Slowly but surely, it's getting there...

[aart]

Love the winch!!

...and the fold up roosts/supports!
Are roosts supported at both ends?
Might want the support member to come out to the outer roost bar instead of the inner,
and make sure it doesn't bounce off when a dozen 6 lb chickens jump off of it at once.

 

[Eggsoteric]

The roosts are supported at both ends. This will be a first on the roosts for us so we'll see how it goes. I might put a sort of "stop" at the top and bottom of the supports so it doesn't bounce. Thanks for mentioning that!

 

[aart]

The roosts are supported at both ends. This will be a first on the roosts for us so we'll see how it goes. I might put a sort of "stop" at the top and bottom of the supports so it doesn't bounce. Thanks for mentioning that!

Much of chicken infrastructure is 'field designed'
Ya get it close, then adjust/modify as usage deems necessary.

Are those roosts made from furring strips...like about 1x3?

 

[Eggsoteric]

Roosts are 2x4's (non-pressure treated).

 

[tmarr]

It's Brilliant!!

 

[aart]

Roosts are 2x4's (non-pressure treated).

Ahhh.... my sense of scale and proportion was skewed for that pic for some reason.

 

[Eggsoteric]

A little more progress this weekend. I spent most of the weekend caulking but was able to paint the 3/4 walls and install the nesting boxes. I'll add a slanted board on top of the nesting boxes to keep the birds from roosting atop. Hope to spend this few weeks leading up to Labor Day weekend sanding, caulking and priming the outside to get it ready for final paint:

Inside walls painted (picture makes the walls look pink, however, it's more of a creamy white - had the paint on hand and I figure the birds don't care much about color

) and nesting boxes up:

 

[cavemanrich]

Just a thought. .... It is an option to put removable poop boards or even cardboard on top of those nesting boxes. EASY cleanup.. VERY NICE PROGRESS

 

[aart]

Can you even walk in there when the roosts are down?

A sharply angled board attached to top of nests will keep them from roosting there.

You may need to lower the nests or raise the roosts....or they may be roosting in the top nest boxes as they will be higher than the roosts.

 

[Eggsoteric]

Yep. When the roosts are down, there's a pathway one can walk in (without turning sideways) straight back to the front of the trailer. I think I'm going to go with the board. While the removable poop board sounds appealing, I'd have to figure something out as far as keeping poop off the ledge that's just above the nesting boxes; that ledge isn't deep enough for them to roost on.