLDJS**
9 years ago

(Reply)



Awesome! Thanks for sharing.
David w/ http://www.showmesilkies.com



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