In this instructional video, Victor Justin Rhodes presents the ChickShaw Mini-Me, a compact, mobile chicken coop designed for up to 16 birds. He offers three main deliverables: free downloadable plans—including pictures, a step‑by‑step build guide, a parts list, and links to required items; a walkthrough of every construction step, emphasizing the importance of cutting all boards first for efficiency; and an overview of the coop’s major benefits. Key design features highlighted are the 4 ft × 4 ft footprint, 2‑ft height, self‑cleaning 1‑inch wire‑mesh floor that lets manure fall through, removable milk‑crate nesting boxes with mesh bottoms, non‑pneumatic (air‑less) wheels that handle rough terrain, and a door that doubles as a ramp. Rhodes explains how the coop can be moved around a yard to fertilize soil, follow cattle or other livestock on broad‑acre properties, or be placed in gardens for pest control and manure distribution. He contrasts the Mini‑Me with the larger ChickShaw 2.0, noting the Mini‑Me’s suitability for small flocks and its ease of transport—potentially with one hand. The video concludes with a call to download the free plans and build the coop.
Chapters
Folks, that was the Chickshaw Mini-Me, a great mobile coop option for somebody who wants to move just a few birds and no more than 16 birds, so half a dozen birds. 16 birds, perfect coop for you. In this video, I'm gonna do 3 things. First of all, I'm gonna give you plans for this chickshaw, absolutely free. Pictures, step-by-step instructions, parts list, links to the items you need, all that's down in the description. 2, I'm gonna show you basically, I think, pretty much every step. I mean, it's just like a little half a second, but every single step that it took to build this thing. And third, I'm going to talk about the major benefits of this mobile chicken coop. Let's get right into it with the cutting of the boards. It was a lot of boards, but it's very important for efficiency to make all your cuts first. The key benefits of this mobile chicken coop is: 1, the small design. It's only 4 foot by 4 foot. It's like super cute, 2 foot tall. It's all the chickens need for up to 16 chickens. It's great for the person who just wants to move their chickens around in the yard to fertilize, or the person like me who has broad acre and maybe wants to follow the cows or other ruminants far away, far from the house and over wild and woolly terrain. The second really cool thing about this Chickshaw is it's self-cleaning. The 1-inch wire mesh in the bottom that serves as the floor lets manure fall through, and the milk crates that serve as the nesting box also have a mesh at the bottom, and so dirt now naturally falls through. Every once in a while I have to clean those out, replace the hay and whatnot. But the floor, the coop, I don't think I've ever cleaned it. I've had a Chickshaw for years. I just can't remember a time having to clean it. Did I? What was that like? I think just some hay or something fell on the floor. This thing has dual purpose almost everything. It's like the nesting boxes you can pull out and they can be a transport for a broody hen or something like that. The door also becomes the ramp. The handlebar becomes the prop for the roof. Another thing is this thing is super efficient. With the big wheels, it's easy to move, but you can also go over crazy stuff. By the way, those wheels, you can't pump them. There's no air in them. They're non-pneumatic. Is that what you would say? They're also tall enough that the chickens can go under the coop and find shade. This thing is built for maximum efficiency. Not too high, they only need 2 feet. This is only their hotel, just big enough for, say, that's due to Surf's Up, that's about 9 inches. That's how much room a chicken needs on a perch. And then we put those perches a foot apart so they have a 9-inch by 1-foot space to sleep in. And if you'll go out there at night, you'll find that they'll even— there's even more room. They really like to snuggle up together at night. So to sum up this chicken coop, I think this is great for the homeowner who wants no more than 16 chickens but wants to move the chickens around. Why would you want to move chickens around? Well, move them around so the manure doesn't accumulate in one area. Put them in your yard so you can fertilize them. Say, move it every day. You could put them inside of an electric poultry net. You could have them free-range. I'm going to free-range my Icelandic chickens in this. On the broad acre. You could move this chicken coop into an area where you want a garden, where you want chickens to either clear a garden or prep a garden and manure it and scratch it and till it. You could use this thing like I'm gonna use it on the broad acre where we're gonna follow the cows. You could follow sheep or goats 3 days behind them, and then the chickens run around and they scratch through the manure and spread it and eat that developing fly larvae, and you break the pest cycle and spread the fertilizer all at the same time. This is easy to move like through tall grass and far out and up steep hills. Much more doable than say the bigger Chickshaw design, Chickshaw 2.0, which would be great for somebody who has 16 or more, up to 40 chickens. So if you have 16 or less chickens and want to get them moving, this Chickshaw Mini-Me is for you. I think once you get this and you start moving around, I could like move this thing with one hand. I think you'll enjoy the process more. It's just a breeze. To move. It's just a lot of fun. The chickens like it. One last time, I want to make sure you guys know these plans, they're available to you for free. This is my gift to the world. Grab those plans, get step-by-step instructions, print those things out, take them down to the shop with you, build this thing.