Making Mobile Hen Houses (Golden Cockerel) [Paperback]

Michael Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2005 | Series: Golden Cockerel

This book is a sequel to "Poultry House Construction" and ideally should be read in conjunction with it.There are descriptions of 8 different methods of mobilising hen houses, 3 fold units, 2 large free range houses, a broody coop, a sound moderated house, an urban poultry house, a wheelchair user's poultry house, 2 shelters, a rollaway nest box, a 6ft run and 6ft and 10ft sections. All are accompanied with numerous photographs and detailed plans.

Product Details

• Paperback: 126 pages
• Publisher: Gold Cockerel Books (January 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0947870466
• ISBN-13: 978-0947870461
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,336,450 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mobil City Chickens, November 23, 2009

By 

James "tigerblues" (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Making Mobile Hen Houses (Golden Cockerel) (Paperback)

These plans do not have "buy a sheet of plywood, cut here, here and here" directions. But the measurements are included with simple drawings of the coop components. Just a reminder, the foxes that this book keeps out are not raccoons with clever hands so all latches must be rethought in the USA. Do NOT use slatted bottoms as raccoons will pull whatever bit of chicken they can reach through the slats. Use hardware cloth as the same applies to chicken wire. We have 3 bantams and use both a mobile coop around the lawn in summer and a modified version of the suburban coop in a garage in winter. We also let the chickens run outside the coops in summer. With daily movement of the coop we have had no problems with flies except when there was also a duck in the flock. Lots of pictures, several coop designs for different sized flocks. Some designed for small city flocks, some for "free-range" small scale commercial flocks. Even a permanent coop with sound deadening for keeping a rooster in a suburban neighborhood. There is also a duck coop design allowing for the messy nature of ducks.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars good, but needs details/fleshing out, May 21, 2010

By 

silvergirl (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Making Mobile Hen Houses (Golden Cockerel) (Paperback)

I finally found the book for our future flock--but not so fast! This book has a lot of great ideas. However, the MEASUREMENTS are going to be off for U.S. builders because it is written by a Brit. 2" x 4" lumber may be just that-- in England-- but in the U.S. it is 1-1/2" x 3-1/2"-- knowing there will be differences going in will save you a lot of headache.

We are building the 50 bird house. After we got the skids/floor together (plywood IS true to his plan-- a 4 x 8 foot sheet is 4 x 8 in the US) we put together the first wall. We came to realize we had a measurement problem by doing the math for framing-- things were not adding up correctly. So everything from there on had to be "custom." Not a big deal, just measure and cut as you go. But if you were to rely on the author's drawings/measurements, you might start out cutting lumber according to what he has written down, and then you'd end up in trouble--fast.

There is a lot left out, detail-wise, and this book presumes that you are not a novice to building stuff. We are novices, so it took us a while to figure out various aspects of the design. We talked it all through, bouncing theories of why he did this or that off of each other, and got it moving in the right direction (and fortunately we have not filed divorce papers over it!)

I would recommend using this book for ideas and as a guideline only. If you have no building experience, you had better have math skills and logic! It does not include step-by-step assembly instructions. There are photos, but not enough to show everything that is going on. There are drawings with measurements, but nothing to help you to determine what order to do things in. Example: we decided we had better assemble the perches and droppings board before we got the side walls up (and roof on) so that we could have room to move around for installing those things--the author does not give any advice. The lack of information in the book forces you to think about consequences before you do anything.

You also have to remember that there might be climate differences between where the coops were designed and where you are. We live in Wisconsin, and we're thinking we might have to do some insulation to protect the birds in the winter.

Tools you will definitely want to use: a compressor and nail gun, compound miter saw, circular saw, and the obvious tape measure, square, level.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really good, July 25, 2008

By 

Kris Butler "Qui Gon Guinea" (Pontotoc, MS United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Making Mobile Hen Houses (Golden Cockerel) (Paperback)

This is a good book. I have built two of the coops in this book. The only thing is I wish there were a supplies list. Other than that there are really some imaginative coops in this book.