Introduction: Hen Shape Sculpture- Rooster Cage

About: I like DIY things, whatever new I think , I always try to make it. But I always publish here which is original. Mainly I do welding, aluminium casting, surfing, kayaking, fishing, wood turning and basic Arduin…

Some days before I scrap my old hen cage and decide to make new shed. But I don't want to build a regular box shape cage so googled for creative ideas but not found suitable idea for my purpose.

also I had 100 kg 9mm square rod which I want to use in my project. Initially my plan was to build an egg shaped cage but while designing and drawing basic shape for cage I click with hen shape and I finalize to make hen shape cage.

It is a sculpture too, so its shape and finishing should be perfect. for that I download some pictures and a 3D wire diagram for reference.

I don't want to weld this structure in open space as this was small surprize for my family. Thats why I all fabrication in my workshop so I kept all dimension with reference to workshop window as it is largest opening in workshop and structure will come out from there only. To keep sculpture small I break it in 03 parts

1.head+tail,

2.middle body,

3.legs and base

Weight of cage is 85 kg and it is 6.5' high.

This sculpture is only example, with this technique any bird shape sculpture can be made. for making animal shape sculpture some more planning will require as animal head is quite tricky part to fabricate.

Step 1: Basic Planning

Oval is basic shape which is common for many birds and animals.

I divide hen in 03 parts, I uses above 3D line image for reference.

you can see how sculpture is divided, and this also help in fabrication as small parts are easy to make than large one.

If you wish to construct any another animal or bird then plan as follows.(bird sculpture are very easy than animals)

Firstly divide bird/animal structure in small parts and make plan for each part.

Always try to make largest part first, as this will act as reference to other small parts.

Consider 03 views for any object.

Front view

Top view

Side view (left or right).

and while doing fabrication of sculpture just concentrate on a single view at a time.

Good sculpture require strong skeleton so always start with skeleton frame and then add details.

In my sculpture I started central part that is main body of hen , fabrication start with top view then front view and then side view.

Above all hen images are showing right hand side view.

please check last diagram it will give you idea if you are new to drawing.

Step 2: Drawing and Fabrication

As I want to use this structure to keep hen & rooster so I make 02 compartments in middle body and height for each compartment is 20".

For better visualization I start working with middle body. As middle body will give me reference to size head and tail. Also it is biggest part in hen's body.

Middle body is made from 03 oval shape frame. Check first picture in which 03 oval shape are shown. these 03 are basic shape which will act as skeleton for for our structure. check for fish-bone structure. I started with fish-bone structure. Then I attached 03 fish-bones one over another i.e at 20" apart

.

check out pictures , they are self explain how I execute this.

Step 3: Middle Body

As I completed attaching 03 fish-bones over one another .

Then I kept first base shape over ground and weld some temporary vertical rod over center line.

and over that vertical posts I added middle fish-bone structure and again add vertical post over it and lastly top fish-bone added

Our basic skeleton is ready. then welded circumferential rod to cover all fish-bones. For that I started welding from one section bend rod and weld to next point and this goes till end point come.

Lastly attached all circumferential points to their corresponding point vertically.

While doing this I keep looking at its shape from each side as sometime you don't get idea of sculpture shape from single side.

Step 4: Lower Body and Legs

For making legs I used 2" (20" long)galvanized pipe.

I made detachable lower body, for that I used another bottom oval shape and weld pipes to it. I kept these pipe 12" apart. and weld them with considering center of gravity of this structure.

Then added some inclined supports to join pipes to oval shape. These inclined rod adds nice look to hen legs.

Step 5: Head and Tail

Making head is quite complicated part in this project.

But accidentally I deleted some pictures from phone with which some project images also gone. but I can explain that process with drawn pictures.

I started head from side view and finish it with front view.

please check second picture, always first mark dimensions/shape over ground then make it.

head is most complex part of any sculpture. tail is quite simple one.

Step 6: Base Frame

Base frame is simple cross structure. where I weld 02 nos 1.5" pipe vertically.

spacing between these 02 pipe is same spacing between legs. 2" pipe easily lock with 1.5" pipe so there is no chance for unbalance.

Step 7: End Finishing

Openings in structure is quite big to keep small chickens, so I cover total structure with 4 mm galvanized wire.

you can see dense wire in some areas, as this will help to restrict small chickens falling from cage.

Added roof cover of 19 gauge galvanized sheet and painted with white oil paint.

Some work is still in progress i.e addition of base floor , eye for head, doors installation, small ladder.

thanks for reading and please comment if you have any suggestion or find any mistake(except english & grammer mistakes, /i know there are plenty of them )

Step 8: Further Improvement

Please note that I did't make these 05 sculptures.

these are downloaded and posted for your reference ,

after completion of skeleton, we can cover sculpture with variety of material. It can be scrap or any new material sheets. If you google for "scrap sculpture" ,you will find plenty of example.

when you cover sculpture with metallic material then sculpture convert to "exoskeleton" that means your sculpture no more needed internal skeleton. scrap sculpture looks very pretty as every section of sculpture is made from different parts.

Making scrap sculpture is quite nice to enhance your creativity. In my sculpture I don't want to cover it as I were planned to use these as rooster cage.

happy making :)

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