# My mobile chicken tractor/coop



## Shamrockmommy (Jun 24, 2015)

I'm new here, these are our chicken "stagecoaches" but I just call them our coops. 








Here is a view from the back before I put the tarp and sunshade on coop "a". 








They are 4'x8'x4' and are supposed to hold up to 6 chickens. 
Currently I have 2 bantams in one (8 week old OEGB and Sebright, more about her later),









and in the other I have 4 5 week old LF (Golden Laced Wyandotte, Easter Egger, Buff Orpington, and Speckled Sussex). 









I can leave the banty coop in place 4 day (probably more but I don't like them treading around on poo all day). The chicks' coop I've been moving every other day for same reason. Holy cow do they poop!

The roost is modified from the original mobile stagecoach plans, it has a permanent floor and a sliding pop door you can open/close from the outside. 








Here is how the nesting box lid opens AND the box base folds down so I can get in there to clean. 








And the sliding pop door in closed position









I plan to use them year round, and am brainstorming ideas for the winter time after the grass goes dormant. One idea is to put them both up on the asphalt driveway, so they are near the garage to plug in heated dog waterers. It gets pretty cold here Dec-Feb, even March, and then I could do deep litter maybe and throw in alfalfa flakes for them to scratch through along with all the kitchen scraps and such. I also want to put some clear plastic over it, leaving the front screen door open for ventilation. That would cut down a lot on the wind. Since the roof to the roost is metal, I want to also get that insulation that is in sheets, but flexible and put a couple layers on that under the tarp. Maybe this is overkill... if tiny sparrows last the winter my big, spoiled hens should be able to...

I am going to post another post in general discussion about possibly moving one of the babies to the banty coop. Help there will be appreciated.


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## rosco47 (Jul 6, 2015)

welcome!
these are awesome. some pics looked like a cross between a chicken tractor and an airstream. nice setup.
good looking birds too. still young huh? 
i've been wrong before but i would advise against parking the coop on top of pavement. chickens need dirt. and during winter, pavement tends to get really cold. just something to think about...

go introduce yourself in the introductions forum and show off more pics of those birds! nice having you around!


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## Shamrockmommy (Jun 24, 2015)

I think I'll find a spot just off the driveway for their winter parking. Oh they do have a good sized rubber feed bowl full of sand and wood ash. They all take dust baths and have a good time working up a dust cloud! 

The LF are 5 weeks and the banties are 9 weeks. Right about now I'm wishing I had two LF and four banties lol 

Oh well. I will try to make it work. 

Thanks for the compliment. We worked very hard on them. Took six weekends, a couple of them were three day weekends and from breakfast to supper. Phew!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

The hard work is obvious in the way it looks.


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