Door frames are hung. The lower one is for chickens and will be open all day for the chickens to have free access to the inside of their eggmobile. Hens need to enter the eggmobile to access the nesting boxes. Closed at night, it will keep them safe from predators.The upper door can be opened for people access.
The roof is on. Galvanized metal salvaged from somebody else's project.
We built fenders over the wheels out of plywood and 1x2s with screws to hold it together.
The floor is in. First we ran 2x4s over the top of all of the beams and cross supports of the chassis. Then we laid down 1"x2" welded wire and stapled it every 2 or 3 inches to the 2x4s.
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I'm glad to see you making progress on this. We're converting a travel trailer for the layers, but will be needing another for the meat flock.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in your choice of 1"x2" welded wire,have you looked at all the things that can get thru that size? We'd planted on going w/ hardware clothe for ours. It'll have bedding if we use it in the winter & just the wire in the summer.
We chose 1"x2" welded wire because anything smaller tends to not let the poop fall through (We're told). The thing we need to worry about now is that raccoons can easily get their little paws through and grab the chickens. Our solution for that is to always have the eggmobile surrounded by electrified fence or netting.
ReplyDeleteAnd if doesn't work, we can always add roosts about 6 inches above the floor. And if that doesn't work, we'll get a live trap and catch the raccoons and relocate them.
We need to have our cake and eat it too - that is, to have the poop automatically clean itself out of the eggmobile AND control predators. You see, closing up the floor of the eggmobile so tight that poop wouldn't fall through would add another 15 minutes of daily cleaning to chore time. Saving chore time is probably as important as the health of the soil as far as ensuring this farm can continue to operate for generations (decades) into the future. Every system we design has to be efficient from a labor standpoint or else over time, we would, I'm sure, get lazy and begin to cut corners (it's human nature) resulting in poorer health for our animals. You see, efficient systems + healthy soil and grass = healthy animals.
ReplyDeleteI am currently working on stripping down a livestock trailer to the chassis and building an eggmobile. How did you attach the 2x4's to the beams and cross supports of the chassis? I would greatly appreciate your input on this. Thanks
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