Mobile Chicken Coop

We live on acreage and were keen to have chickens at some point. At the same time we don't want the chickens to destroy our grass so we decided to make a mobile chicken coop.

To keep the build relatively simple and cheap I used heavy duty conduit (pipes used to carry electrical wires, often used in construction areas)  rated for outdoor use. This was handy as conduit is strong and light. Also helps that it's much cheaper than PVC, wood and metal.

Off to the shops we went and purchased:

1. All the 32mm conduit in the town. I literally cleared the whole town's supply of 32mm conduit from 4 hardware stores. 
2. Most of the town's 25mm conduit but only because I already purchased all the 32mm.
3. 4 Colorbond fencing panels
4. 20m of chicken wire but I might upgrade this to 10mm aviary wire later on to keep the snakes out.
5. A box of nuts & bolts, a few screws.
6. A few buckets to saw in half to make nesting buckets
7. A few cheap hinges
8. A few cheap metal hooks and eyes
9. A cheap tarpaulin/shade cover. I purchased a cheap shade cover on special measuring 1.8m x 3m.

Shopping for these items with 3 little kids was a challenge but fun all the same.

Packing everything + 3 little kids and their bulky kiddy seats in the car was also a challenge!

Here's the very temporary solution. Mesh over a baby cage.

Measuring out the pieces and cutting to size. The conduit lengths were 4m long and the Colorbond panels were 1800 x 900 (mm) so I decided on a cage of 4m x 1.8m and that the chicken run would be an equilateral triange (1.8m x 1.8m x 1.8m). The coop would be 1.8m x 0.9m x 0.9m as this was the most efficient use of the materials.

As a form of cheating I drilled small holes in the conduit and used cable ties to build the frame initially. Once I was happy with the frame I used metal brackets with bolts or wood with screws for stronger and more durable connections.

The next step was to place the chicken wire on the chicken run. Here's a photo of the chicks while they were only a few days old :)

Next to work on the chicken coop. I cut one panel in half and attached the panels using offcuts of wood on the inside of the coop and drilled screws through from the outside.

To tidy up the corners and stop small animals from coming in I also attached corners to the coop and inserted a 20mm conduit into the corners (might have to zoom into the picture to see these). Hopefully this will also stop the snakes.

Next step was adding the support for the roosting buckets and a spare rod for roosting (not in this picture).

Then to attach the coop to the frame.

Added the roof to the coop.

Added a door to the front of the coop to lock the coop at night.

The run is very light so it's easy to drag the coop around using the rope behind the coop.