Yeah I know what you mean. I do that he gives them a huge area when there's that many birds. I've also heard him say that his pastures at Polyface are extremely rough.

Thank you Melinda! Glad you liked it.

Plans sent! Please subscribe to the channel and enjoy the build.

@@stonepillarfarm9089 Im also very interested in trying this design if i could get the plans. The one in Polyface's book is much too large for my 1 acre plot.

@@Gladrim56 Yes of course. I just ask that you subscribe to the channel. Send an email to [email protected] and I'll send you the plans.

They are Costa sunglasses

We don't have owls, but we have a couple hawks that torment us all season long. We tried keeping a guard goose, which was a miserable experience that I'll never do again. I'm thinking either guard dog or donkey is next. Let me know if you find anything that works!

My Brown Chinese geese keep the hawks away but dusk and dawn we have owls so I have to always be present those times or else! You built a really nice tractor 🙌🏽 success to you!

Sure. Send me an email so I can send you the plans [email protected]

Wow! Thanks for the reference to the pastured poultry book. I've read that book but either didn't catch that or didn't remember. Also had an experience of working at Polyface for a couple days and helping catch birds, and we did not use the partition but had to crawl on our bellies. But, that was in the fall and we were catching laying hens not broilers, so maybe they just didn't use them that time? I will institute the partitions this season for sure. I'm still glad I added the hinged back though since it makes getting sick or dead birds out of the back of the shelter so much easier.

Thanks Diana!

Yes I do and I saw your email. I'll attach the plan I used to complete the build.

@@stonepillarfarm9089great design .I also have the big poly face book.would really use your smaller set of plans with demensions.if you could e mail them to me would be so very greatful

Hi Nate. Thanks for the comment. I just sent you the plans. Please subscribe if you haven't. It really helps out! Take care.

​@stonepillarfarm9089 Good morning, could you please send me the plans for the featherweight chicken coop. Enjoying the channel and have subscribed. Thanks!

Good advice. Thanks Adam!

Thanks Matt!

@@stonepillarfarm9089 we are going to build maybe a smaller version than yours and call it the half Arc

@@matthmanning That sounds great. I'd love to see what you come up with.

Thanks Jon. I kept all of the board dimensions as specified in the Polyface Designs book. It's not that much different in terms of cost and I wasn't worried about the weight. If you're going to put it on wheels you may want to lighten it up with smaller dimension lumber. It does gouge my pasture some, which I'm not super happy about, but I've basically just gotten over it. My hens do so much damage to the pasture that I've come up with a process for repairing the pasture after a move anyways. I give them a bucket load of compost in their new location for them to take dust baths in. After the move I put a bucket load of compost in their old location to fill holes. I smooth this with a drag harrow and spread pasture seed then drag again. If you come up with a design on wheels let me know.

@@stonepillarfarm9089 Thanks for the info. Where we are at in SC, the ground is so soft that I'm really concerned that the front touch points would sink and then dig in. Im not fond of the wheels, but not sure of another way. Still researching. I'll let you know if I find anything and will share either way once we build it.

@@JonSkelley Do you have a tractor to pull it? If so I wonder if there's a way to utilize the 3-point hitch to provide some lift while you pull? Just a thought

@@stonepillarfarm9089 That was my thought as well. I currently have my meat birds in a suscovich style tractor where I put the wheels on when I move it. I was thinking something similar to this concept. I suppose it could work without the wheels as well though? I suppose I could build it without the wheels and test it. I can always add wheels afterwards if needed.

@@JonSkelley That could work. Although this will be significantly heavier than a suscovich tractor, so adding and removing wheels each time will be a much bigger job.

Yeah you could scale it down even further I think. It would take more imagination because you would really be changing the feathernet design almost completely, whereas I just narrowed the steel pipe skids and changed the roof style. If you come up with something please let me know. I'd love to see it!

Thank you Abdullah!

They are very hard to find. The only place I found to get them is the Farmer Boy Ag website: farmerboyag.com/shenandoah/ One of the problems is that you can only buy the heater in a pack of 4, which is very expensive, and probably not needed unless you have a huge operation. Best thing to do is try to find another farmer(s) who wants some heaters as well and split the cost. That's what I did.

@@stonepillarfarm9089 awesome thanks!

Thank you! It seems to be working really well. The hens get about 3,000 sq ft to roam, and we move them every 2-3 days. It doesn't seem like expanding their area to roam makes much of a difference in the amount of disturbance they do to the ground, since their dirt baths are always located right underneath or next to the structure.

@@stonepillarfarm9089 you mention you use 2 electric wire nets to make their perimeter.. Are those 160' each net?

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you! I have a very rough drawing that I used to complete the build that I can send you. Send an email to [email protected] and I'll send you the plan sheet.

@@stonepillarfarm9089 Hey, Mike did you receive my email message regarding the ARK?

@@kevinholbrook7174 Yes I did and I replied to your email. If you don't see it maybe try checking your junk folder. I sent it this morning.

Hi, there! My husband and I are really interested in your design as well. Would you be willing to share your rough drawing with us as well? We are working towards a similar design for our hens.

@@kailisever5986 Thanks Kaili! I just emailed you the plan. I hope your build turns out well!

I guess so, but it seems very overkill for broilers, especially if you're raising Cornish Cross birds. That breed doesn't move much, so they don't need that much space. You can make a Salatin style broiler shelter for less money than this structure costs. Let me know if you try it for broilers though. I'd like to hear how it works!

Yes, this is not a cold weather shelter. We bring our hens into a hoop house during the winter months. I think it would be very difficult to come up with one system or structure that works year round. We're in Frederick Maryland, so not too far from you and definitely not very different weather.

Yes I do. Are you also using these structures and dolly?

Ooh that's a good question. I don't have a final number right now, but I'm doing taxes (yay) so I should have a number soon. The cost is going to be very skewed though because I built this in the throws of COVID when a 2x4 was around $11. I'll work on getting you a number though.

You mentioned you drew this up…do you have drawings or a sketch up model showing the dimensions that you might share?

@@kylesnyder3757 I have the drawings I used to build it, and I'm working on putting together a better set of drawings to share with people. When are you planning to start your build?

What do you mean? I called all of the propane companies in my area and didn't get anywhere. Tractor supply does propane refills and is very close by. Where would you go for cheaper gas?

@Stone Pillar Farm I have a local gas place I take my tanks to and they refill them. The same ones that come out and service big tanks. I prefer my 100lb tanks cause then I can move stuff around. They are like 1.50 cheaper a gallon then tractor supply near me. I do have to get by them between like 9-5.

@@ftoole1 Good to know. Thanks for the tip!

My context would require that

Hey Jason. Thanks for the comment. Our property isn't too different from what you described. We have a lot of communities around us and few livestock farms in the immediate area. We have trail cams out and have pictures of coyotes, foxes, raccoons, skunk, and even black bears. Not to mention a bunch of hawk nests in the forest conservation area behind our property. So far the electric netting keeps out the ground predators and the goose keeps out the aerial predators. It is very important to make sure you have a good spark in the net. If so, I wouldn't have any hesitation duplicating this system anywhere. Hope this helps.

LGD's to protect the flock.

Yes, this is the only design in the book. I think you could easily make this half size (4x4) but the problem would be that the propane heater would not have enough room to safely operate. The main benefit of this brooder is that heater. Anything that is secure from rats and can safely operate the heater is good to go.

@@stonepillarfarm9089 thanks. I have been thinking of making something that’s 4x8. Still thinking about it :)

We haven't had any predation issues yet. The electric netting protects the hens from ground predators, and we keep a guard goose (or geese) with the hens at all times out on pasture to protect against aerial predators. We have plenty of predators to include coyote, fox, bear, and enough hawks to start a hawk farm. So far no issues. Keeping a guard goose kind of ruins the magic of being around laying hens in my opinion, but I have to remind myself that my goal is to produce eggs, not to have a magical time around my hens. It is disappointing though that the goose makes it so my kids won't go inside the netting.

@@stonepillarfarm9089I don’t know what you think but when I saw the amazing eggs my geese laid… I rethought guard geese. Plus I never liked the idea of the poor gander by his lonesome. I have my hens in with one gander and 5-7 geese. Then the geese are happier (I have zero aggression issues) and no hawk flying overhead is going to fly into a flock with all those geese. My only aerial predator has been the great horned owl who will try to take a goose. But as long as I’m out there at dusk and dawn, I have no issues. Goose eggs taste amazing!! So for me this is win-win. I also really think that creating huge fenced areas for them is a mistake (even though it feels more free to me). I think the aerial predators are less likely to fly into densely populated areas and will pick your chickens off when you have big roomy areas. But this is just my observation and I’m not sure if it’s true!

@@stonepillarfarm9089I don’t know what you think but when I saw the amazing eggs my geese laid… I rethought guard geese. Plus I never liked the idea of the poor gander by his lonesome. I have my hens in with one gander and 5-7 geese. Then the geese are happier (I have zero aggression issues) and no hawk flying overhead is going to fly into a flock with all those geese. My only aerial predator has been the great horned owl who will try to take a goose. But as long as I’m out there at dusk and dawn, I have no issues. Goose eggs taste amazing!! So for me this is win-win. I also really think that creating huge fenced areas for them is a mistake (even though it feels more free to me). I think the aerial predators are less likely to fly into densely populated areas and will pick your chickens off when you have big roomy areas. But this is just my observation and I’m not sure if it’s true!

@@stonepillarfarm9089I don’t know what you think but when I saw the amazing eggs my geese laid… I rethought guard geese. Plus I never liked the idea of the poor gander by his lonesome. I have my hens in with one gander and 5-7 geese. Then the geese are happier (I have zero aggression issues) and no hawk flying overhead is going to fly into a flock with all those geese. My only aerial predator has been the great horned owl who will try to take a goose. But as long as I’m out there at dusk and dawn, I have no issues. Goose eggs taste amazing!! So for me this is win-win. I also really think that creating huge fenced areas for them is a mistake (even though it feels more free to me). I think the aerial predators are less likely to fly into densely populated areas and will pick your chickens off when you have big roomy areas. But this is just my observation and I’m not sure if it’s true!

@@SarahPerine Yes, I also think that a large area with few birds is a perfect target for aerial predators. We did like the eggs from the geese, but it was seasonal, and was never enough to make a difference to us.

I added up the weights of the steel and wood members and estimate my feathernet weighs about 1 ton. I think a pickup could easily move it so long as you have good traction.

Polyface designs says the brooder can hold 250 chicks to 3 weeks of age. I've only ever had 150 in mine up to this point though since I don't raise nearly as many birds as they do.

How many turkeys and how long can turkeys brood in them.

LOL I didn't think of that, but I like it! You can take that name for your build.

I use the Shenvec brooder heater and purchased mine from farmerboyag.com. It's best to find someone near you who wants one (or more) as well since the minimum quantity you can purchase them from farmerboy is 4. I had a viewer reach out to me asking the same question, and he and I ended up splitting an order of 4 heaters.

Polyface Designs lists the capacity at 250 chicks.

Do you mean minimum number of hens? If so there really isn't a minimum number, although it's not economical to build this large of a structure if you don't have many layers. Maximum capacity is 400 based on a 10:1 hen to nest box ratio since the structure can take four 10-hole nest boxes.

@@stonepillarfarm9089 how many hens can you hold in this pastured coop?

@@boykalmado5340 400 hens.

It's all aluminum roofing. Very difficult to find. I drive over 2 hours one way to get it.

@@stonepillarfarm9089 any chance you can share the company name for the aluminum? I can’t find anywhere.

@@1337farm The place we were able to find it is called R&D Cross in Brandywine Maryland.

Thanks Roger!

Aloha, Brandon. I'm glad you found the video useful for what you're trying to do. I can definitely send you the plans. I'll need to do some work to clean them up and add labels and dimensions. I just got them good enough for my personal use which would be hard to follow. I'll message you when I have them ready. When are you looking to start building? You can email me at [email protected] if it's easier.

I have a rough drawing of the arc if you're still interested. Let me know.

Thanks Jeremy!

Thanks Emily!

Thank you!

Thanks Little Ridge Farm. I'll definitely get in touch with you about the livestream.

Thanks Corey! Another important tip I forgot to mention in the video is make sure you make your 1x2 and 1x3 pieces for the chicken tractor by ripping down 2x4 and 2x6. I made a mistake (unknowingly) with my 2 most recent chicken tractors by buying 1x6 decking boards. I thought I'd save time and frustration by not having to do so much ripping, but had no idea how much weight it was going to add to the structure. I'd guess my new chicken tractors are about 50% heavier than the ones I built by ripping boards. They're so heavy they're almost unusable.

Thanks! Always trying to improve our processes.

Thanks, glad you found it helpful.

Thanks Little Ridge Farm!