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I started out with a free 45"X45" pallett then I added four 4"X"4 legs to the bottom. I Turned it right side up and added four legs upward. I used 2x4 scraps to connect upper four legs...then I added the upright 2x4 to make the ridge board connection. A 2X4 connected the two uprights. I used screws for all joints.
Then I cut the 45 degree cuts on my four rafters and cut the same cut on the end of 2x4s. Next added 1"X4"X60" roofing strips...now is a good time to paint..dont wait til u wrap the poultry wire like I did...I used coroplast (plastic cardboard used to make real estate signs) for insulation before adding metal roofing panel.
.then I used a hole saw to make a hole in the rear bottom legs for the wheel axles. Then a hole in the forward legs for a bolt to connect the 2"X6"X12' skids and another hole for axle for the two smaller plastic wheels inside of the front 4X4 legs..I bolted the 2"X6"X12' skids to another 2"X6" to make the front. I cut a brace for the corners with 45 degree cuts on each end. I wanted to make the bird mouth cuts on my rafters but after talking to contractors, reading online..I just couldn't get it so after lots of trying I used hurricane straps to connect my rafters to top of walls.
I used a 1 in ch hole saw to make the holes on the top of my skids..1 1/2" deep..36 in. apart then stuck my 1/2 in X 5/8" pvc and I am almost ready to start applying my poultry wire to the run.. I have made door and facing and corner boards...
to u who r carpenters ignore my terminology of various parts of my Turkey rig...
I cut a 4x8 sheet of coroplast to fit the floor of Fredas Rig and screwed it down so I can hose out the coup when it is needed.
The ramp into the coup is 12" wide and 45" long. I put a 12" wide 2X4 across the front of the pallet in order to attach the ramp supports. I screwed the two 2X4X45" ramp supports to the cross piece.
I drilled a hole in each ramp support near the bottom end and inserted the metal insert for my wheels and put a metal wedge under the bottom and hit the support with a hammer to set the insert for a wheel then inserted the wheel "stem"? I screwed on a 12" wide piece of scrap plywood onto the supports and the ramp is ready except for paint.
After I wrap the poultry wire around the entire frame of pvc over the run I will add a piece or two of roofing on top of the frame for rain protection over her doublewide nestbox. Freda thinks of herself as a 5# chicken and at the present time will not lay anywhere but the nestbox made for my chickens...no, it is not wide enough or long enough for her 30 pounds but that is where she lays every day. I hope I can teach her better when she is moved to her rig.
I live in south Alabama and we have been having really hot weather in the mornings and rain storms in the afternoon but Freda won't need a lot of shade in her coup cause she will be under a different tree every three days..after I move her I will be hosing the area to wash the poop away so I won't have poop the size of her turkey eggs for my 11 pd dog to roll in. I found some wheelbarrow tires at a discount Ace store for $7.50 ea and the plastic tires off a broadcast spreader I put on the inside of the front two legs of Fredas Coup to make it easier for my mower to haul it around. My facebook friends want me to get photos of Freda after she has moved in.
