Chicken Tractor

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cmerk

cmerk

Chirping
6 Years
May 9, 2013
28
4
72
Indiana
We are first time chicken "farmers". Our coop is a converted wooden children's play house. We closed in the porch, made a ramp with closing door. We have a tree limb roost that pulls up to the ceiling so roosting is only done at night. Our chicken tractor is made of 2x4's covered with chicken wire. It is 4' by 8' by 3' high, how many chicken's can use this at one time?
 
welcome-byc.gif
someone else coming along will have to advise you on size - I'm no good with numbers. It would be a lot better to to use 1/2" hardware cloth on the tracker instead of chicken wire.

Any predator worth his salt will tear apart chicken wire. It is to flimsy for anything but keeping chickens in.
 
cmerk said:
We are first time chicken "farmers". Our coop is a converted wooden children's play house. We closed in the porch, made a ramp with closing door. We have a tree limb roost that pulls up to the ceiling so roosting is only done at night. Our chicken tractor is made of 2x4's covered with chicken wire. It is 4' by 8' by 3' high, how many chicken's can use this at one time?
Click to expand...
cmerk - Your coop sounds cute. Would love to see pix.

I agree with the previous poster that the chicken wire is effective at keeping chickens in. However, our dog successfully pulled chicken wire off and bent it easily. She was just curious. Not looking for a meal. She hasn't been able to penetrate the hardware cloth so far and believe me she and other dogs have tried. My son's french bulldog actually jumps onto the hardware cloth attempting to get to the chickens and it doesn't even bend under his weight. Am pretty sure, chicken wire would have given way along time ago. Hoping your flock is safe.

To your actual question - we are first time backyard chicken owners. Our tractor is 5 x 8 x 3 high and currently houses 3 full size chickens. It looked huge when they were first put into it. I don't think I would put any more in mine now. The feed and water dishes take up some space. We also added a low roosting bar for them to just step up on and 1 extra water source due to the heat here. They are content. We have no behavior issues so far. They also get let out to free range almost daily for a couple of hours.

All the best - hoping this helps
 
Greetings from Knasas, cmerk, and
welcome-byc.gif
! Pleased to have you with us! Your run sounds good but I would heed drumstick diva's advice - a little $ now in hardware cloth will save you some chickens and some heartache later. Good luck to you!
 
Thank you too. We will correct the chicken wire as soon as possible. Suppose to get down to 32 degrees on Sunday night. Our girls are going back into the garage with a lamp on them - they are looking kinda adult like, but are not old enough to stand that cold. We didn't plan to get electric to the coop until later this summer. We bought 2 acres and are trying to get it put together for a hobby farm. We love it, but man it would be nice to have a team of strong guys over here everyday. It will all fall into place in time.
 
WE took the flight feathers of our small flock off by cutting with sharp scissors. Today they "flew" after me to the flower garden after coming out of the coop. My question is: How often do we need to trim the flight feathers?
We are really attached to these girls.
 

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