With the avian flu poultry lockdown my ducks proved tricky to keep happy in confined spaces. Used to having the whole smallholding I decided the kindest thing would be to house them in the polytunnel. This gives them plenty of space and with the old sheep footbath as their pond.
But keeping them in there doesn't protect them at night. And a recent fox attack of a friends ducks hammers this home as he lost all but one of his ducks (which now lives with ours for the time being).
So time to build them a coop.
There are certain conventions we follow when it comes to poultry housing. People either buy or make what everyone else, has because it works. But my mobile chicken coops have worked so well over the last 3 years it makes me look at things a little differently.
I want my coops to be easy to move, easy to repair and easy to clean. Having wooden shiplap boards looks amazing and does keep them weather proof but using my coops for the last 3 years has shown me that a tarp is plenty of protection and provides no where for mites to hide.
The basic frame is a folding billboard type made from 4x2 that are halving jointed together for strength then hinged at the top.
The base sits on the frame and is cabled tied to it. I also added some wire to the frame to prevent predators from entering it (this is recycled from a broken heras panel).
Then the front and back are added. These are easily fixed in with a few screws. The front has a ramp and vent and the back is easily opened to allow cleaning.
The whole coop is then covered with a tarp. This one is only a cheap tarp - a thicker one would last a lot longer, but it's what I had to hand.
So a fairly cheap coop that can be knocked apart and taken down in very little time. So far the ducks have taken a bit of rounding up at night (one duck is just mental) but it keeps them safe from predators. Obviously at the moment it's in the polytunnel so it's not a proper test of it but I'll use it for a while and report back on how it does.
I know this won't be to everyone's taste but interested to hear what people think!
Love the straight forward design. My crazy brain tells me to put 2 small wheels at the back, so it can be tilted backwards and moved like a wheelbarrow, would it be too heavy to do this with?
ReplyDeleteNo, with some longer arms on the front it would be easy to move like this. The thought had crossed my mind as well and I'd even ordered some but need to make another mobile chicken coop first. The ducks make such a mess moving them about would be ideal really.
DeleteBrilliant!I'm seeing how you could 'gang' two or three together for bigger capacity. Thanks for the idea!
ReplyDeleteYeah that would work well I think. Pretty simple to construct as well. My birds always seem to have such a layer of fat on them I doubt they'd get cold with our winters here.
Deletei had ducks when i was young and i can still remember the smell and the mess they made!
ReplyDeleteYeah they are basically feathered pigs in my eyes!
DeleteHi Kev great idea there, Is that an axminster cyclone extractor in the background? I'm thinking of getting one how are you getting on with it?
ReplyDeleteAshley
I've only had it a month but like it so far. Before I had an old scheppach one but this is in another league to that (it was old though). I think that the main downside with this is that it's awkward to change the bag and it doesn't take long to fill up. I've also ordered a workshop air filter/scrubber as trying to take dust a bit more seriously.
DeleteThanks for the reply, I thought that the bag looked small. I suppose if its smaller it should be lighter to empty. I got one of their trade airfilters before christmas and within an hour i noticed how much better the air in the workshop was.
DeleteAre you going to be doing any more youtube vidoes?
Yeah, I looked at the trade models but were out of stock at the time and as my workshop is small it's not ideal to have huge bags to drag past everything else. I did go for an all singing and dancing air scrubber though.
DeleteI really should do some more videos but find it slows me down so much that it puts me off. I should do some simple review ones really if nothing else. I am going to try and do a series on my other blog this year where I'm going to make sure I'm carving or turning something every week! I really want to focus more on my craft side of things - I've just posted about my new sharpening bench over there now.I've also just ordered the Paulk smart bench plans and I'm looking to make that soon (homeschooling allowing) and hoping that will be another part of the jigsaw that is my small workshop. I feel like I'm making great use of space in there for what I manage to turn out and it keeps changing as I go forward with it.
Sounds like you've got plenty to keep you busy, I would love to see a review on your new cyclone. Think thats gonna be next on my list
DeleteHi Kev looks like another great idea, I've already copied your Heras panel chicken coop for some meat birds in the summer and it worked really well. Kathy
ReplyDeleteAmazing! Would you email me some pictures if you have any? I'm always keen to see how people get on with it. I love it, just wish it was easier to turn. Might have an idea for that though and I'll be building number 4 in a few weeks time and I might make a video of making it.
DeleteHi Kev, Could you do a post of the Bird Flu lockdown. It hasn't made the new here at all and I'm struggling to get information.
ReplyDelete