Another Chicken Coop: Low Cost and Portable

A few weeks ago I was visiting Fox Hollow Farm near Louisville, where I got a good look at this portable chicken house for their laying hens. The CSA farmer there, Pavel, was nice enough to send me some pictures so that I could use some of his design in a coop that I was planning to build. This house was inspiring because it is made from scraps (wood, metal roof, and irrigation line for the skids) and low-cost materials (chicken wire and a few hinges). It was also inspiring because it is movable and contained within an electric fence, which has been an idea I've wanted to bring to our farm for some time now.

And here's a pic of the coop a built. It is considerably smaller than the one at Fox Hollow. This one is designed to house around 15 chickens, and is small enough that one strong set of arms can pull it around the farm...although, like most things, its much easier with two people!

This design uses cattle panels for the hoop structure. It is made from one panel, cut in half, and fastened onto a simple frame structure made from scrap wood and chicken wire. The cover on top is an old banner from a check-cashing place (Thanks Carly Rio...I used it again!). The banner was a little unsightly, so I covered it with bamboo leaves to make the whole thing blend in with the greenery of the farm.

The coop is designed to be moved around the farm. The chickens roost inside the coop and manure is dropped onto the ground. After a little while, the coop is moved to keep the chickens from living above their own manure. With a portable chicken yard, the chickens can be used to clean up bugs, till up garden space, eat rotting fruits or vegetables...all kinds of farm chores.

There is a yard outside the coop where the chickens are contained by electric poultry netting. The netting is electrified by the same solar charger that powers the deer fence. The poultry netting is connected to a hot strand on the deer fence with an insulated ground wire, with one end wrapped into the poultry netting and the other wrapped onto a hot strand of the deer fence. So far, this system has worked well and kept predators out. I do not even close the chickens up at night...they are free to come and go into their coop as they please. This is ideal for me because they are now 3 miles away from where I live, and visiting them twice a day to open and close a coop would become quite a chore. I need a setup where I can go away for 24 hours , and sometimes a weekend, and the chickens stay fed, watered, cool, and safe.

Here's another view of the setup. Another important thing to think about here was the ability of the chickens to self regulate their temperatures. Chickens like being able to go into the shade, go somewhere cool, go out in the sun, and to dust bathe, as they please. The bamboo that covered up the banner gave them a nice little spot to catch some shade. I'm planning on giving them more bamboo structures to climb on and to find shade in.

A chicken enjoys herself: a dust bath!