Finally a Mobile Coop Easily Moved by Hand OR Machine!

Last night we found some cedar lumber, although it's rough sawn, which means it's actually a 2x4 and will need sanded. We found some. This is what I want to be doing. Uh, we started taking off the bottom. We're gonna replace this board, uh, working on making this chick— chickshaw's upside down right now— making it better. Good morning, my man. You got you some fried fish from last night. We want to put more birds in our chickshaw and be able to move it across our entire property, even the really steep stuff. Hey, you found your strawberry. Nice. Is it sour?

No, it looked ready.

Oh, you got some too? You try them, see if they're sweet or sour.

What does that mean?

Is it sweet or sour? Oh good, look at all these strawberries, guys. Hey, you want a snack? Here's snack. So we got some rules for this Chickshaw build and modification. It's got to be light enough still, and you got to have the ability to still move it by hand for the easy moves. It's got to be built out of material that other people could easily get because that's how I'll eventually share this design if it works. Just how you put a little net and you're good for the pigs. Let's go free the fat hens first as they've been cooped up, and then we'll do the other chores. The, the third rule is that it should be able to— should be able to pull it behind Sally or something with a ball, some sort of machine, in the event of a big steep move. And ideally we'd be able to move this either way, by Sally or side by side, or by hand without having to hold an extra contraption inside Sally, you just come out and hook up. Free the fat hens. There just needs to be more of them. They're turning the manure some, but not all of it. More chicks, that's the answer. More fat hens. Our little experiment worked. We wanted to see if they would stay in sheep net. Sheep were here yesterday. It's nice because you only have to set up one system, run two species in there, cuts our workload, gives us more productivity. So it works, they stay in. So let's add some more, hopefully tonight for tomorrow. There'll be more chicks in that. What are you guys gonna do, Grandma? You gonna— you here to do something?

Yes, we're gonna water and the, uh, The chicken garden.

Nice. The, the container gardens up there.

Yeah.

Okay.

Oh, he's dirty.

Jonah's gonna water Teddy real quick. As much as I just want to tear into this, really, I need to clean up the shop. It's been a while. Lily and I just milked a full 2 gallons. We're gonna put the calf off of you soon though. We're gonna wean that calf here at the end of the month, and, uh, you'll start giving us a little more. We'll milk you once a day. No calf will get any, so it'll build up more. Look at that! Is that from this strawberry patch up here?

Correct.

Lily picked those. Yeah. And then we got some cucumbers. Oh, I don't know, Grandma's really sucking it to it. Yeah, I see the teepee green beans are coming in.

They are.

I guess you got some morning glory too.

Oh yeah.

So what are you doing, just weeding that out?

Yeah, just weeding out what we want to keep and what we don't.

How is it, Mr. Brown?

Good.

You need a little support this morning? Sit on my lap during breakfast? You like it? What, is that your sunburn?

Okay. And I had a bump.

You keep that shirt on today, okay?

Do you? Okay.

You keep that shirt on, you won't get sunburned.

All right, I don't want to get sunburned one time again.

Snack time, just after breakfast.

Yeah.

Anyway, I think a viewer might have saved us a bit of trouble, Buck, because we were going to mount a hitch. This is an aerial view to the end of our handle there. Well, they had a good point. You're going to jackknife pretty quick if you don't do a V. So I think we're gonna make our handle as short as we possibly can and still be able to walk in there and extend out a mount for it. And then that way we can have a better— see that? And then you have more room to swing. It's fun to draw. It's so fun to draw something on paper like this and then actually go make that reality. Go create that in just a number of— in just a few hours.

After snack time.

Okay. Oh, look! Just in time! Sally's back!

Woo! Okay.

This box trailer, it goes out pretty far and it's got a curve in this trailer.

Let's look at the other.

Yeah, I forgot my measuring tape, but that's what, 2 or 3 feet? I don't even think we have to go that far out. I'm voting we go about this far out. Look, about right there. Okay, so just eyeing some things here. How's this mount underneath there? It goes pretty far back.

Wow, I can draw with my magic.

Yeah, but we could do this. We could go underneath it like this with our handles. Oh, I like it. I think we'll mount our, our wooden brace underneath it just like this and then have one coming out the middle just like this. I think we'll do it just like that. All right, all right, we came back for a measuring tape. All right, let's go, Jonah. We'll, we'll get the measurements. Do the measurement. All the way to the tip. Okay, 33 is the— let's just call it the, the tong. All right guys, we got our measurements. Let's go do this. Our set is clean, our canvas is clean, so to speak. Let's keep taking this off so that we can put a new leg through here. So arms and sides have got to come off. Okay, Rebecca, it's latched on all kinds.

Look.

We're gonna have to take— look, we're gonna take any of this that's attached. Uh, we're gonna take this bolt out. We're gonna have to take this off. We're gonna take this, this brace off right here. It's a big work. We're gonna replace this one while we're at it since that got all busted. You're right at it. I like it. Other way.

Well, I had it and then I helped with it.

All right, what, 30, 45 minutes there? That was quite the job to get this thing off of there. The U-nails coming into this, the screws into it, but we got it.

I mean, this was built for a hurricane.

Yeah, man, Hurricane 5. Big Daddy would be proud. Now Let's take our new 2x4s that just— Jonah nicely sanded. We need to cut them down to be, you know, the 1.5 by— or whatever it is— by 3.5, maybe 1¾. Okay, so it fit nicely in our old spot. So those are rough sawn, those are rough, those are true 2x4s. You're just going to see if it's going to work just as it is. You want to do that for strength? I don't see any major problems with that, do you?

Let's do it.

Okay, we'll just do it like that. I need to see where I'm going with this. It's upside down. Beauty's sanding some of the old legs, just getting some of the manure off. We decided the wheels were right here. That makes it the most easiest to pull. But if we move the wheels back some, it's going to give us more clearance in the back from the ground, and it's going to lift, lift it up higher, lift the front legs up higher when we hook it up to the hitch. So we're going to try 6 inches. We may have to go more, but the further we go back, the heavier it's going to be by hand.

So we'll try that.

We got the wheels on back. Rebecca, I think it's time to flip it. I think one of these flips would most definitely work better with a camera. So now we're going to put on our funky caps to see how long we're going to want these handles. Oh boy, it's not gonna go.

Uh-oh.

All right, so we're gonna have to take it out. I was just gonna say, and then flip it.

Okay, you go in the back.

That's good. Is that far enough? Yeah, we did just enough. Yeehaw! I got you. Oh wow, still very light. Yeah, very easy to pick up. Now here's the trick. We want to make it as short as possible, Rebecca, but this door also needs to be able to open and not get in the way of the handle. Or— yeah, just set it down. There we go. Or see, we need to have We need to have our— what do you call it? Yeah, our brace going underneath so it can, it can come back as far as this. See that? Yeah, I mean, no, yeah.

So here's—

how are you gonna do with that? Just prop that up. Okay, so if we get it, if we put it just enough so the door can swing down—

wait a minute. Okay, yeah, I can just have it.

Sure, have your thought.

It would be like this. It would be like this right here.

Uh-huh. Yes.

So then they would have room to walk out.

Who's they?

The chickens.

Uh, no, there'll be a handle here, but they'll be able to walk out and under that. Okay, that's a good question. That's a good question. Let's think it through before we make a cut because that was hard to put that board.

Good thought.

Mama's doing that. So what I was imagining us doing is having our end 2x4 on this, say, and then just like the trailer over there, then this, this would come out, and then we would mount a middle piece that extends on out. Is that any different than if we cut it there? I think it is different because you won't have that strength. And, and then, hey, hey, if we keep it long and we say I don't like it, then we can cut it. That's a lot easier than replacing.

Yes, I agree 100%.

All right, let's try that. Okay, Rebecca went to check on something. This is it. I don't think we need to come all the way back. Look, that's it mocked up. We can put the handle— we can still keep the handle for easy grip and grabbing onto by hand, and it also serves as a prop for should we ever have to lift up this lid. But I think that's it. We've cut these ends off, go across. I think that's it.

Papa, there's only wheels, and won't that thing just fall? What, this thing? Since it only has—

oh yeah, yeah, we still got to put the legs on. We're gonna figure out if the legs need to go out here or if we can put them back there, but we won't know until we put it on Sally and see if they clear. Man, I'm excited! Let's do this. Let's not cut this yet in case I'm wrong. Oh yeah, let's do this! Hey, look at this! We're, we're making headway. And Jonah found these long screws, which makes it easy for screwing through there. I think long term though, we get bolts. Yeah, I think we get bolts, but this is just gonna see if it's gonna work. But hey, it beats little 4— little 3, 4-inch screws.

Let's saw this off.

Uh, we're gonna think about it. We're gonna make sure—

we're making sure that this is a good— yeah, we don't need to move this forward.

That's right.

So we're— this is temp.

Yeah.

Okay. Because if this is— if this is too short for whatever reason, then we'll have this. It's a lot easier to leave that on than it is to—

we're going to cut these off later, hopefully. And then this corner, it's nice for mounting the metal handle, and it also, I think, gives more strength. But we might have to— it might be that we can get rid of that corner too, be like Legit trailer. And you could run your— you could run your handle through that. Maybe you can also just grab there. So is that heavy, guys?

Yes, really heavier than I was hoping.

Uh-oh. Okay, here, let me see it. Oh yeah, it's a little heavy, isn't it?

How are we supposed to hold these things up?

Let's go back.

Uh, let's see.

Okay, if we'll see if it works, we might be able to put our wheels back where they were. We might be able to put them more forward back here, so we can still adjust it. Rebecca's bringing Sally around. I doubt she has the ball. Do you know where it is, Jonah? The hitch?

I think so. I don't know where the pins are.

All right, come on through. We could make it a little less heavy by moving the wheels more forward, but we still got legs to put on this, guys. And sure, I could put the, the, the trailer, uh, trailer wheel pivot jack but that is so heavy. I would really just like to put our original wooden wheels back on here. Once we get this on Sally, we'll know how high it needs to be for that. Moment of truth. We're gonna cut those off as soon as we see that this is gonna work. Nice. Oh yeah, nice, nice. Oh wow, that's totally gonna work. I think if we, if we cut it off right there. What do you think?

All right, I don't know.

What do you want to do? I'm just nervous.

I'm nervous.

Okay, you don't want to cut it?

Well, this is why I'm nervous, huh? I'm nervous because that was a lot of work to get that board on there. I don't want to have to do that again.

Okay, well, you can't test it too much with turning because it— I know, like our problem was originally with one of my original ideas is that we were going to jackknife too soon.

Okay, well, let's get to cutting. You could cut it right here, I guess.

All right, all right, give it a try. We're gonna try it. She's so afraid to cut these legs, these arms. I am too. I don't, I don't know what we wouldn't be thinking of, but it seems like we're thinking of everything. Keep going. You're not going to hurt it going straight.

Woo!

All right, see if it makes this turn. Turn into there. All right, here we go. Okay, slow down, Becky. Becky, it's going to hit, uh, you got about— yeah, go straight there.

Go straight now. Yeah, see, that's— we're going to have—

of course we're going to have to cut cut it, but I think that's plenty. That's a good length. All right, keep going to the flat and then we'll know where to put our legs. So maybe pull up into the dirt there. Yeehaw! Keep going. Why don't you get it all in the— okay, that's good, that's good, that's good. All right, let's try the legs. Maybe I'm thinking they're gonna have to come all the way to the front. Okay, yeah, that's gonna be our— well, no, they go all the way up though. They go all the way up like that. Oh, so yeah, we're gonna have to put them all the way up here in the front.

I know, they'll go inside. So that's just in there.

Yeah, I know, I see that. It's only clearing about 2 inches, and that wheel would really—

well, it goes on the inside.

I'm just— I am a little nervous. I'm still nervous even with it right here because look, should we make them a little bit shorter? I vote that we make them shorter, but you didn't like that look.

Yeah, that was the ground short.

No, yeah, yeah, like if it'd be like it pivot down this— the chickshaw doesn't have to be perfectly flat, you know what I'm saying? So that, that makes me feel much more comfortable going over uneven terrain. I mean, we have added strength to have this corner, but technically we could take this corner out too. And this makes a nice mount for our handle. Okay, let's see how sharp you could turn it. All right, you turn it as sharp as it'll go. Is that as sharp as it'll go? You're safe. Look at that, you're totally safe. Okay, some pretty gnarly terrain right there, wildly uneven. It handled it nicely. So we just pulled this. This is what I really like about it. I unhatched it, but if we want to then pull it by hand We can.

Nice.

Hey, Rebecca, you might want to try this and see if you even want a bar. Yeah, see if you even need a pool bar. Would it be more comfortable? There'll be a bunch of birds in there.

Yeah, it would probably be more comfortable. That has added a significant amount of weight to it.

So you know what we can do? Why can't we move the wheels back? Yeah, I say we move—

it will be heavier to pull.

It'll be easier because, because you're lifting 2.5 feet where you're living a half inch more of weight, half foot more weight because we moved the wheel back. As soon as you move that wheel forward, you're gonna have less weight. You got more weight on the wheels. I'm feeling like, you know, we saw it out. I think those wheels could be moved. I think they flipped, Rebecca. Other way. Flip them around to where the, the, the higher you— the closer up you put that vertical one, the better. Yeah, so that's about where it would be, Rebecca. No, no, we don't need another ball because we're going to see where we want it out of the way.

Okay, because—

sorry, let's see how low you feel comfortable. I'm going to see— it's going to look like that out in the field. It's going to be a little A little low, it's leaning down. That'll help rain fall off the roof in any place. You like that right there?

Yeah.

Can you measure that so we know what that is? Look at that, and we got our handle on there. That's super legit. All right, we're gonna move the wheels forward, make this thing easier.

So could we just—

I think it's because we, we lowered the legs. We can totally move the wheels forward.

Yes, to be in the center. Yeah, where they used to be.

Yeah. All right, let's flip this thing over and it's done.

Everything.

Boom!

Let me try moving it.

All right, let's see. Hey, did that make it any easier?

This is getting inside.

Yeah. Hey, you moved it. All right. All right, we're gonna go through the chest here, man. Really rough terrain. It's a ditch. Okay, go real slow, Becky. I'm gonna watch it. Not yet. Go slow when the trailer's there. You're fine, fine. Oh yes, it works so good. So now we're just gonna unattach Roll it right there. It's super convenient, no extra device. We did it, Rebecca! We did it!

Yes, now put it in the grass.

I'm gonna start it.

She, she, that's a successful person right there. That's a successful lady. We, we accomplished something. She's, what next? All right, look at this, look at this. Rebecca's washing that chick shawl out. Much needed. We're excited to get it out here. That's got to get done first. We've got to do chores, and then hopefully we're going to replace it out and get the new shawl going.

Yep.

Papa, yeah, Papa, we gotta put nets to go straight down. We do not need to get into the luchador paddock with this net.

Oh, okay, that's true, because the luchador— that's true, that's a good, that's a good point. Let's see.

Let's do it.

Keep calling them, keep calling them.

You like flowers?

How's it going up here?

Going good. I'm done.

Look at this! It's like a brand new Chickshaw. Looks smoking.

Still have some problems, but it's doing—

looks so good.

It's much cleaner.

All right, well, it's refreshed. How long do we have till supper? Do we have time to take this I haven't even started supper.

Oh, whoops.

This is why we did it. Look what those chickens did to that cow pie. Absolutely spread that fertilizer, absolutely killed that fly larva. Let's get it out, Becky. Old for the new. Now that can go back, or I guess we can put it in our front yard until Grandma needs it. Hey, this is what it's all about. Does that make it worth it? Yeah, because now, like, where'd we get this ice cream? Now we can get more fat hands behind the cows, which means more patties scratched, less flies, which means more ice cream for the Rhodeses. You guys get it? Are you making the connection?

Yeah.

Celebrate that long, hard day of work right here.

I'm gonna sit outside.

Let's go. Where?

And then let's sit on the porch. All right, enjoy some ice cream, man.

Nice view. Warm. Wasn't it a nice day today? Sunshine, not too hot. It was superb. We got Sally back. I know, we got mucho reasons to celebrate.

That's right.