Student-Built Mobile Chicken Coop

Student-Built Mobile Chicken Coop LIVESTOCK Poultry 33-3-6 Thanks to some creative high school students, Chad Jordan has a new 8 by 20-ft. mobile chicken coop made from an old house trailer. Jordan had suggested the project to his former teacher, Christopher Dodds, at McClain High School in Greenfield, Ohio. They were able to buy an old auctioneer's camper for $125. Because the floor and the bottom of the camper were in poor condition, students cut the camper off, removing everything down to the trailer frame. The initial plan was to sell the metal for scrap and buy new materials to build the coop. After putting in new treated stringers and a new floor, however, a couple students suggested putting the camper back on. They covered the floor and walls with 4 by 8-ft. sheets of 1/4-in. laminate flooring that Dodds purchased for $5 apiece. "The sheets have a slick surface for easy sweeping and washing," Dodds says. The flooring also worked well for the two ramps that lead up to two small doors for the chickens to get in and out of the trailer. Students built nesting boxes on three of the walls out of particle board with pvc pipe roosts and installed pvc sleeping roosts on the other wall. To make the roof waterproof, they screwed on a piece of rubber roofing left from a local roofing job and attached rain gutters and a downspout to catch rainwater and run it into a 55-gal. barrel. The whole project cost $450 and took 52 students about five weeks. Because their research included watching a couple of related Modern Marvels episodes on cable TV, it was submitted to a Time Warner contest. Dodds received a Time Warner Teacher of the Year Award and $5,000 for the school and himself. Dodds notes that the award is a reflection of his students' work and problem-solving ability. They figured out how to brace the camper walls and lift it off with manpower - 15 people - and how to reuse the camper. Plus they satisfied Jordan and his 100 chickens. "It worked out a lot better than he thought it would. He likes the height because it's low and easy to get into. He got his money's worth," Dodds says. With windows and doors the camper is well ventilated, and the doors can all be closed to keep the chickens safe from predators at night. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Christopher Dodds, McClain High School, 200 N 5th St., Greenfield, Ohio 45123 (ph 937 981-7731; chrisandcheld@aol.com).

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