Pictured here is the all steel trailer house frame that is the foundation of our eggmobile.
An eggmobile is a portable chicken house invented by Joel Salatin that houses laying hens at night and allows them to free-range on pasture during the daytime. It can be moved as often as necessary depending on the size of flock and quality of pasture. We expect to move ours at least weekly. The chickens instinctually seek shelter inside the eggmobile in the evening. A chicken door in the side allows them to come and go as they please, but can be locked by us at night to protect them from predators or to contain them for transport to their new pasture.
Our eggmobile will be 8 ft. wide by 31 ft. long and will house 250 to 500 laying hens (depending who you talk to). Some of the design elements include:
- 1" x 2" galvanized welded wire mesh on the floor to allow fertilizer to fall through to ground.
- A series of 2' x 4' nest boxes mounted along one side. One nest box accomodates up to 50 chickens (several chickens will use the box at the same time). Nest boxes are accessed by chickens from the inside of the eggmobile. Eggs are gathered by standing on the ground outside and lifting the lid. Since the bottom of the box is at floor height of the trailer (about knee high), we won't have to stoop. Chicken access to the nest boxes can be closed off at night to prevent chickens from sleeping in the nest boxes.
- The entire length of the wall above the boxes is screened with chicken wire for ventilation.
- No roosts. Our chickens will rest on the floor.
- Feed bunker on the back wall holds 1/2 ton of feed. Feed from feed bunker is accessed by chickens inside the eggmobile. Trough is approximately 6 feet wide.
- A 12 volt car battery will be mounted on the hitch to power lights and/or a portable electric fence energizer. Poultry netting will be strung around the perimiter of the eggmobile to create a yard for the chickens that is safe from predators.
Framing is nearly complete now. We still have some diagonal bracing to do but we're going to save that until after we get the weight of the roof on. We used 2x4s and bolted the walls to each other at the corners. The trailer still flexes and twists quite a lot. We're hoping that the metal siding and some diagonal bracing will stiffen it up.
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