We have spent a week working on a chicken-tractor. I was intrigued by the "old style hen house" coop built by Steve on this message board, and decided I'd like to have a miniature.
We began with an 8' X 8' square frame.
We framed in the "hen house" portion 3' wide inside the frame. We covered the floor of the hen house with hardware cloth.
We added gate doors in various places. One to let the chickens out easily to free range and shoe them back in. One on the top to easily lower food/water. One near the doorway of the henhouse for access. The roof is also removable for access.
We framed in the hen house with a slant roof, added "window" openings covered with hardware cloth for ventilation and to achieve the look of an old style hen house.
We put 4 roosts (2X4) inside.
We hinged and latched the various gates/openings. We added chicken wire over the run.
Here's our finished product.
We still need to add wheels to move the tractor, but that will happen later this summer. I put the cornish x's outside in it tonight.
I plan on using this tractor for not only the meat chickens periodically, but also for isolation or breeding as necessary.
What do you think??
We began with an 8' X 8' square frame.
We framed in the "hen house" portion 3' wide inside the frame. We covered the floor of the hen house with hardware cloth.
We added gate doors in various places. One to let the chickens out easily to free range and shoe them back in. One on the top to easily lower food/water. One near the doorway of the henhouse for access. The roof is also removable for access.
We framed in the hen house with a slant roof, added "window" openings covered with hardware cloth for ventilation and to achieve the look of an old style hen house.
We put 4 roosts (2X4) inside.
We hinged and latched the various gates/openings. We added chicken wire over the run.
Here's our finished product.
We still need to add wheels to move the tractor, but that will happen later this summer. I put the cornish x's outside in it tonight.
I plan on using this tractor for not only the meat chickens periodically, but also for isolation or breeding as necessary.
What do you think??
