The Eggmobile - Maiden Voyage

We loaded them inside and parked it here in the middle of this pasture last night after dark (about 9:30). It's about 7:00am now and I haven't turned them loose yet. I think I'll string a section of poultry netting around the eggmobile to keep them close in this first day out. I'm affraid if I don't, they'll wander off because they don't really know this thing is their new home yet.The girls are all trying to figure out how to get out of this thing. They can see the grass underneath them through the wire floor but they can't figure out how to get to it.
Finally! The door is opened and one by one they start to venture out.
So far, so good.
I wonder if they will move clockwise or counterclockwise around it as they roam. I suppose clockwise since we're in the Northern hemisphere.

Building the Eggmobile - Chapter 5

The nesting boxes are 2 ft by 4 ft. compartments that often times have 4 or 5 hens inside them at the same time. We have four of these boxes on our eggmobile for now. The rack that they mount on is long enough to add four more as our flock grows.

Pictured here is the doorway that the chickens use to access the boxes from inside the eggmobile. The doorway has a plywood door mounted on a single bolt so that I can rotate it closed when I pick up eggs at the end of the day. I do this to keep them from sleeping in the boxes. It keeps them cleaner, and thus the eggs cleaner.

Next (below) you can see the access door that I use when I collect eggs. It is very convenient having the boxes located about waist height.

Just look at those boxes with their nice shiny new paint.

Notice the hose reel on the front. With 150' of garden hose, I can reach the gravity fed water lines that I installed along the edge of the pasture. I just use a rubber tub with a float valve on it for the chickens waterer.

The Eggmobile is Finished!

Tonight is the big night! The eggmobile is parked next to the hen house and tonight, after they all go to bed, say around 8:00, we're going to load each of them into the eggmobile and move them out to pasture.
I'm not really sure whether it makes sense to move them tonight after dark or get up early and do it in the morning as soon as the sun comes up. I think I'll probably wait until morning. But we'll get them loaded tonight.

Building the Eggmobile - Chapter 4

We've added the feed bin to the back end of the eggmobile. It should hold approximately 1200 lbs of feed. We expect to only have to fill it once per week.

Chickens will have free access to this feed via the trough located at floor level along the back wall. It's hard to see but this last photo is a picture of the trough.

Building the Eggmobile - Chapter 3

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.

Building the Eggmobile - Chapter 2

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.

The roof eve hangs over quite a lot on one side of the eggmobile. The nesting boxes will be mounted underneath this eve on the metal framing you see about knee high in the photo.

Building the Eggmobile - Chapter 1

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.