Elevated Floor Flight Pen

[citypickle]

one more

[Jake Levi]

Looks very good Pickle, thanks for sharing.

[Jake Levi]

Very interesting Pickle,

how long are your pvc ?

[Pheasant Hollow Farm]

one more

I kept mine low Budget  With PVC 2" pipe with  a flight pen with a wire floor house 15x 15x 100 pen it has worked Great for me !!! Will take Picks Tomorrow and see what everyone thinks??

I might say,  and quite impressive.. 

old pen & new one just started

From this picture it looks as though you will be concreting the PVC, was this correct? What depth did you go and what was the length of pipe. I think 10-foot is the maximum, us less there was a special order on production.  What is the distance between arches, and what is your maximum height? Do you have anything connecting the top of the arches for stabilization?

Since we don't know your location, what are your snow loads figured on?

How do you enter the flight pen area? I noticed the end of the flight pen to be finished off with what looks like 4x4 posts. Is there any support for the netting for this last section? Do you have any of the wire buried?

All in all  I would have went higher with the wire on the sides or had it out of site, out of mind from predators with metal roofing around the lower perimeter.


Steve
Pheasant Hollow Farm

[Jake Levi]

If, they are 10' pvc, we could join two together for a higher arch, more headroom, I am thinking this could work well for a short pen, like 20'-30' . With netting could make a very economical pen.

[Little Bear Game Farm]

Mr. Pickle, looks very nice.  I need to build a bigger flight pen in the next couple weeks but my house is for sale so I don't want to invest a whole lot and nothing permanent.  I'm thinking of stealing your design and driving 2" PVC into the ground a foot and leaving 16" stick out.  Then, putting 1 1/2" PVC into the 2" and bending it around.  I'll put 16" soffit panels around the bottom.

Did you bury the wire at all?  I am a little nervous about predators digging underneath.

Up by me, you can buy 20' lengths of PVC, but you pretty much need a trailer to haul them.  I'm going to see if you can get PVC crosses.  Then, if you had 10' lengths, you can bend them to center and put the cross in.  That will make it easier to run bracing between the arches.  However, I don't think I have seen 1 1/2" PVC crosses before. 

The other thing I am nervous about with using PVC is the winter,as Steve mentioned.  Not so much the snow load, but the brittleness of the PVC when its 20 below and then the wind starts blowing it around.  Is your pen made out of Sch 40 or is it the electrical conduit PVC?  That stuff seems to be a little more flexible than the Sch 40.

[DoubleL911]

Similar designs;
We used the one from Mississippi State University.
Modified the brood house with wire floor.
Piping is 30 feet long
set at 15 feet wide this allows for a head height of 12 feet.
www.quailranch-ok.com
www.mstate.edu/dept/poultry/plans/fltplan.htm
Larry Lain
www.doublelquailfarms.com

[Little Bear Game Farm]

Here's a few pics of my cheap flight pen.  The elevated floor would have cost another $400.  10' sticks of PVC worked great and I put PVC crosses in the middle.  The PVC is 1" because I was too nervous I wasn't going to be able to bend a 2" piece around.  I put 1 1/4" PVC in the ground and silt fence around the outside; out of sight, out of mind.  Feeders were made with PVC and the waterers are nipple drinkers I had already put together for my brooder drawers which didn't work great there.  I do like having the elevated floor, but I think the birds love the natural floor so I hope it helps in their flight conditioning.

[Little Bear Game Farm]

Here's finished pics...

[wildergamebirds]

  That looks great.  Can you post a close-up of the feeder base?  That could be a good way to feed in seclusion, without having to stumble around in the dark.

[CharlieHorse]

PVC pipe can be purchased in 20' lengths, usually Plumbing supply stores carry it, I don't think you'll find it at Lowes or Home Depot.

brittleness of the PVC when its 20 below and then the wind starts blowing it around

A person can heat the pipe and bend it slightly, say at the peak to reduce some of the pressure/stress on it. A heat gun, or if you're real careful with a propane torch (can leave unsightly burn marks if not careful), hold torch flame at a distance from pipe. Experiment with a scrap/disposable piece if you're not experienced with bending PVC pipe. Let cool completely before putting it under stress and don't heat it while it is under stress, and heat about a 2-3' area evenly and all of a sudden you'll be able to form it to the shape/angle you desire. One can get real creative bending the pipe, even making the sides towards the ground straight up and down if wanted and a pointed peak.

I'd hate to know how much material has went up from 2 years ago.

A BUNCH!   

[Little Bear Game Farm]

Here are a couple pics of the feeder.  Its just a 5' piece of 3" PVC. Outside of the pen, I put a cap on it loosely.  On the other end, there is a 45 degree corner and then a 3" x 4" reducer.  I attached little pieces of wood to te reducer and then screwed it to a pie pan.  After one day, no problems 

[citypickle]

Sorry i missed this thread. The plan came from Miss.U. But i made the building 15X15 instead of 15X20 Used 20' stick of SCH 40 with the female end made on it from Plumbing Supply local 30' length of pipe for arch. Connectors don't have the depth that Bell pipe have and was afraid to use them. Pretty simple and easy. I used 1/4 wafer board & painted it,was Shocked at how much Plywood cost so I went low Budget. If it will last 2-3 years it has done the job.
  I used line post for Chainlink cut in half about 32" when cut for the ancor post for Pvc .
  Heavy plastic wire straps to hold Chicken wire & netting to pvc & 5 Gozillion Hog rings every other hole in the wire to netting. Hog rings were the Hardest part.  Has worked well for me so far

[CharlieHorse]

"Little Bear"............

   Feeder looks good, but appears that there is quite a bit of waste?

Suggestion...........

1.  Cut the pieces of wood off some and lower PVC closer to pan. Leave just enough room for some feed to come out, my chicken feeders only have about a 1/4"-1/2" gap to stop spillage/waste/scratching.

2.  Change pan to something that has sides straight up and down instead of sloped.

3.  Put something under feeder to raise it off the ground to reduce/eliminate contamination and the scratching of the feed out of the feeder.

 

[BravoSpinone]

What are the dimensions.

Overall length x width x ht (wire to netting)

4x4 posts ctr to ctr

lumber dims? and ctrs?

thanks,

Dan