So during the course of visiting this site, the thought may have entered your head as to WHY is this site called "Truck 'o Chickens"??!!
If you've ever visited me and my chickens and the coop the chickens will call home, you will immediately see why! Right now, my husband and I are building a coop unlike the average coop. While most people would get rid of an old grain truck that no longer runs, we decided to turn this one into a fabulous chicken coop! The box on the back was still useful, so we are making the walls higher and putting a roof on it and - *Voila* - a home for my poultry friends. It is a work in progress at the moment and you can view pictures below to see how far we've come. And meanwhile the coop is being built, this spring I used the cab as a "brooder house" of sorts There were two brooders full of baby chicks (future egg layers!) that were kept safe and warm and dry until the rest of the building is built! (I also made a home for the cats in there as well and as you can see from some of the pictures, they loved to sit on top of the warm brooders. :-)
Along with that truck, Lindsey and I also spent 2009 designing, redesigning, building, and rebuilding a portable summer coop for the chickens. This has been a work in progress as we tried to come up with a way for the chickens to remain free-range in a wire-lined PVC run, but also have a place to eat, drink, nest, and roost at night. This turned out to be harder than we thought! We had lots of ideas and each one solved one more problem. Hopefully we'll have perfected it sometime soon! :-) You can see a collection of pictures below for this as well.
February 18, 2009 -- Here is the truck after we put the first studs up. It's amazing how hard this is to do when the truck isn't all square and perpendicular... :-)
February 18, 2009 -- Another view...you can see the framing for the larger windows that will be on the one side. Since we're working to save money and reuse the most materials, it's interesting to note that the majority of the materials used in this coop are salvaged from Lindsey's uncle's trailer house. How cool is that!?
March 8, 2009 -- And the rafters are up! These add considerable steadiness to the whole truck...
March 15, 2009 -- Lindsey framing the door.
March 15, 2009 -- Lindsey straightening up an old door (that used to be on a building here in the yard) that will now be fixed up to fit on the coop!
March 15, 2009 -- Another find from the salvaged trailer house - cupboards! They will sit on the end closest to the cab to hold supplies and other similar things. I have it covered in plastic to keep the elements off of it until there is a complete roof and walls on the coop. Here you see Felicity and the cats staying warm in the sun. :-)
March 15, 2009 -- Putting in the door!
March 29, 2009 -- Lindsey measuring to put cross pieces on the rafters to even more stability.
Another one...
And another one...
April 3, 2009 -- The truck as it currently stands (minus the tin on the roof which I happen to not have a picture of yet...) We stopped work on this coop for awhile to plant the fields and take care of a multitude of summer stuff on the farm. But hopefully before winter we'll add walls and windows to keep them cozy this winter!
April 3, 2009 -- Check out the brooder house and especially the yawning yellow cat (Floyd is bored with life...)
We took the seat out of the front to allow for more room for everyone.
May 6, 2009 -- Version 1 of the portable chicken run. As it turned out, this ended up being too heavy to move efficiently and too close to the grapes in the vineyard.
May 6, 2009 -- Here is the first framing of the eating/drinking/roosting part of the summer coop.
May 9, 2009 -- Here is the version 1 run again, this time with chickens in it (and a nice rainbow!) I had put a small crate in there for the 15 or so hens and rooster to perch on at night. I also hung water buckets by the frame work (to keep them from tipping over) and sprinkled corn on the ground for them to eat. Not very efficient because the water buckets had to be refilled everyday (because they were rather small) and corn was given several times a days as well. There was also no covering and chickens like a little shade in the afternoon. Good thing it was cool and not very rainy for the short time they lived in here!
May 25, 2009 -- Here is the then completed nesting/roosting area and a shortened and narrowed run. We came to the conclusion after moving the roosting area several times that it needed wheels on the bottom of it because the weight of the frame, plus the weight of the birds was a little hard to move...
May 25, 2009 -- After spending the majority of their spring thus far running where they please around the yard (and laying eggs in places I can't find...) they're a little confused being told to stay inside...
August 6, 2009 -- Here is the rollaway nesting box Lindsey and I made to try and keep the dirty eggs and egg eating down to a minimum. You can see I covered it in plastic tarp (instead of wood) to keep it light and easy to move with the rest of the coop. In all our designs, we tried to come up with ideas that were usable but light-weight to make the summer coop easy to move every other day or so.
August 29, 2009 -- For June, July and most of August, the chickens spent time in our backyard area to allow the grass in the vineyard to get a good start on growing. While in there, Lindsey added two planter wheels to the back of the coop to make it easier to move. It was better than dragging it, but still pretty tough because the wheels hung off the back and therefore lifting the coop meant lifting all 40+ birds. We knew something need to be done, but it wasn't until the end of August that we took a day and re-wheeled the nesting/roosting area. You can see one of the too-small wheels lying on the ground there in the picture. By this time, the light-weight wooden roosts were also breaking and bowing under the weight of the birds on them at night as well. We took down the old boards and replaced them with much stronger angle braces and then used old pig crates for roosts. These are metal and much more durable. With the new larger wheels, the weight didn't make as much difference (we'd be pushing this one, not like lifting the old version). We also put the home-made rollaway nesting box in here now and removed the other nesting box that they didn't like because it gave very little privacy (it had no back on it) and didn't keep straw in the screened bottoms. I had also bought a waterer that fits a 5-gallon pail that also was put in the coop now too. No more hauling water every few hours!! When we moved the coop for the first time with the new wheels we were pretty thrilled at the change!
Me and Lindsey with the new additions/fix-ups!! :-)
September 2, 2009 -- With the nice new wheels and the grass growing nicely, the coop was moved back to the vineyard!
September 6, 2009 -- As easy as the new coop is to move compared to the old version, Lindsey decided that it would be even easier if the wheels were placed directly under the roosting section since we always move it at night when the chickens are sleeping so that's where all the weight is. This was a relatively simply process, but we decided now that perhaps there should be a couple small wheels on the back because the back now drags. Maybe we'll do that tomorrow!! :-) By this time, I had also spent many hours redoing the PVC run to make two small runs rather than moving the still heavy large one. You can see I finished one of them above, but the second one you see added below has plastic over it to add shade in the afternoon sun. I also made note to put the plastic on in 3 smaller pieces rather than one whole piece to keep the rain from pooling in the middle and collapsing the whole structure (something else learned the hard way a couple months ago...) The chickens seem to like it! :-)
If you've ever visited me and my chickens and the coop the chickens will call home, you will immediately see why! Right now, my husband and I are building a coop unlike the average coop. While most people would get rid of an old grain truck that no longer runs, we decided to turn this one into a fabulous chicken coop! The box on the back was still useful, so we are making the walls higher and putting a roof on it and - *Voila* - a home for my poultry friends. It is a work in progress at the moment and you can view pictures below to see how far we've come. And meanwhile the coop is being built, this spring I used the cab as a "brooder house" of sorts There were two brooders full of baby chicks (future egg layers!) that were kept safe and warm and dry until the rest of the building is built! (I also made a home for the cats in there as well and as you can see from some of the pictures, they loved to sit on top of the warm brooders. :-)
Along with that truck, Lindsey and I also spent 2009 designing, redesigning, building, and rebuilding a portable summer coop for the chickens. This has been a work in progress as we tried to come up with a way for the chickens to remain free-range in a wire-lined PVC run, but also have a place to eat, drink, nest, and roost at night. This turned out to be harder than we thought! We had lots of ideas and each one solved one more problem. Hopefully we'll have perfected it sometime soon! :-) You can see a collection of pictures below for this as well.
February 18, 2009 -- Here is the truck after we put the first studs up. It's amazing how hard this is to do when the truck isn't all square and perpendicular... :-)
February 18, 2009 -- Another view...you can see the framing for the larger windows that will be on the one side. Since we're working to save money and reuse the most materials, it's interesting to note that the majority of the materials used in this coop are salvaged from Lindsey's uncle's trailer house. How cool is that!?
March 8, 2009 -- And the rafters are up! These add considerable steadiness to the whole truck...
March 15, 2009 -- Lindsey framing the door.
March 15, 2009 -- Lindsey straightening up an old door (that used to be on a building here in the yard) that will now be fixed up to fit on the coop!
March 15, 2009 -- Another find from the salvaged trailer house - cupboards! They will sit on the end closest to the cab to hold supplies and other similar things. I have it covered in plastic to keep the elements off of it until there is a complete roof and walls on the coop. Here you see Felicity and the cats staying warm in the sun. :-)
March 15, 2009 -- Putting in the door!
March 29, 2009 -- Lindsey measuring to put cross pieces on the rafters to even more stability.
Another one...
And another one...
April 3, 2009 -- The truck as it currently stands (minus the tin on the roof which I happen to not have a picture of yet...) We stopped work on this coop for awhile to plant the fields and take care of a multitude of summer stuff on the farm. But hopefully before winter we'll add walls and windows to keep them cozy this winter!
April 3, 2009 -- Check out the brooder house and especially the yawning yellow cat (Floyd is bored with life...)
We took the seat out of the front to allow for more room for everyone.
May 6, 2009 -- Version 1 of the portable chicken run. As it turned out, this ended up being too heavy to move efficiently and too close to the grapes in the vineyard.
May 6, 2009 -- Here is the first framing of the eating/drinking/roosting part of the summer coop.
May 9, 2009 -- Here is the version 1 run again, this time with chickens in it (and a nice rainbow!) I had put a small crate in there for the 15 or so hens and rooster to perch on at night. I also hung water buckets by the frame work (to keep them from tipping over) and sprinkled corn on the ground for them to eat. Not very efficient because the water buckets had to be refilled everyday (because they were rather small) and corn was given several times a days as well. There was also no covering and chickens like a little shade in the afternoon. Good thing it was cool and not very rainy for the short time they lived in here!
May 25, 2009 -- Here is the then completed nesting/roosting area and a shortened and narrowed run. We came to the conclusion after moving the roosting area several times that it needed wheels on the bottom of it because the weight of the frame, plus the weight of the birds was a little hard to move...
May 25, 2009 -- After spending the majority of their spring thus far running where they please around the yard (and laying eggs in places I can't find...) they're a little confused being told to stay inside...
August 6, 2009 -- Here is the rollaway nesting box Lindsey and I made to try and keep the dirty eggs and egg eating down to a minimum. You can see I covered it in plastic tarp (instead of wood) to keep it light and easy to move with the rest of the coop. In all our designs, we tried to come up with ideas that were usable but light-weight to make the summer coop easy to move every other day or so.
August 29, 2009 -- For June, July and most of August, the chickens spent time in our backyard area to allow the grass in the vineyard to get a good start on growing. While in there, Lindsey added two planter wheels to the back of the coop to make it easier to move. It was better than dragging it, but still pretty tough because the wheels hung off the back and therefore lifting the coop meant lifting all 40+ birds. We knew something need to be done, but it wasn't until the end of August that we took a day and re-wheeled the nesting/roosting area. You can see one of the too-small wheels lying on the ground there in the picture. By this time, the light-weight wooden roosts were also breaking and bowing under the weight of the birds on them at night as well. We took down the old boards and replaced them with much stronger angle braces and then used old pig crates for roosts. These are metal and much more durable. With the new larger wheels, the weight didn't make as much difference (we'd be pushing this one, not like lifting the old version). We also put the home-made rollaway nesting box in here now and removed the other nesting box that they didn't like because it gave very little privacy (it had no back on it) and didn't keep straw in the screened bottoms. I had also bought a waterer that fits a 5-gallon pail that also was put in the coop now too. No more hauling water every few hours!! When we moved the coop for the first time with the new wheels we were pretty thrilled at the change!
Me and Lindsey with the new additions/fix-ups!! :-)
September 2, 2009 -- With the nice new wheels and the grass growing nicely, the coop was moved back to the vineyard!
September 6, 2009 -- As easy as the new coop is to move compared to the old version, Lindsey decided that it would be even easier if the wheels were placed directly under the roosting section since we always move it at night when the chickens are sleeping so that's where all the weight is. This was a relatively simply process, but we decided now that perhaps there should be a couple small wheels on the back because the back now drags. Maybe we'll do that tomorrow!! :-) By this time, I had also spent many hours redoing the PVC run to make two small runs rather than moving the still heavy large one. You can see I finished one of them above, but the second one you see added below has plastic over it to add shade in the afternoon sun. I also made note to put the plastic on in 3 smaller pieces rather than one whole piece to keep the rain from pooling in the middle and collapsing the whole structure (something else learned the hard way a couple months ago...) The chickens seem to like it! :-)
