Our inventive readers have come up with not one, but two unique portable chicken coops.
Clever Coop Design
After reading many of your chicken and egg articles, my 13-year-old daughter designed this mobile chicken tractor and my husband built it.
Our 11-year-old daughter is a vegetarian, and she has motivated us to begin our chicken venture with the goals of healthier eating and living. Our daughters are responsible for taking care of the black Australorp hens.
The main house is constructed mostly from recycled materials, including a large wooden shipping crate and a piece of metal roofing we found on the side of the road. There are doors for gathering eggs and a door to the “run.” One whole side opens for cleaning. I think it is a very ingenious design!
The tractor and run are moved around our yard with the hope that the hens will eat the grubs, ticks, beetles, etc.
Mara Ziegler
Boalsburg, Pennsylvania
Cheap But Comfy
I invested 20 hours and $60 in materials to build a chicken “tractor,” which comfortably houses four hens.
The A-frame chicken coop is 4 feet wide, 6 feet long and 4-1/2 feet tall. The base is made from 2-by-6s, with 2-by-4s for the sides. The door skins, siding, and nesting boxes are three-eighths-inch plywood. Four 4-inch strap hinges hang the doors, and chicken wire finishes the project. For strength, I used wood screws rather than nails to build the coop.
David Hymel
Eatonville, Washington
