Prairie Schooner Construction Pictorial

The Prairie Schooner model for broilers is based on Timothy Shell’s similar hoop house for layers. I consulted with Tim, purchased his plans and fine-tuned the structure. Since Tim is in China and his plans seem to be unavailable – and the model is too valuable to languish – I am offering as complete instructions as I am able to here, without having the original plans in front of me.

Most of the following photos are of various stages in the 7 to 8 week life cycle of the broilers and show how the Schooner and associated electric netting fences work. It is not rocket science to build this contraption. Just study the photos well. Raft
The raft is complete. The dimensions are 15’ wide by 40’ long. Bottom members are 2” PVC, angled up and capped at the ends. Bolted above those are 20 15’ lengths of 1 ¼” PVC. Eight diagonal braces (12’) are also attached underneath to stiffen the raft.

Hoops
The hoops are 20’ sections of 1” PVC (except for the 1 ¼” end hoops) bent and shoved into holes drilled in the 2” outside PVC members. Drill the holes vertically, not at an angle. The hoops will stay in place until the tarp is pulled over and drawn down and the whole top structure is secured to the raft. You must saw off the flared ends on the hoop sections so that they will fit in the holes. The sawed off flares can be used as couplers later.

In the above photo we’ve put all but the end hoops on and we are now attaching two shoulder lines and a top line – also 1” PVC. We used stainless steel hose clamps here, perhaps we were afraid a drilled hole would weaken the hoops too much. But there is some slipping with the hose clamps so I’d recommend you use carriage bolts so that there are no edges on the heads of bolts against the tarp. Locate hoops every 4’ and take time to adjust everything true before drilling holes and fastening. ¼” carriage bolts are fine here. These shoulder and top lines run inside the hoops.

At every shoulder line/hoop junction we attached a shoulder brace member. In the above photo a few are attached and loose, hanging straight down. These protect the structure from “caving in” in high winds. Use 1” PVC members and cut to length depending on where you wish to attach them to the raft. See later photos for a better look at the braces.

Bring the shoulder and top lines into TEES in the end hoops. Carefully measure where to place the end hoop TEES to have the shoulder lines level and the top line at the top. The TEES must all be facing the same direction. (We didn’t bother to shorten the end hoops any to allow for the added length from the TEES.) Leave the shoulder and top lines a little long and then cut to length after the end hoops are in place.
The last step before adding the tarp is to run some plumbing strap diagonally over the hoops connecting the four corners. As you can see below we didn’t use the corners. I’m not sure why but apparently this arrangement stiffened the top to our satisfaction. We used plastic, not metal, plumbing strap.
The Tarp
The tarp must measure 40’ long PLUS 4” for each end hoop pocket. Make the pockets plenty big enough to insert the end hoop with the three TEES in it. Remember to leave enough shoulder and top line PVC length to push the end hoops out adequately to tighten the tarp.

The width of the tarp is twenty feet minus whatever daylight you decide to leave along the bottom edges (the hoops are 20’ minus the bell = 19 1/2’). Figure at least a foot and a half of daylight on each side (=16 1/2’) plus the material to make the side pockets (3” on each side) and you arrive at 17 feet of material before sewing the pockets.

To install the tarp, insert the two end hoops and shove the tarp up and over the schooner. The more hands the better here! Insert the end hoops into the holes in the 2” runners. Center the tarp so that the daylight is equal on both sides. (Choose a calm day for this). Cut slots in the tarp where the TEES are. Insert the shoulder and top line PVCs into the TEES on one end. I see no need for glue on these joints.

Go to the other end and pull the tarp as tight as you can by hand. Measure where to cut the shoulder and top line PVCs to stretch the tarp tight. These are your money cuts. Insert the shoulders and top line into the last end hoop TEES by rotating the end hoop. This should be a struggle if it’s going to wind up stretched tight. You don’t need glue on this last end.

To pull the tarp down on the sides, first slide light rod along the length of the side pockets. We found something with ends that inserted into each other to make a continuous 40’ length. I suppose ½” PVC would work fine. We cut a slit in the low edge of the tarp every 4’ and threaded a tie-down strap over it.

Tie-down Straps
The tie-down strap then goes under a 1 ¼” PVC cross member and inserts into a plastic buckle arrangement sewn into each end. Our tarp shop made us 20 of these adjustable tie-down straps 1” x 3’ long. Pull them tight to even up the daylight space at the bottom and stretch the tarp tight.

Side Flaps
For the brooder phase the elements must be kept at bay. The brooder space for 500 chicks will be 15’ wide by 16’ long (4 hoops). The side flaps can be 20’ or more long – any extra length over 16’ adds more protection from winds at a diagonal to the schooner. Sew Velcro onto the flap as well as the tarp. Sew a small protective flap above the Velcro on the large tarp to hang over the Velcro seam. Otherwise water will run down the schooner, through the Velcro and into the brooder. (The chicks love the drips but you really don’t want the wet bedding.)

Make the side flaps wide enough to tuck 8 or 10” under your schooner raft. If it extends 6” up the schooner side and covers 1 ½’ of daylight that makes each flap 2’10” long. The above photo is pre-rain protection flap. We’ve used duct tape to seal Velcro seam.
Brooder walls
Again, Velcro saves the day here. Velcro will be sewn in all the top edges of the semi-circular, portable walls. The bottoms are weighted with rod.

Still, as shown here, the little chicks will find a smidgen of daylight and make a jail-break. We decided this was actually great as long as they learned to seek the protection of the schooner in bad weather and at night. This we taught them in their first four days, after which they were self-shedding.

To measure the wall pattern simply bend a 20’ section of 1” PVC to a 15’ base (before you use up all your PVC) and draw the top line. Add enough material along the top curve to sew on the Velcro so that it can fold over the hoops and attach to itself – 4” will do it. You will have to make some slits where the shoulder lines attach to the hoop.
Add a pocket at the bottom to insert a rod to help hold the wall down.

A simple door is made by cutting a long slit in the wall. Sew in Velcro on one side and add 2” of material for a flap with the mating Velcro on the other. (If you don’t sew on a flap it will be impossible to seal the door – trust me.)

The brooder walls are very adjustable as you can see above. For the first 3 days we keep the bottom of the brooder and the doors tight with air holes (for propane exhaust escape) only at the top. After that, and depending on the weather, the walls are progressively opened more and more, moved out to nether hoops until you feel your chicks are hardened, and then the doors are removed altogether. Or the windward door could be left on if you like.
Brooder set up
Cover the floor of the brooder with high quality shavings as you would any brooder. Don’t make the mistake of using straw as we did once. It will be welded around your raft members at the end of 7 weeks. Brooder set up within the Schooner is no different from any other brooder set up.

I suspect Tim designed the hoop house based on the length of the poultry netting. If you put an 8 to 10’ border around the entire house it fits perfectly. A portable charger and single ground rod make this model highly adaptable. (Fencing tip #1: walk out the entire length of fence before setting barbs in the ground. Fencing tip #2: Use Kencove netting with 2 tread-in barbs– we found it much easier than single-barbed Premier fence. I’ve discussed this with Premier and they say more people prefer a single barb but I don’t know why. I’d much rather use my leg muscles than my arm muscles to plant a post.)

Water and feed are no different from any other brooder. We stored ours under the Schooner for additional hold-down weight.

Chicks arrive! Just like any other brooder they know what to do. Here you see our no-frills heat, feed and water systems. I would recommend nipple drinkers now as they stay cleaner and are easier to manage in general.
Notice the stuffed corner. And the sides and wall partitions are tucked in.

Still, they always find a way out! The chicks will pass through the netting until they are about two weeks old. This is not a problem; they’ll return home. But you must train them where to rest and spend the night.
After the gas runs out of the 20 pound propane tank fueling the hover (three days) the hover may be removed. Gradually the walls can be moved out.
At the time they can no longer pass out of the netting it’s time to make their first paddock. They will range to the borders fearlessly.
And glean a healthy diet from the land. Make sure the pasture is chick friendly. That means grass 3 to 5 inches high laced with clovers, crickets (in the fall) and diverse plant and bug life. In other words, not a chemically treated, fertilized, overgrown mono-culture.
Every five to seven days a new pasture is provided. Imagine a daisy: the schooner is the center of the flower and the pastures are the petals. Gates are made by “lifting the skirts” of the fencing. Water is provided both in the schooner and out in the pasture.

The daily chores are simple: We drag the feeders away from the Schooner into fresh pasture, shaking the old feed toward the schooner as we go. We then top up the feeder, check waterers and that’s it!
Because of the superior diet and environment and never having endured the stress of crating and shifting out of the brooder to pasture the chicks have a seamless, rapid, growth curve.
As the grass grows, it may be necessary to mow a path for paddock fences in order to keep them hot. Here we have prepared a new paddock by laying out the fence, mowing a border, and installing the new fence. Feed sacks are laid out and the raised skirt gate has been made. You can see the chicks eating at feeders at the end of the far paddock. That means it’s time for new pasture.
When we drag the feeders over to the new pasture most chicks will come too. A few bug and clover rangers will need to be ushered to the schooner and then the old gate is dropped and the three-sided “petal” fence taken up, ready to be installed ahead of the new paddock.
We usually schedule butchering at 37, 38 and 40 days of age. This means around 160 birds per butcher day which is a four to five hour morning for two people with a good set up and some experience.

Crating is a very simple matter of walking slowly among the roosting chicks at sundown, setting some crates down, and putting the largest ones in crates. Although we are not slow at this, we don’t rush either. A chicken is always held in two hands with the wings restrained. These chicks haven’t had a stressful moment in their lives yet and we’re not going to “cowboy” them by picking up four legs in each hand as we did in the pandemonium of the movable pen model.

The savings in stress and mess in crating alone justifies the Schooner model in my opinion.

After butchering and marketing we move the Schooner to the next site and begin again for the next 500 lucky Prairie Schooner Chickens.

Pre-made Prairie Schooner tarps will soon be available on our web store. Please email for details.