Recycled Material Chicken Coop/Tractor

PHOTO: The Neighbor's Chicken-Fancy-likes to visit and lay her eggs in the rabbit hutch :) She loves the scraps I throw out to my chickens and she loves to snack on my garden vegetables--Isn't she great?



Here are a few photos of my amazing (not really!) Chicken coop/tractor. I was in a tail-spin trying to figure out how I was going to house all of these chickens,ducks, turkeys when the sky opened and a ray of sunshine shone through umm...well...that is when I found or rather my teenage son and his girlfriend found a old green rabbit hutch on the side of the road that said "FREE". He texted me and asked if I wanted it and I couldn't reply "yes" fast
enough. Well.....he came home and loaded up three of his teenage friends and they set out with my minivan to get it. A few minutes later I got a text saying it was to big to fit in the van........boo hoo...... Luckily my neighbor being into chickens before me and having a hand at getting me interested helped us out...or rather he husband did with his truck :) It's great to have chicken loving neighbors...

I was very happy to see that it was a double hutch....and that each end had a outside door that lifted up. Perfect in the future for my Silkie Bantams as they don't get very big. I removed the center wall that sat atop the plexi glass divider. So in the meantime while I'm coming up with a better Chicken Coop they can perch on the plexiglass ledge and use the "nesting boxes" (each end of the hutch) to keep out of the rain etc....I then had some leftover wood from my sons tree house project and I hinged it onto the hutch and used an old hose as treads for the chickens, just cut to size and nailed on with roofer nails. I actually really liked the hose idea because it's easy to cut and nail on and you can wash it down when it gets full of poo....Later on down the road I will use the hutch for new baby chicks.

My other neighbor is always adding to his landscape and has it delivered or he picks it up on pallets...So I asked if he needed them and he gave to me grateful to get them out of his yard. So I decided to build an A-frame housing for either the chickens, ducks, or turkeys...I first took a old pallet and stapled chicken wire to it then I tilted two pallets against each other in a triangle pattern and wedged a piece of wood between them, taking a drill and drilling screws through the pallets into the wedged piece of wood on either side. Then I had some wood left over from my sons tree house project and I actually used a circular saw? (not sure if that's its name) and two saw horses that my Dad left at my house after he build my sons tree house. I was able to cut the wood just fine...made sure nobody was around (like children) I was a bit nervous and had a slight shake, but all worked out fine. anyhow...I then took roof paper and shingles again left over from the tree house project and waterproofed the A-frame. I was also offered a bunch of fencing from the chicken loving neighbors because they sold their huskies and didn't want or need the fence. I used it to build an outside run for the A-frame..wiring the top together and staking the outside 4 pegs down the outside on either side as to not have it collapse outward. That way if it slips it will rest on the stakes and not flatten out. I then covered it with chicken wire at the entrance and some on the top just to make sure predators remain out. (We lost 13 chicks, 2 turkeys) when I first started this adventure due to lack of proper housing.

So check out the photos and leave a few comments or ideas on how to improve them if you like...also send me photos of your recycled materials coops and I'll post them here........

Chicken bok--bok!!

Welcome to Chicken bok--bok!!,

I decided to start a new blog aside from Chewychewsup.blogspot.com/
because I quickly realized, that I love chickens,ducks & turkeys and in a short amount of time have become consumed and obsessed with them.


I have to say they are fantastic entertainment for the entire family. My daughter and my youngest son spend hours playing with them, helping come up with housing solutions, and asking lots of questions that I am still learning myself. They forage for eggs left by the Pekin duck (more about her later) around the yard. And squeal with excitement if they find one. They help change the straw bedding and mend fencing. They love to observe each chicken, duck, turkeys personality and tell which is feisty and which is meek. I think they love it more than watching television and as their MOM, I have not one problem with that!

First thing in the morning I have to drag myself from the nice warm bed due to the fact I have chickens, ducks and turkey's that need my attention. Slip on my flip flops and through the garage door I go turning on the hose as I unlock the back garage door. Grab the mile long hose and yank irritably as I slosh my morning coffee on the garage floor followed by a trail from the cement just outside the garage door all the way to the makeshift chicken area. I always set my coffee cup on the rabbit hutch then with both arms dump the ducks tiny pool, refill the water feeders, and add some fresh water to the shallow pan I have put into use for the baby ducklings (as not to drown). It always brings a smile to my face to see November and December (Turkeys--that my husband still thinks are really tall chickens....) perched patiently in the makeshift run. They always just watch me as I put the hose through the old fence that I made a A-frame out of. They sit perched on tomato stakes that I ran through the holes in the fence to make outside perches for them. The three duckling with them instantly start quacking and running up to the water pan ready to play and gulp hungrily from the fresh water. Then I go and get a few level scoops of Chick feed, dumped into a big pan and away it goes with me back to the makeshift chicken area. At the moment my chickens are using an old green rabbit hutch that was "FREE" on the side of the road. I thought about moving our Mini-rex rabbit Thumper to the new (new to us) rabbit hutch but it works great for the moment for the chickens. And in the future I can use it for new hatch-lings, ducklings or what have you. So anyhow by this time the chickens are really noisy...they see me filling the water and the chick feed feeders and are anxious to get out of their hutch. As soon as I twist the little metal knob, before I can swing the door completely open they are on their way out and half flying towards their food. The morning is busy for about 30mins with a feeding frenzy, running around and noise making....then it trails off as they rest their full crops and find shade to hide from the hot morning sun.

I will check on them again around noon..........



The pictures above are: First photo-Little White Silkie Bantam named "Sushi" second photo-Feather legged rare breed named "milkshake" Third photo-Brown Silkie Bantam-Named "Einstein"