| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| bodger |
My little bargain.Kaz and I went to see Doodle and her horse at St Asaph last weekend. The horse is kept on livery at a big arable farm. A we drove in, there was a rather posh chicken shed on wheels on the front lawn of the farmhouse and guess what ? There was a for sale sign on it.Doodle was none too happy at dragging this up the A55 yesterday  It was windy and because the chicken shed wouldn't fit into the horse trailer,she had to borrow this trailer off the farmer.
It was made or at least supplied by The Domestic Fowl Trust. 
There's an ingenius way of fastening the birds in each night. Open. 
Closed. 
The interior is quite small but has all mod cons.  You'd have thought that Doodle would have cleaned the poop out for her dad wouldn't you ?
I've paid a hundred quid for it. Here's what a new one would have cost me plus £60 carriage. 
http://www.domesticfowltrust.co.uk/products/info_halfph.html Like I said originally ! Bargain !
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| Chez |
I have chicken-house envy 
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| lottie |
You lucky s*d---where's the jealous emoticon 
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| bodger |
If the weathers OK tomorrow, I'll scrub it out and then creosote it inside and out. I'll probably use it to house a breeding trio. | ||||
| Woodburner |
Bah load of rubbish, too many holes! 
Seriously, can you do some more detail pics when you get it off the trailer please? It looks awsomely well built and designed. Brilliant find! 
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| nettie |
That's nice. A decent birthday present at last
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| katie |
We've got one of they. They last a good ten years. Well done! | ||||
| silkiie |
so so so jealous 
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| bodger |
Its come up like new with a little TLC and a lot of creosote.
I'll leave it for a few days now to dry before putting its new occupants in. Thank goodness for the creosote, there were loads of creepy crawlies who decided to leave the building when I started to slap it on. |
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| Sally |
That's a really nice coop - good find. | ||||
| RichardW |
I like the wheel system. Be good to make a detachable one so you can use it on all the houses but still keep the costs down.
If you used it as a laying house I think I would want to split the access door so you could just open the nest boxes not the complete side. But then I guess you can make sure they are all out side first & close the hatch. |
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| Dogwalker |
How are the wheels fixed? need to make a house I can move single handed over rough grass. That looks like it could be the solution. | ||||
| bodger |
I'll try and get you some close ups.
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| Dogwalker |
Thanks that would be great. | ||||
| bodger |
Where do you call Mid Wales ? You could even come up to the Lleyn and have a close up look.
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| Dogwalker |
Llanidloes, how long a drive from here. | ||||
| bodger |
According to the AA its 87.2 miles and 2hrs 11 mins travelling.I'll get the camera out.
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| Dogwalker |
Think that would be best, bit of a way to examine a hen house. | ||||
| Woodburner |
Thanks for the added photo. I can see well enough how the wheel works and that I can't replicate it. It has got me thinking again though.
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| bodger |
I wont be putting wheels on the copies I make either. I lift one end of my other coops up, kick a round fence post underneath it and then roll it to where ever I want. Hardly the appliance of science but it works for me.
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| RichardW |
I think it would be easy. Just buy two wheel similar to the ones shown plus two long bolts & 6 nuts & washers & two shorter bolts & 6 nuts & washers.
You will also need two lengths of wood (4x2 ish) plus some dowling. Drill a hole through one end of the wood & fit the wheel using the long bolts & nuts & washers so that the wheel will still spin. then about 12 " further along drill another hole & then one onto the side of the hen house. Then by raising the end of the wood without the wheel the wheel will lower & raise the house. Drill a selection of dowling sized holes in the wood & holes in the house to accept the dowling (tight enough to stay but loose enough to be removed). Repeat on other side & your sorted. Oh & check THIS BABY out |
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| bodger |
Or buy a fencing post for a quid.
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| RichardW |
Well yeh that is the cheapest option.
Who am I to talk none of mine have wheels. |
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| Woodburner |
I don't think dowelling will take the weight. Even on Bodgers, the axle on one side is bent.
I have a couple of big flat mount castors to play around with, not worked it out properly yet, but basically going to mount them on planks and use the planks as levers. Need to figure out how to secure them with the coop in the raised position, though. |
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| Woodburner |
Very nice until . . . What the heck happened to it? I'd love one of those dogs though
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| bodger |
HY WB
Forget the dowling. Take off the old wheels that you have and any clapped out mechanism. Then, go to one end and lift it up about 6 inches and slide a round fence post in under the entire shed and push the shed from behind. The shed will move quite easily using the post as a roller. Its the same principle that I imagine prehistoric man used to move the stones for Stonehenge. No ! Some of us havent evolved much if at all from then.
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| RichardW |
The poultry EAT it. The last pic shows him adding tyvek to stop them doing ist again. Odd my first thoughts as I looked at the picks was that they would eat the insulation. |
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| Woodburner |
I'd like to see you try that on my coops.  They're on legs. . . 
^ H lol That's supposed to be a coop, just imagine the ^ sitting on top of the H
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| Woodburner |
Oh yeah, shiney!
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| bodger |
That would be a problem. I have all mine minus legs on railway sleepers.
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| Dogwalker |
Not sure the fence post way would work. I'll need to get it round corners and through gateways easily. I want to pen some hens in the areas I want cleared for growing in the garden, slopes and very thick grass.
Sometime over the winter I'll have a play and see what I can make. There's plenty of scrap wood around. The rollers worked well for moving the rayburn from the truck to the kitchen. Iron pipes and two strong men, I only had to move the boards along to roll it onto. |
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| bodger |
The creosote has dried, now who would live in a house like this ? Today, I've got to decide which lucky birds to put in it and then its a matter of catching them. 
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