New Egg Mobile on the Way

With any luck we’ll have our new egg mobile finished and put on pasture with our sheep by the end of the week. We took an old camper trailer we got from our neighbor and gutted it, and after modifying the leaf springs to be able to move over rough terrain, we began framing it out, as you can see from this photo.

Right now we have our chickens in an egg mobile built on skids (link here), which we pull every couple of days with the ATV. Our original idea was to get the chickens on pasture so they can free range, so they get access to bugs and fresh grass to produce healthy eggs, stay healthy, and to cut the feed bill. Plus the pastures gain the nitrogen from the chicken manure and get aerated at the same time, which gives that little paddock a great boost without the need of using mechanical methods. This is a pre-WWII method often found on most farms throughout the US, which has been made popular again on homesteads and family farms by Joel Salatin (link here) and few others.


However, because our egg mobile movement is slow and limited and we can’t get to the areas we’d like. This is due to not having a floor. When we built the one we currently we didn’t think we’d have that many chickens, so there was no need to move it any great distance. Plus without having a floor the egg mobile stays cleaner and is easier to wash. But today we have 25 layers and would like to increase that number if our market for the eggs continues to increase.

Normally we move the chickens in the evening when we let them out of the polynets so they can range a little further out. Then we close up the coop and drag it about 20 to 30 feet to a new spot. However we don’t risk going too far because if we do then the chickens will go back to the last spot or the last “established” spot and won’t enter the coop. Some years ago we found this out the hard way when we moved the chicken coop to another pasture, albeit within sight of the last location, but it was too far away and the chickens wouldn’t move there. But instead of going back to the last location they all came to the house and roosted for the evening on our back porch.

With this new one, we first installed chicken wire on the floor so the chicken manure will fall to the ground without accumulation inside, but once closed in for the evening it can be moved in the morning to a new spot.  After being kept in there for about a half day the chickens will have pooped enough in that location to establish it. Then they can be let out to free range without any fear of them fleeing to the last location, or worse, our house.

We’ve taken pictures of the building process and will post them along with our story once this is completed. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate and post it into the comments section and we’ll be glad to answer them.