Bike Trailer 100% Mobile Coop Operation: Doable?

[MobileHomestead]

Hello! New to the forums here. I'm a student working on a new project: a totally mobile, bicycle-powered liveaboard trailer homestead. I'm aiming to produce a hefty 50% of my diet at low cost with a moving micro-farm that produces eggs, insects for meat, microgreens, sprouted grains, and mushrooms (with plans in the works to incorporate rabbits as I'm able to enlarge the capacity of the trailer and economize space). In addition to that, I will be foraging wild edibles, hunting squirrel, eating roadkill, and reclaiming waste food.

My trailer will be super lightweight, designed from wood, coroplast, and canvas, built atop two reclaimed wheelchair frames and wheels. The trailer will have four wheels - the front two on a bearing like a radio flyer wagon. Between the two axles there will be - hopefully - the chicken coop. Atop that will be a 5' x 8' platform that will be home to a covered-wagon-esque canvas hoop house which will be my living quarters and sleeping area. I am very experienced in living in small spaces - I have dwelled in wall tents for a substantial amount of time and own few possessions.

Here is a diagram: http://postimg.org/image/42e7wagwt/

The chicken setup is what I am here to discuss. I'm not even sure it's feasible. My hope is to have four or five bantam hens. I have considered several designs: one being to keep the chickens in a coop under my sleeping area and carrying portable fencing, setting it up as I break camp. This seems the most feasible of options. Other ideas have included wire-floor arks, basically lobster pots which could be fastened to the undercarriage of the trailer when in motion, but set in the grass throughout the daytime so the chickens can feed.

I am designing this unit to be moved once every 1-2 weeks, averaging 40-50 miles in a day between grassy plots. My key concern is the process of moving. Independent of this aspect, this undertaking is not much different from a coop and run in a small urban yard. But having to pack up the chickens and move them once every week or two - is this possible? Would I need to allot extra room to each bird? Could I make headway in the morning, stop for most of the day to let the birds feed, and then make a bit more mileage in the evening?

Second, to clarify: my understanding is that by giving them new grass every day or two, I'd eliminate the need for feed. I am also raising mealworms and crickets onboard the unit, which I've planned to use both as food for myself and as a supplement for the chickens. In addition, I will be sprouting grain for myself and the birds during times when grass is less accessible or plentiful.

Let me know if you think this idea is impossible, or if modifications would make it possible, or any criticisms you might have. I'm eager to get this project underway, and whether or not I include chickens will have a lot of influence on my final design. To clarify, the measurements of the trailer will be 4' or 5' by 8' in length.

Thanks!

 

[Backyard Bob]

You will always want to carry feed with you, and have free choice to it for the chickens.

 

[aart]

You will always want to carry feed with you, and have free choice to it for the chickens.

Agrees^^^^ They eat alot to thrive and would take all day to eat their fill on 'nature'.

I think you're pipe dreaming...but just to humor you......

Not sure chickens would travel as well as you would. Would the entire trailer be for their housing or are you going to sleep in there too? Have you ever smelled a chicken coop??? You'll probably want be cleaning up a pile of poop every morning...you'd have to think about nighttime predators too.

You'd need to contain them while they 'fed on nature', or they'll wander around until dark when they'd want their coop back. Herding hens can be like herding cats. Or you could put rings on all their legs and stake them out on tethers to control them......

Suggest you do some (lots) research on feeding and behavior before committing.

 

[res]

I think it is a very do-able idea, but not on the scale you are attempting. Chickens smell bad, and produce a lot of poo. I am not sure where you would be welcome to park your current "trailer" for 2 weeks at a time.

I think if you went a step up to a trailer requiring an engined vehicle to pull it, you would have better luck. You would have the ability to haul more weight, thereby allowing you to have seperate sleeping/living quarters for you, and quarters for the animals.

As far as travel - I don't see it being a big inconveinence to the chickens or the rabbits, provided that they are enclosed enough to not be chilled/stressed by 60mph constant winds, but yet have sufficient ventilation to keep them cool.

I have seen many home-made trailer contraptions using pop-up tent trailers (with the axles/hitch removed) or pickup-bed trailers and a short flatbed. None of them cost a lot of money and are infintely flexible with their design options.

 

[aart]

I think it is a very do-able idea, but not on the scale you are attempting. Chickens smell bad, and produce a lot of poo. I am not sure where you would be welcome to park your current "trailer" for 2 weeks at a time.

I think if you went a step up to a trailer requiring an engined vehicle to pull it, you would have better luck. You would have the ability to haul more weight, thereby allowing you to have seperate sleeping/living quarters for you, and quarters for the animals.

As far as travel - I don't see it being a big inconveinence to the chickens or the rabbits, provided that they are enclosed enough to not be chilled/stressed by 60mph constant winds, but yet have sufficient ventilation to keep them cool.

I have seen many home-made trailer contraptions using pop-up tent trailers (with the axles/hitch removed) or pickup-bed trailers and a short flatbed. None of them cost a lot of money and are infintely flexible with their design options.

I'd bet that this alone negates the heart of the whole concept....wonders of the Op will even come back to tell us more.

 

[QuietPony]

Wow. What an interesting idea.

 

[MobileHomestead]

I think it is a very do-able idea, but not on the scale you are attempting. Chickens smell bad, and produce a lot of poo. I am not sure where you would be welcome to park your current "trailer" for 2 weeks at a time.

I think if you went a step up to a trailer requiring an engined vehicle to pull it, you would have better luck. You would have the ability to haul more weight, thereby allowing you to have seperate sleeping/living quarters for you, and quarters for the animals.

As far as travel - I don't see it being a big inconveinence to the chickens or the rabbits, provided that they are enclosed enough to not be chilled/stressed by 60mph constant winds, but yet have sufficient ventilation to keep them cool.

I have seen many home-made trailer contraptions using pop-up tent trailers (with the axles/hitch removed) or pickup-bed trailers and a short flatbed. None of them cost a lot of money and are infintely flexible with their design options.

I live rurally in a county where my family owns a lot of land and the townships would be hospitable to me. So the land use issue isn't a problem for me. Eventually, I want to make the model feasibly taken nation-wide, where I'd develop a large social media following and use that network to schedule times to give talks on alternative agriculture. That's after I've *learned* about agriculture through this project. I'm also very active in anarchist and quaker circles, and there are numerous rural and urban squats and community centers that would accept me for weeks at a time.

As far as the poop goes, I'm assuming I'd have to be meticulous about cleaning the coop. Daily. I might also build a small solar fan system to ventilate the unit. Would sleeping under the chickens be better? I doubted that.

I'd bet that this alone negates the heart of the whole concept....wonders of the Op will even come back to tell us more.

Yep, I'm aiming not to use any petroleum. This is an exercise in radical self-reliance and folk engineering, and using oil would miss the point, I'd think.