/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Yeah, a buddy of mine named google has built tons of the things over there years and documented them all. His brother youtube also has quite a few. You should ask them.

Make sure you build it close to water,
It needs a single 60 watt bulb in the winter.

>>428028
"Chicken Tractor"

We of the board here could probably make some rough plans for a "Chicken Tractor" based on the pictures of the one mentioned in this art of manliness article. I'll give it a try later, after I get off work.

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/03/26/how-to-raise-backyard-chickens/

>>428130
that would be awesome, thanks

Backyardchickens dot com has a large forums and image section. I may or may not have a coop listed on there.

As for the advice on the bulb. Very bad idea. Don't hear the coop unless the temps drop to zero. Chickens are fine all the way to 0F. As long as they have an enclosed coop and a flat perch. 2x4 flat side up works for most.

I will hang out to answer chicken questions if you would like.

>>428423
A few points to keep in mind.

A coop and a run are two seperate parts of your chickens home. The coop should be enclosed and have a high perch. one foot of perch per chicken. one nest box for every three chickens. it should have a closing chicken door.

Design large doors or moving walls so you can clean the thing. You will need to shovel bedding and scrape poop off alls and perches.

>>428415
http://kerrcenter.com/publications/intern-reports/chicken_tractor.pdf
Here you are friend, I found a nice little PDF that appears to be the exact build as that article save for the little plastic wheels on the back side and nice coop siding. It even comes with a parts list and some nice pictures to boot.

>>428423
Yeah, you only really need heating if it's under freezing out with most chicken breeds. But I've heard from some chaps at the feed store that their hybrids tend to be a bit more sensitive.

>>428423

what are the necessary things to include in a coop or tractor to keep about 4 hens happy?

Dumping some pics of the tractor I just got operational. Ask me any questions you have. I'll reply tonight/tomorrow morning.

Total LxWxH: 12' x 4' x 4'
Coop LxWxH: 3'9" x 4' x 4'

Nest box is 3"3' with 3 dividers in it. The roof of it hinges open for egg collection. I still need to seal, shingle, and paint it.

The door is held closed by a carabiner

I use a hook through two screw in eyelets to lock the coop door. Once that is unlocked you can pull on the rope from the outside (opening the door) and loop it onto a hook I have on either side (holding the door open)

Here is a general view of the inside from the door.
Not pictured: feeder, waterer, other perch, rooster poult, some hen poults

Here are all of my poults. I have 5 barred rock and 2 australop hens and 1 violet laced rooster. This was a couple days ago so they have grown since then

>>428108

lel

Hey /diy/! I want to build a desk, but I have no idea that wood is good for this. I draw a lot so I need a smooth wood that does not ruin the paper. What wood should I use?

>>428912
Fuck off or I'll put some holes in you cunt.

If all you're hens are dead and ones missing it was a fox.
If one of your hens is missing and the others are alive it was a mink and it will come back.

>>428028
Srysly? A general chicken coop thread?

>>428442
>>428702

thanks!

>>428028

My neighbor had a coop. It was just a PVC pipe frame built in the shape of a pup tent with strong cord mesh instead of fabric.

It had no floor and he would move it every few days so he didn't have to clean the shit. The shit was left to fertilize his lawn.

The thing about home eggs is they taste strongly of whatever you feed them. If you feed them fish, your eggs will taste like fish. Your chickens will eat bugs and that will add to the flavor. The best is to buy professional chicken feed if you want palatable eggs.

He had about 6 hens and more eggs than he could give away.

I was gonna post about chicken coops myself, but was surprised to see a thread already started!

I'm in the planning stages of a permanent coop right now. We've got 6 chickens and 2 ducks that are around 4 weeks old. For now they live inside, but will move to a hutch and enclosed run once they're completely feather and it's warmer out.

We have an old wooden playset that isn't used anymore, so I'm using that as my base. Rough concept in picture.

The A-frame and extended beam is where the swings were; the entire outside area will have a buried fence to deter predators and be used as their run. Not shown will be a small sliding door with a simple lock at the top of the entrance plank to close off the coop at night. One nest box on the visible side, and one on the other side.

The screen door in between the A-frame will assist in cleaning out under the coop, where dust for the chickens and their main source of food and water will be located.

I don't have a picture of the playset as it sits now; but the main things I have to do is wall off the sides of the playhouse, and shorten the legs. Right now it sits on roughly 6 foot tall legs, and I need to shorten them to about 3 foot so the inside of the coop is accessible for cleaning without needing a ladder or anything stupid.

My main question is, how do I get this thing cut down and then put back up? I'm sure it'd be too heavy and I want to ease it down to avoid damaging it when the legs are cut.

There's a large tree nearby, would roping the playset to it be feasible you think, as to slowly winch it down with straps?

Chicken owner here, UK based. Putting together the finishing touches to my 21ft walk in run tomorrow. Can't wait. Got 4 girls and getting 3 more when all this is together, I'm going to post pics when I can.

Chickens are the most stupidest, easiest creatures to care for and the rewards are great. We use ours for laying. I sell the eggs at work, a pound for 6 and I get a lot of orders. Chicken tips for those thinking of keeping them:

Foxes will always be your enemy. Always. We have 6 gardens together in a cul de sac where mine backs onto scrub land. I get a large male adult fox come into the garden, shit every now and again despite having a 7 foot fence up. Secure your coop and run and secure it over and over again. The day you're lax is the day that you're waking up to a blood bath. With the coop, if you have an enclosed run, prep the ground first. Level it, put in sleepers around the circumference and the run on top. Secure it down with a weldmesh skirt and cover with soil. netting/electric runs won't do shit for a fox if it's hungry so I would always suggest having a solid one even if you have a lot of ground. Also chickenwire is for chumps. If you use that shit, you deserve to see the flock torn to pieces.

I'm working on a IPcam/remote door motor with feed running on XBMC over multiple machines currently as a project. I'll post pics when it's all together.

>>429255

Winching that would be insane, don't do it. Just feed bricks/breezeblocks under to prop it up. I've had to take ours apart a few times just to extend the run. Just part of looking after it. Make sure that shit is water tight on the roof and for the love of god don't use straw on the inside.

>>429700
What do you do when a hen dies from old age or disease? Give it to the dogs? leave it for the nature? bury it? eat it?. Always wondered that

I need to design and build a 4'x8' chicken coop for a chicken tractor very soon. Right now I'm going to be extending the top of a metal feeder so it will accept as much of a 50lbs bag as it can and be rain proof. I'll be using salvaged sheet metal from house hold appliances for the feeder and mostly scrap lumber for the chicken tractor.

>>429729

It depends. You have to view them as either pets or livestock - never both. You can't get attached to something that you'll kill and eat. If you're raising chickens just to eat then you won't have that problem I bet.

Never bury a dead chicken - EVER. It'll be dug up in days by something, normally a fox. Cremating/incinerating it is best as long as it's done away from the flock. I've had to send mine off to the vets for an autopsy a few times as they caught something and we needed to work out if the flock was in trouble. If it's died and you get it early, eating it isn't a problem, as long as it hasn't died from something really bad.

>>429729
Eat them when they stop laying.

>wife wants rabbits
>prepping, yeah sure. Food source
>get rabbits
>HNNNGGGhhhhhhh
>build them a three story mansion.

>>428700
>>428703
>>428708
Wow, great pictures! Hope you don't mind if I save a few.

>>429700
Running to your XBMC? That's brilliant my friend!

>>430322
>XBMC

As soon as I get everything sorted, I'll start a thread about it. Setting that up is simple. Getting the hardware in is the annoying part.

>>431469
I agree with the other anon, that's a brilliant idea.

I showed my wife this thread and we have talked about when we look for our new house to find one with a bit of land (for shooting range and such) and think a few chickens would be great.

My family had chickens when I was in my teens so I know a fair bit about them, including the issue with predators. Having a cam system in place would be great and I never knew XBMC had the ability to show the cam feeds.

>>431588
Well if other Anons want, as soon as I have it set up, I can write up a how-to do it yourselves. Might as well share the love as I've been working on it the last month.

Hey OP! Let Varg give you an inspiration:

http://thuleanperspective.com/2013/04/02/global-warming-hens/