Ok so I needed a light weight chicken tractor for my garden which faces the front of my property. It needed to be prettier than the things I usually build and lighter too. and 3 feet wide wich is the width of my isles. In addition I wanted something I could work on in the house while watching my ds. I saw the tortoise outdoor pens in pet smart and was intrigued. I finally picked up three of them after getting a coupon Cost just under $150.
It only needs to fit my silkies and other Bantams I am thinking 4 birds or less at a time.
I then started in my kitchen. It was much like putting together a puzzle and took me a few hours but the actual assembly time with out the pondering would probably be about 1/2 hour or so.
Turns out that the tractor part requires not a single cut and everything you need is in the kit except a screwdriver.
Please keep in mind this is not a predator safe coop although it will work well in my application it would need further adjustments to make it good enough to be predator proof.
I Expanded the width of the unit using all 9 triangles from the 3 sets. I did not take any pics but you can see the order I used them in my pics. I pulled out the pegs in the middle triangles and used a little glue as well as making braces to give support.
I took apart the wooden floor boards to make braces where ever needed like where the triangles meet in all 3 sections
I then took more floorboard and put together a "roof" which becomes the floor to the nest box in the coop conversion later.
Then by attaching 2 of the long roof strips they provide I finished the top edges which gave me a flat surface and a place to fit the top onto.
here is what it looks like with the tractor top piece on.
I took the door with hinge off of one of the left over pieces and removed the hinges. I then took the back brace piece from one of the floorboards and reversed it then put the hinge on the other side and attached the whole thing to the open triangle piece to be used as a pop door. I then put a hook and eye so I could lock it and will later add a hook to keep it open at the top.
Then I can place the left over big piece that the door came off of as the top of my tractor. I can add hooks so that it latches on later.
Then I took one of the other long pieces with the door and one of the closed ones and using the last strip of wood (saddle I guess) I attached them and can now place them where they sit inside and on top of the tractor when the top is off.
Then I can use the second door to access what could be a nest box.
This leaves me with just these two openings on either side. Tomorrow I will cut 2 triangle pieces for them out of plywood and then using the cedar strips from the floor as siding I will make them look like the bottom half. I wish I could have done the whole thing without any need for any tools other than the fillips head but these last 2 openings I cannot figure out without at least using a hand saw.
Anyway here it is.
I added a handle at one end of the tractor where I can lift it easily and carry it from place to place. when the birds are inside eating I will just drag it slowly a few inches at a time. They will then go back to their real coop and run later.
It only needs to fit my silkies and other Bantams I am thinking 4 birds or less at a time.
I then started in my kitchen. It was much like putting together a puzzle and took me a few hours but the actual assembly time with out the pondering would probably be about 1/2 hour or so.
Turns out that the tractor part requires not a single cut and everything you need is in the kit except a screwdriver.
Please keep in mind this is not a predator safe coop although it will work well in my application it would need further adjustments to make it good enough to be predator proof.
I Expanded the width of the unit using all 9 triangles from the 3 sets. I did not take any pics but you can see the order I used them in my pics. I pulled out the pegs in the middle triangles and used a little glue as well as making braces to give support.
I took apart the wooden floor boards to make braces where ever needed like where the triangles meet in all 3 sections
I then took more floorboard and put together a "roof" which becomes the floor to the nest box in the coop conversion later.
Then by attaching 2 of the long roof strips they provide I finished the top edges which gave me a flat surface and a place to fit the top onto.
here is what it looks like with the tractor top piece on.
I took the door with hinge off of one of the left over pieces and removed the hinges. I then took the back brace piece from one of the floorboards and reversed it then put the hinge on the other side and attached the whole thing to the open triangle piece to be used as a pop door. I then put a hook and eye so I could lock it and will later add a hook to keep it open at the top.
Then I can place the left over big piece that the door came off of as the top of my tractor. I can add hooks so that it latches on later.
Then I took one of the other long pieces with the door and one of the closed ones and using the last strip of wood (saddle I guess) I attached them and can now place them where they sit inside and on top of the tractor when the top is off.
Then I can use the second door to access what could be a nest box.
This leaves me with just these two openings on either side. Tomorrow I will cut 2 triangle pieces for them out of plywood and then using the cedar strips from the floor as siding I will make them look like the bottom half. I wish I could have done the whole thing without any need for any tools other than the fillips head but these last 2 openings I cannot figure out without at least using a hand saw.
Anyway here it is.
I added a handle at one end of the tractor where I can lift it easily and carry it from place to place. when the birds are inside eating I will just drag it slowly a few inches at a time. They will then go back to their real coop and run later.
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