Best type of coop??

We recently moved to the country and I am excited I can finally get chickens!!! First we need to figure out what type of coop to get. We have definite predators in the area.....eagles, hawks, racoons and gators so I am concerned about my ability to let them truly free range. I was looking into a chicken tractor which would allow me to move their run around the yard so that they could still have fresh patches to graze. Are these good options or is it still best to get a free standing coop? Thanks!

I'm no expert but here are my thoughts.

Couple years ago we moved to the country and I got a whole bunch of chickens, some electric fence and a little chicken barn coop on wheels that I moved with my mower. I lost several to the hawks and vultures. I was so sad and discouraged I sold everything.

This spring I got the fever, but I wanted a safe way to keep the hens, but also wanted the benefits of free range lifestyle.

I came across chickenmobilestagecoach.com, and thought that really looked like the way to go for us.

We built two 4x8' tractors, modified the roost area (plans have a drop down floor, I wanted a solid floor) and modified the nest box (top opens and base folds down so I can clean inside the roost easily).

I topped them both off with a canvas tarp (very tough, should weather quite well vs a plain tarp) AND a sun-reflecting fabric (Leerburg Silver Shade Mesh tarp). The tractors are staying nice and "shady" even when they are parked out in the sun this way.

So I had the first tractor completed a couple weeks ago, and moved my 2 bantam pullets in there, and then completed the 2nd tractor this last week, and moved my 4 week old LF hens in there. So far so good. Definitely stands up to hawks (I don't think they can even see there are chickens in there because of the tarp/sun tarp). Also stood up to my 50 pound dog.

I can move them every day to every four days (depending on length/quality of the forage I park them on). The roosts are easy to clean, I use newspaper right now.

Like I said, totally new to the chicken tractor, but I think for my area with the hawks, vultures, foxes and coon problem, I think the tractors should be the right choice for us. And because the hens won't be left out I'm keeping it to 3-4 hens per tractor. Which is perfect, as we only need about 6 hens for our family anyway.

I liked this idea better than coop and pen, since the hens eat all the forage down to bare dirt and then stand around in poo, which means more work for you putting in some sort of substrate. I liked it better than my pastured poultry where I was doing great against land based predators, but losing too many to birds of prey.

Will keep an update over the year to see how it works out in the end. Especially winter, curious to see what we end up doing once the grass goes dormant.

The first thing to consider is how many chickens you are going to have, this will determine the size of coop you will need.

The second thing to consider is what size birds are you going to have, full size birds or bantams, this too determines the size of coop needed.

Depending on the size of area you have for chicken tractors, you could have only one or perhaps two or more, they work well for those that want to free range but need to consider chicken predator safety.

The mention of Gators tells me you are in one of these states; Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi.
It is always helpful to get meaningful answers if we know where you live so we can tailor to the conditions you usually have.

Permanent houses are great for some of us, tractors are great for others, then there are chook hoop houses. All work well, mostly it depends on the individual situation.

On our homestead farm, we can free range, since we lock up the birds at night, in a permanent, raised floor coop, it is difficult for predators to get at them after dark.
In the day time, we have to mostly worry about our raptor friends, but we are willing to take an occasional loss to our friends in the sky. If we are home, it usually isn't a problem, if we are at work at our day jobs, then we have an enclosed run with a covered area for them to call home.

Our predator list: Fox, Coyote, Raccoon, Red Tailed Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Harris Hawk, Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle, Screech Owl, Barn Owl, Great Horned Owl, Bobcat. These are ones I am certain are in our area since I have laid eyes on them. We also have the probability of Mountain Lion, and the possibility of Bear.

Shamrockmommy, have you seen a Vulture take a chicken? there is only one species that I am aware of that might take a live animal and that is the black vulture, we have both black and turkey vultures (hence the name of our farm (Buzzard's Roost Homestead Farm). We have never had any issues with these taking animals that are alive.

Love your coop! Sounds like a great idea. Thanks for sharing!!

Dogs have been known to simply kill chickens, ducks, geese, pea fowl, pheasants, quail. If they take a mind to, it only takes them a few minutes to decimate a flock of good size. My wife's wolf dog did in over 60 birds in about half an hour, all by himself.

The problem there is then what to do with your loved pet. What we did, since we have a guard dog (boxer/lab mix that is more boxer in appearance) and a hunter dog (also boxer lab mix, but more lab than boxer in appearance and temperament), is to fence them a yard to roam which is a little over 3/4 acre. This much space is great for them to run and play when they want to do so. It also contains our orchard trees and gardens. So far we have not had them trample the garden since we trained them to stay out of the gardens. The guard (boy) dog is the litter mate of the hunter (female), he does not show much interest in animals that he understands belong on the property, she on the other hand will kill anything she can get her mouth on. Our birds, so far, have not gotten into the dog's domain, I think the barking by the female has taught them to not go in there.

It is not hard to train a dog to see the chickens as something to care for in a guarding way, it does take time. The other option I like is to tie the dead chicken to the dogs neck and leave it there for a good long time. Usually that breaks a dog from ever wanting to kill one again. Of course there will always be the mystery, Murphy's Laws are real after all.

I like the chicken tractor, you can put wheels on one end for ease of movement and then you only have to worry about how heavy the mesh needs to be for predator protection.

MY wife and I are Natives, it seems my spirit animal and the other raptors have decided to respect our land as one for peace and getting along with us. They nest here, they roost here but so far have not tried to grab a dinner from our land. The neighbors down the road, not so lucky.

I have a chicken tractor. It has an 8 ft. by 8 ft. by 8 ft. chicken coop mounted on 2 skids up 2 ft.off the ground. The chickens use the area under the building and also an attached run area that is also 8 ft. by 8 ft. by 8 ft, also on the same skids and enclosed with wire on the sides and top. I have an electric fence wire mounted around the bottom to keep predators from digging under. So far so good. We just completed it this spring. It's heavy. It takes a farm tractor or truck to pull it around.

redsix said:

I have a chicken tractor.  It has an 8 ft. by 8 ft. by 8 ft. chicken coop mounted on 2 skids up 2 ft.off the ground.  The chickens use the area under the building and also an attached run area that is also 8 ft. by 8 ft. by 8 ft, also on the same skids and enclosed with wire on the sides and top.  I have an electric fence wire mounted around the bottom to keep predators from digging under.  So far so good.  We just completed it this spring.  It's heavy.  It takes a farm tractor or truck to pull it around.

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Can we please see pics? Particularly of the bottom that is movable? My husband started building the base for an 8'x8'...

Hi! If you only want a small number of birds (I'd say under 6), you could definitely get a chicken tractor that is light enough to move around by hand. Just MAKE SURE you have a hardware cloth apron that drapes out at least 18 inches on all sides of the tractor. This will protect against digging beasties. I've read that people make these aprons so that they can lift them up when it's time to move the tractor, which would make relocating it a whole lot easier.

Your other options, of course, would be to get a typical stationary coop and buikd a predator-proof pen (at least 10 square feet per bird); or get a coop and free-range! With the latter option, just be aware that you will eventually lose a few to predators.

tjmings said:

. I was looking into a chicken tractor which would allow me to move their run around the yard so that they could still have fresh patches to graze. Are these good options or is it still best to get a free standing coop? Thanks!

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If price were no object this is a coop I would like to build. It would offer the benefits of a standing coop and still be able to convert into a coop that could serve as a tractor with little addition work in my opinion.

http://www.ezcleancoops.com/coop-deville-chicken-coop?