Well I have started the chicken coop, or as in Austrailia, a chook house.

We were going back and forth between sticking the coop in the pole barn and a free standing one. The advantages to the pole barn are the presence of electricity and water, but the disadvantage is that the southern wall has a drive right next to it and we didn't want to clean that out from the barn.

So we decided on a chicken tractor, and got some of the ideas from "blog of a readhead" The biggest problem is that I am too cheap to pay for plans, so I am using that site as a guide.

The basic idea is a 8x6 foot square on the base. I have reinforced these with a couple of 45 degree blocks on the corner. This was the easy part. The biggest thing here is that you need the 8' sections on the outside to make sure any other boards used inside will span the difference. I would rather cut 1.5" off a 8' board than to cut just under 2' from a 10' board.

All the wood so far is 2x4 AC2 (treated). I will also be using some 2x2 AC2.

The reason for only going 6' on the sides is weight (it is heavy enough as it is), and managability.

With my pinched nerve, this is a good project to get the kids to help.