i think my old suburban would make a fine chicken coop.

[mopinko]

i have a beat up old truck that has been my good friend for 15 years. it has been sitting at my mechanic waiting for him to get around to a 'can this truck be saved' assessment. he and DH have their minds made up already. they have good reason, but, well, i will miss the old girl.
i saw a pic of a chicken coop in an old school bus, and was inspired. i am thinking we could strip the drive train, etc, but keep the interior. seems to me those old seats will make fine shelves for boxes, and places to roost. it can zip up pretty tight in the cold. i can attach one of those cyclone fence dog runs to it and have a $100 chicken tractor.
am i missing something?

[EFerrari]

1. Sure would simplify egg deliveries.

Last edited Thu Jan 5, 2012, 06:16 PM - Edit history (1)

Does it have a sunroof? You could have a take out window.

The old Dodge Dakota I'm driving up here is flat out disreputable. My little sedan is in mothballs because it really shouldn't do these roads. The truck has peeling paint on the hood that makes my hands itch. I want to sand and primer it one area at a time and make a mobile mural. There's a ton of paint here, too, of all kinds. I may just do it this year.

[mopinko]

2. guess this thread is useless without pics.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150454727135810.358544.682225809&type=1&l=f55f949ff5

i can leave windows down in the summer, but it also buttons up fairly well for cold weather. and it is free, and mostly instant. just need the dog run. hmm. think i will hit the craigslist.

[Denninmi]

3. Well, you wouldn't be the first.

I remember seeing a picture online of an old 60's/70's style VW van turned into a coop.

Chickens don't care what they're in, as long as its secure and comfortable for them. If you can make it workable for you, and it doesn't violate some zoning ordinance against having "scrap" vehicles on the property, I say go for it.

[jwirr]

4. Yeah I had a friend who used her old car for her chickens. On the other hand my father turned his

old station wagon as a greenhouse to start seeds. Worked great.

[mopinko]

6. i really wanted to do this, too.

before we bought this property i wanted to do this. that mostly got dumped as a space problem. but we got a lotta space now, and i cannot see why this wouldn't work great.

[hedgehog]

5. How would you ever clean out old bedding?

[mopinko]

7. with a hose.

it is an old fleet vehicle, all leather seats and rubber floor. i cleaned it that way many times in the past.

[hedgehog]

8. I think you just made my husband cry!

Seriously, you should use a sedan for your birds; then you'll have a real chicken coupe!

[mopinko]

9. well, there was never any s in my uv.

the lightest loads it ever carried was 5 kids and a trailer. firewood, building materials, crazy clay objects.

i have no trouble stretching the facts, and calling it a chicken coupe anyway.

[Kali]

10. should be ok, but know that vehicles are not rodent proof

will there be cats around? if not I would keep traps set under and check them regularly

[mopinko]

11. no cats. terriers.

but they won't be there too often.
yeah, rodent resistant is about all i could claim for it, especially since body rot is part of why it is being retired. and this being a city farm, rats are a problem.

i may end up with a "farm dog" that would live there. some unwanted little jack or some such. not optimal, but better than the shelter. hopefully at some point we will be able to buy the in between property, and have a single spread.

[Kali]

12. we have pack rats out here

and any vehicle left unused for say more than a month or so will get colonized. First the engine compartment will get a big nest built in there then they work on the vent system to get into the interior. They can strip a vehicle of all fabric and plastic, replacing it with sticks, bones, dry dung, cactus and whatever else it finds interesting or nest worthy, along with huge caches of mesquite beans and other food in 4 or 5 of years. Kind of amazing really because they are loners and it will be one rat at a time doing all that work.

Smaller mice can get inside right away.

[mopinko]

13. just plain old city rats here, but they do like abandon cars.

this truck has spent long periods just sitting and we have had a couple visitors. as you say, in the engine compartment. usually my terriers let me know, and they love to give chase. they bark and bark till i come out and pop the hood. one of them will hop right into that engine compartment, while the other waits below. they usually take care of the problem.

i am anticipating modifying the thing, and will likely staple some hardware cloth along the bottom or something.

[mopinko]

14. how many chickens do you think could comfortable roost in this thing?

it carries 9 people comfortably, plus a decent bit of cargo.
i am thinking that i will leave the seats in, so that is a place for a box, plus the back of the seat makes a nice roost. if i put a few more boxes on the floor, half dozen easily, that comes out to about 18 nice size nest boxes. do i need more than i have birds?
or can i get away with fewer? i presume that not all my hens will lay. or at least not all the time.
i could empty out the engine compartment, too, although that would take a little more modification than the passenger compartment. big ass area, tho, and could hold another half dozen boxes. don't have a super clear vision of what that would take, tho.

just trying to get up to the 2 dozen minimum order from mcmurray's. do have a friend that would go in with me, but, well, i want as many chickens as i can get, damn it.