What is a chook?
- Aussie slang for 'chicken'
Reasons to build the chook dome:
- Aussie slang for 'chicken'
Reasons to build the chook dome:
- chickens don't get 'cornered' - because there are no corners
- supplies are relatively cheap - electrical conduit, nuts & bolts, chicken wire, bird netting, shoelaces
- left with a circular bed - perfect for starting a food forest
Where to get instructions on how to build one in different sizes? Goto this link:
- milkwood.net
We built the second biggest dome from the chart. That way we could stand upright in it and have enough area for 28 chickens - that's ten square feet per bird - but could still move it with just two people.
Milkwood uses the metric system, which, personally, I prefer. In my opinion, it's easier and more accurate. But when we go to the store, most everything is in the U.S. standard system. So first, we had to convert the numbers from Milkwood:
Measuring and cutting the poles was simple. We used ink to mark where the poles would meet. If we were to build another one (which I would like to do one day - donate), I'd use colored tape or ribbon. It took some figuring out how to assemble the dome and sometimes the poles didn't exactly meet where we marked. We had to go back and look at the pictures a couple of times, but with a little fudging, we got it together.
The dome has worked out great, and I highly recommend building one. Let me know if you have any questions.
- milkwood.net
We built the second biggest dome from the chart. That way we could stand upright in it and have enough area for 28 chickens - that's ten square feet per bird - but could still move it with just two people.
Milkwood uses the metric system, which, personally, I prefer. In my opinion, it's easier and more accurate. But when we go to the store, most everything is in the U.S. standard system. So first, we had to convert the numbers from Milkwood:
- Total # of 20 ft. lengths of pipe: 15
- Total length of pipe: 300 ft.
- Area of chook yard: 283.74 sq. ft.
Measuring and cutting the poles was simple. We used ink to mark where the poles would meet. If we were to build another one (which I would like to do one day - donate), I'd use colored tape or ribbon. It took some figuring out how to assemble the dome and sometimes the poles didn't exactly meet where we marked. We had to go back and look at the pictures a couple of times, but with a little fudging, we got it together.
The dome has worked out great, and I highly recommend building one. Let me know if you have any questions.
This was built February 25, 2012.