Chicken Tractor...

With the new arrival of our goats the chickens had to vacate their barn and it was tore down and replaces by a chicken tractor a neighbor gave us...I love the concept of the tractor but hate my chickens being so confined..The chicken hawks wrecked havoc on our flock and they require a covered area..so it is a God send for now...I got to figure out how to get me a chicken yard built but still have the chicken tractor idea...Any thoughts?
Dwight has got so many projects he will be busy for the next 40 years..lol...God Bless!

Good to see you posting. What we did for our chickens is get a storage shed. We have a concrete floor in the shed and cut a small door, with a chicken ramp going to it on both sides. We also cut out a window up top and put a small window fan in it for ventilation. In the winter the fan is removed and the window is closed and a heat lamp is put in. We put perches and nesting boxes inside. on the outside we made a chicken yard that we put a chickenwire roof over to prevent predators. It's best if you dig a footer around the coop and pour some cement to keep digging predators out. So far, in the 5 years of raising chickens, we haven't lost any to predators. I'll try to get Joe to post some pics of our set up.

I also like the Idea of a chicken tractor. For me it seems like most designs are for 2-4 chickens at the most. So if you have more chickens, you would need multiple tractors. I have seen a couple of designs that could be upscaled to house more chickens. The one that I plan on building this year is made by bending 10' sections of PVC into arches set about 3' apart (depending on the width of the chicken wire used) I think a person could upscale this one by adding more arches.

I found a whole lots of chicken tractor plans on backyardchickens.com

I hope this helps.

God bless,
Chad

Backyard chickens has a lot of good ideas. Thanks for sharing the link.

I use a couple of different chicken tractors and also sell the plans to build them.

I would prefer a perfect world with no predators, no close neighbors and no neighborhood dogs. The perfect world will be in heaven. For our reality on Earth a chicken tractor makes wonderful sense. My chickens get to eat fresh grass, have fresh air, sunshine and are protected from the evil that would assure an early death.

I DO let my hens free range, but only when I am around to watch out for them. I have two big dogs in my very small yard as well. When my hens are out my dogs are in ... unless I am in the yard with everybody.

I agree with the multiple tractor idea as well. I have a small tractor for the backyard hens that will house six and I also have a larger pasture tractor coop that will accommodate about 30 meaties short term or 15 to 20 birds long term. I have modified the pasture tractor so that I can also use it to raise a few turkeys. I also have built a small tractor/coop that would be ideal for a broody house.

Using multiple smaller mobile coops or tractors also frees you up as far as usage. Two smaller mobile tractors allows you to house two ages of birds at the same time for example a batch of meaties that are almost ready to butcher and a second set that are just started. It also makes it easier to separate birds from a main flock, if you want to breed certain birds for example or if you need an isolation hut for sick or newly acquired animals.

It is also so very easy to move the tractor. That feature allows you to put the chickens where they can do the most good for your homestead - in a spent garden or a buggy orchard for example. You can also move the birds to the most comfortable location - like to the shady area of the farm in the heat of summer.

All in all I just love chicken tractors.