Caravan Chicken Coop Build

This is the 38th post in my series on cool coop builds. I haven’t been looking for the biggest or best, but ones that express the heart and soul of the owners that have interesting backstories that might inspire my readers.

When I saw this one in an online chicken group I reached out to owner, Gail, to invite her to be part of this series. It turns out she is both the designer and builder of not just this coop, but several other small builds.

I give her kudos for tackling a challenging project that turned out beautifully. And secretly, I’d love to have her as a building buddy who’d like to assist me with a few of my own projects. After all, as a fellow Canadian we only live about 1200 kms/745 miles apart. Maybe visiting a small island off the west coast is on her bucket list?

Here’s her story, which I hope you find as inspiring as much as I did.

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I live in Strathcona County, Alberta Canada where I’m getting back to the land for our upcoming retirement job.  

I am new to chickens this year.  It started with a move to a bigger acreage and my neighbour asking me to babysit her chickens in exchange for eggs.  I am very impulsive so I bought an incubator for the eggs I collected and then set out to create my own flock.

I now have 30 birds. The chicks from the first hatch are barnyard mix from a Brahma rooster. My hens are Copper Maran, Lavender Orpington, Ameracauna and six Lohmann Brown that I purchased as layers.  I have hatched some Blue Laced Red Wyandotte eggs and received a rainbow of different Wyandottes and only a few Blue Laced Red Wyandottes. I guess it adds variety and also makes me want to get more eggs to incubate to get the breeds I really want.

Is this your first building project?  

I built a cordwood shed and in 2020, a house for baby squirrels that I rescued.  I built two chicken coops that year to fill my time and made a couple sales. This is my first chicken coop built for my chickens.

How did you come up with the plans?  

I had a derelict trailer in the yard with a flat tire.  I figured if I could get the tires replaced and have my son cut off the excess metal and paint it for me I could use it as a base for a moveable chicken trailer. I am very artsy, so I wanted to have fun with this so right away I thought of a Gypsy Vardo.  I had no plans to use it, so I studied some pictures and other builds. I basically started with all the wrong types of wood and just made it work.  I would assemble it then disassemble it, modifying to get what I wanted. Each phase was enjoyable. I love the creative process and learning from my mistakes.  

Who did the work?  

I did. My son got the trailer base ready for me but I did the build solo. It was tough as it was windy and the boards were awkward.  I had a ton of fun though, and wouldn’t change it.

How long did it take?  

I spent way more time than was necessary: three months, on and off. The trailer was not my only priority as I had to build fence for my sheep and go through lambing as well, so it was on the back burner a lot.

Budget  

I haven’t done a tally on the receipts yet but it might be around $5000 CDN as lumber prices were very high. I made some choices on paint purchases that were also more expensive than just regular paint.

Coop:  5’ x 9’ with walls that slope outward allowing room inside for the roosts. The laying boxes are mounted outside.

Features

• Two roosts with poop trays underneath
• Laying boxes are in a bump-out that I access from the outside
• Solar fan and solar lights 
• The door is not self-opening. The walking plank is hinged with a fastener that holds it to the trailer during moving.  
• One window
• The black metal roof made the coop hot. To avoid cooking the chooks I installed sheep fleece in the ceiling.  

• At this point, weight and cost were considerations so I purchased canvas to be the ceiling liner for its ease of installation and its light weight.  
• I paint as a hobby so having that large piece of canvas was too tempting.  I began painting some Sistine Chapel chickens on the canvas and figure that every spring I will add to the mural until the whole ceiling is done.

Plans For The Future 

• I will be getting the automatic door as I have finally found one that opens sideways which I think would work best.  
• I have purchased an old Canned Ham trailer that has more floor space. It is a toss up whether I use it for chickens or not because I would love to have it for people. I will work on it and probably decide when I see how much rot there is. If I turn it into a coop I’ll do it up as a retro trailer with roosts, nesting boxes and a few extras.

• It’s going to be called the Eggobeggo. I have also seen a 1950’s delivery van that I would love to redo for the chickens. My plan is to have them move around the pasture after my sheep. I want it to be entertaining and not just a utility.

Thanks to Gail Flint for sharing her builds and photos, used with permission. 

“Science-based chicken keeping with a splash of sass”