A-Frame Mobile Chicken Coops | Mobility and Sustainability

Are you looking for a sustainable option for a home for your backyard flock? As chicken farming is trending towards more earth-friendly and sustainable options, a lot of different styles of poultry coops are popping up. A-frame mobile chicken coops combine the efficiency of a tractor chicken coop with the iconic and charming style of an a-frame coop. These coops offer a lot of benefits and come in a range of sizes and varieties. You can buy a pre-assembled a-frame chicken coop, or you can build your own if you’re handy with tools! Let’s dive into this style of coops and find out more about them.

What Are A-Frame Mobile Chicken Coops?

A-frame mobile chicken coops combine the mobility of tractor coops with a triangular frame. These coops offer your chickens protection with a covered area while still giving them access to a foraging area. A-frame mobile coops are known for being relatively easy, cheap, and quick to build. You can also buy mobile chicken coop kits that offer durable metal construction if you aren’t excited about the idea of building your own!

Benefits of A-Frame Mobile Chicken Coops

A-frame mobile chicken coops are great choices for your backyard flock. The benefits that these coops offer aren’t just for your chickens. You also get to enjoy a lot of benefits with this style of coops. 

Foraging Area for Your Chickens

These coops have an open floor design that allows your chickens to forage in the grass and find bugs to eat. Chickens have a natural instinct to scratch and forage on the ground. Giving them a coop where they can indulge in this is key to keeping them happy and healthy. The nutrition that your hens get from this means that the eggs that you eat will be rich and healthy.

Protection from Predators

Predators always pose a threat to your chickens. This can be stressful as the chicken parent, as you don’t want to lose your hens to hawks and foxes. A-frame mobile chicken coops should be fully enclosed with quality wire to ensure that no predators can get in. Because these coops give your chickens access to grass as well as a nesting space, they won’t have to venture out into the wild, where they could get attacked by predators.

Customization Options

No matter if you build your own a-frame chicken coop or if you buy one fully assembled, you can customize it just how you want it. Whether that’s adding a run space or roosting areas for your chickens, you can choose what is best for your flock and what helps you work the most efficiently and quickly.

Easy Mobility

Because these coops are a combination of classic a-frame coops and mobile tractor coops, they’re really easy to relocate and move around. You should make sure that you invest in an a-frame mobile chicken coop that has a high-quality wheel set-up. Ideally, your coop should be able to be moved by only one person for quick relocation to new grazing areas. This helps your property from being overgrazed in a certain area while keeping your hens supplied with fresh space to scratch and explore. An added bonus is that your property will be getting free, all-natural fertilizer as well!

Cleaner Chicken Coop Option

A-frame mobile chicken coops generally don’t have a floor. Rather, your flock is directly on the ground. This helps make maintenance and cleaning easier. When the feeding frenzy happens, and feed starts flying in all directions, it will simply land in the grass where your chickens can later peck at it. Extra food that isn’t eaten, as well as all the poop that chickens produce, will naturally soak into the ground and act as fertilizer for the grass. This creates a cycle of your chickens helping to grow lush grass, and the lush grass keeps your chickens healthy!

Drawbacks of A-Frame Mobile Chicken Coops

As with all products, there are downsides the these coops as well. Before you invest in a new a-frame mobile chicken coop, it’s important that you weigh the pros and cons of your coop to make sure it’s the best fit for you and your chickens.

Difficult to Control the Climate

While a-frame chicken coops make great homes for your flock in the summer, the winter months can be challenging. Because of their open design, it’s almost impossible to regulate the temperature inside your coop. You can choose to fully enclose your coop during the cold parts of the year, but this will make more work for you. You can also add a floor to your chicken coop, but this will take away your hens’ ability to forage and graze as they want.

Moving is Dangerous to Chickens

Because a-frame mobile chicken coops are made to be moved frequently, this can sometimes pose a danger for your chickens. Depending on the mobility of your coop, your chickens can get injured when moving it. This generally only happens with really large and heavy coops. No matter the size of your coop, make sure you move it slowly and carefully to keep your chickens safe!

DIY vs. Assembled A-Frame Mobile Chicken Coop

When you’re choosing a new a-frame mobile chicken coop, you have a lot of options! You can either buy a fully assembled coop or a kit for a coop that you have to assemble yourself, or you can choose to build your own! Whichever you decide, make sure you make your chicken’s comfort and safety a top priority. 

Buy Pre-Built A-Frame Chicken Coops

When you buy a chicken coop, you always have a ton of choices. You can choose a fully-finished chicken coop, or you can go with a chicken coop kit that you can assemble yourself. At Happy Farmer, we sell mobile chicken coops that you can assemble yourself in a matter of hours. These coops have an a-frame design and are made with quality metal and canvas that will last for years to come.

Our coops come on a pallet that you will unpack and find all the parts, instructions, and hardware you need for assembly. After you unpack your kit, you get to set it up where you want it! Once it’s fully assembled, you can move your flock into their new home and let them enjoy it for years to come!

Build Your Own A-Frame Chicken Coops

You can also build your own a-frame chicken coop. This will take you some time and a lot of hard work, but it allows you to design your own coop and build it just how you want it. You can either design your coop on your own, or you can find some great a-frame chicken coop plans to follow!

If you decide to DIY your a-frame mobile chicken coop, you can choose from a range of materials. Choose what you will frame your coop with– metal, wood, PVC, or some other material. The entire coop should be enclosed with a wire mesh of some kind to keep predators out and protect your flock.

You should also provide your chickens with a protected space where they can get out of the rain and wind. To provide this protection, you can use a metal roof, canvas, or a high-quality tarp. 

A-Frame Mobile Chicken Coop Ideas

Whether you decide to build an a-frame mobile chicken coop or buy a mobile chicken coop, you can add features to your chickens’ home that will give them a more comfortable space to live. From feeding and watering options to options for nesting boxes to give your hens a comfortable place to roost and lay eggs, you can add any features you want to your coop.

Nesting Boxes

Nesting boxes should be added to any a-frame mobile chicken coop for raising eggs. Hens need a place to nest and lay their eggs. Make sure you have enough nesting boxes for all of your hens so they can all have their own space. Happy Farmer offers nest boxes that feature a rollaway system to keep your eggs clean. This roll-away system also makes gathering eggs quick and easy. 

You can build your own nesting boxes for your a-frame coop as well; just make sure they are large enough, and you have the right amount for the number of chickens you have. Nesting boxes should be elevated to give your hens the feeling of safety that they get from roosting above the ground.

Feeders

Even though your a-frame mobile chicken coops give your chickens access to foraging for bugs and worms, they still need another food source. Add an automatic feeder for mobile coops to keep your chickens supplied with food! The combination of chicken feed and the bugs and worms that they’ll forage will make your hens healthy and happy!

Waterers

Keeping your chickens well-hydrated is essential to their overall health and well-being. When you choose a waterer, you should get one that automatically refills and keeps the water fresh. Find waterers for mobile coops online or at your local farm store.  

Roosting Space

Chickens have a natural instinct to get off the ground and roost. They feel safer when they’re off the ground and away from potential ground predators. Even though your a-frame mobile chicken coop may be 100% secure and predator-proof, you should still have a space where your chickens can roost. Just because you have confidence that your chickens are safe doesn’t mean that your chickens feel the same!

Get Your A-Frame Mobile Chicken Coop

Now that you know all about a-frame mobile chicken coops, it’s time for you to get one of your own! Whether you decide to build your own or buy a mobile chicken coop online, make sure you get the right size for the size of your flock. 

Happy Farmer offers durable coops for chickens, turkeys, and ducks. We’d love to work with you to get you set up with a new home for your flock! Our coops are easy to assemble and will last you and your hens for years to come.