The Chickenbarrow

I love chickens
As far as I can remember we have had chickens around all my life. As a child we used to build all sorts of chicken playgrounds.

Chickenbarrow
Now, many years later, I have designed a chicken tractor that fits into the wheelbarrow form factor, which makes it perfect for homesteading and even urban use: The Chickenbarrow. Imagine sharing chickens with a few neighbors and take turns, so that every so many days you have chickens in your yard and fresh eggs near your kitchen

Moveable sitting stick
It also features a a moveable sitting stick, which mechanically closes the hatch when the last hen goes to roost and opens it when the last hen leaves the stick in the morning.

When I completed my online PDC with Geoff in 2013 I took the challenge to teach people the practical things in Permaculture, how to actually do stuff. So yes, I would love to teach you how to build it

Beautiful, love human powered designs. Give me a place to stand and a lever strong enough, and I can move the world.

Someone give this man an apple! Just for the idea of building a pen on a wheelbarrow's footprint, its a great urban solution, using as its starting a point a design that's been optimised for ergonomics for hndreds of years. The easier a coop is to move, the more likely you'll actually get around to moving it!
I can't help feeling its a bit too clever and over-engineered, plenty of opportunity for that automatic door to go wrong, but to be fair I haven't paid for the course, so can't understand the exact design. Well done Nick, all the best with your project.

Cool idea, and I wish you luck selling online courses in how to build this. I however would have liked it a lot more if you had decided to share the information on how to build these for free so the idea would be able to reach more people. Can't fault you for trying to make some money on this idea though.

Devin Lavign wrote:Cool idea, and I wish you luck selling online courses in how to build this. I however would have liked it a lot more if you had decided to share the information on how to build these for free so the idea would be able to reach more people. Can't fault you for trying to make some money on this idea though.

Thank you very much Chad & Alun, I love that juicy apple

Tnx Devin, but if you only knew how much energy has gone into producing this course, you would definitely say I needed to charge more. If you get in now, for 99 dollars you'll get high quality:

Building plans/blue prints

3D animation of the construction

Over 12hours of HD video where I show and explain every step along the way

Online private forums where I will answer all your Chickentractor related questions

For more information: DIY Chickenbarrow

Nick van Zutphen wrote:

Devin Lavign wrote:Cool idea, and I wish you luck selling online courses in how to build this. I however would have liked it a lot more if you had decided to share the information on how to build these for free so the idea would be able to reach more people. Can't fault you for trying to make some money on this idea though.

Thank you very much Chad & Alun, I love that juicy apple

Tnx Devin, but if you only knew how much energy has gone into producing this course, you would definitely say I needed to charge more. If you get in now, for 99 dollars you'll get high quality:

Building plans/blue prints

3D animation of the construction

Over 12hours of HD video where I show and explain every step along the way

Online private forums where I will answer all your Chickentractor related questions

For more information: DIY Chickenbarrow

Don't get me wrong at all. As I said I can't fault you for wanting to try and make some money on this idea. I do understand you likely put not just a lot of work into the course but in the design and development of the project itself.

My mention of wishing you were able to put the info out for free was more about making it accessible to a wider audience and spreading the design further. A lot of homesteaders and farmers are on a pretty tight budget, so I can see a lot of them skipping this design even though they like it, just because they might not be able to justify the cost.

If I had the land and chickens as well as the money to spend I would likely take your course, I like supporting small business and innovation. If your still offering this in a year or two when I do have the land and chickens I will likely purchase your course.

Looks great, I hope you get lots of takers for it.

In my experience the quality you get with paid for tutorials far surpasses the free "how to" junk out there. I wash more people were making really top quality educational videos for sale. For people who haven't seen it yet, Udemy runs on this model - linking experienced educators and course designers with a market place of individuals hungry for knowledge. They have an excellent ranking system so the better quality courses get ranked higher. Publishers have an incentive to keep updating their material and provided excellent quality if they want to keep getting sales.

Essentially they have set up a system that encourages a race to the top in terms of quality of course material, rather than the morass of free, marginal value info on youtube.

cool trailer! This looks like it would be great for the small or urban homestead, especially in combination with the paddock system. Well done and all the best with it!

Nick van Zutphen wrote:If you get in now, for 99 dollars you'll get high quality:

Building plans/blue prints

3D animation of the construction

Over 12hours of HD video where I show and explain every step along the way

Online private forums where I will answer all your Chickentractor related questions

1) Is it 99 DOLLARS or 99 EUROS? The link seems to say Euros.
2) You might get a bigger response if there was a reduced price option for people who don't need animation, videos, or questions answered.

1) Is it 99 DOLLARS or 99 EUROS? The link seems to say Euros.

Thanks for your repsonse Frank
I'm sorry, yes it is 99 euros, so that would be about 110 Dollar.

2) You might get a bigger response if there was a reduced price option for people who don't need animation, videos, or questions answered.

I like your thinking, I will take it into consideration, thanks for the suggestion

For those who are new to the chicken tractor concept and the Permaculture view on chickens or who would like to learn about the Chickenbarrow concept and its use, you can checkout this new article that I have recently posted: What is a chicken tractor. It includes a wonderful custom designed graphic on the needs and products of chickens.

Ps. I'm very happy to announce that later on we will release a "Chickenbarrow probuild product", this will include the blue prints, shoppinglist and 3D animation of the construction at a heavily reduced price . But it is exclusive the online forums and support and without the 12hours of guided video's, so you are on your own but an experienced builder can deal with that.

Hey just checking in on this now that I got land. Ok, literally just had my bid on land accepted today. But as I said a year ago, when I get land and am ready if this is still offered I am likely to purchase it.

Not quite ready to purchase it yet, but glad to see the course is still being offered so when I am ready I know to come order the course.

Any input on how this has worked out for anyone who has bought the course and built one?

Hi Devin,

Congrats and purchacing your land

We currently only offer the Chickenbarrow for experts. It is a blueprint package and it requires you have some building experience since it has no support. The expert package includes detailed construction plans designed for print, hih quality photographs, a shoppinglist and a 3D animation of the assembly of the main structure. The total package sells for €25,-, based on today's exchange rate on Google that is about $28,- us dollar.

Our new promo video - which uses Gopro cameras to show the Chickenbarrow in action


Find out more about it: https://www.garnense.com/en/store/diy-chickenbarrow-experts

Nick van Zutphen wrote:Hi Devin,

Congrats and purchacing your land

We currently only offer the Chickenbarrow for experts. It is a blueprint package and it requires you have some building experience since it has no support. The expert package includes detailed construction plans designed for print, hih quality photographs, a shoppinglist and a 3D animation of the assembly of the main structure. The total package sells for €25,-, based on today's exchange rate on Google that is about $28,- us dollar.

Our new promo video - which uses Gopro cameras to show the Chickenbarrow in action

Find out more about it: https://www.garnense.com/en/store/diy-chickenbarrow-experts

Nick, that looks like a great idea. Do you have any estimate for approximate cost of the materials? I understand there will be regional variances, and would probably try to reuse/recycle some of the materials to build with... just interested in a ballpark idea if you have an idea. Thanks, and again, great idea!

Leif Ing wrote:
Nick, that looks like a great idea. Do you have any estimate for approximate cost of the materials?

Hi Leif,

I used first grade materials and spend around €400,- on it, that includes paint.

The online video course is no longer available, but the good news is that you can download the blueprints for free.

Hey Nick, thanks so much for the quick reply! As a newcomer to the ideas and ideals of permaculture, I feel a pull to try to make my own family more self reliant, and in the course of learning new things, I want to be able to share my experiences with others. I may not be able to make a huge difference all by myself, but if I can motivate, encourage, exhort, and teach others what I've learned...

Again, thanks and I wish the best to you!
Leif

I love the auto door idea, absolutely genius!
id love to come up with one for more birds/ perches to work simaltaneously or to see how one might work