50 CHICKEN chicken tractor!! Pics and Progress!

[foulplay]

I like the idea of just a hen house without an enclosed run, but we have too many coyotes and foxes to not have the option of keeping them locked up on occasion. How do you deal with predators?

How many nests do you have for 100 layers?

Thanks,

Sorry for not responding quickly

. But I have twenty-six nesting boxes. ten are prefabricated (Metal) and the other sixteen I made by myself out of wood to the same dimensions. But they still prefer the metal ones. Your coop looks awesome how often do you move yours. I move mine once every two to three weeks.

 

[foulplay]

We do not have a predator problem. But I have seen a coyote one night in the fence bottom looking at me when I locked them in at night. So as long as you lock them in every night you should be good. I heard that playing a radio near your hen house scares coyotes from the noise. Never tried it though good luck. Your coop is awesome!

 

[colburg]

We do not have a predator problem. But I have seen a coyote one night in the fence bottom looking at me when I locked them in at night. So as long as you lock them in every night you should be good. I heard that playing a radio near your hen house scares coyotes from the noise. Never tried it though good luck. Your coop is awesome!

Do you put a fence around them?

We have an 8' game fence around our orchard. We haven't seen any coyotes in there, but foxes raccoons and skunks are plenty. Though not in the day. I want to have a day pen to start with if need be. Maybe later we'll try a setup like yours.

 

[colburg]

I've made a bit of progress since last time, but have had problems getting pics to upload. Maybe that's working now.

After being voluntold to help the inlaws help plant new grass, planting alfalfa and clover in the orchard and irrigating, I got the started with the coop part of the tractor.

I went ahead and made the coop an extra foot longer. 6'x13'. instead of 5'x13'. 5' was looking preetty small.

There are two 12' peices of siding on top and the rest are 8'. The extra length is for shade when they have to be in the pasture.



A couple of 2x's to start the floor.






I finally found a place to use the extra cheap lumber I picked up the other day.


I don't have a good pic of it in the coop, but it's there. What better place for a piece of crappy wood than where it'll be crapped on constantly.


I had to order the tires online today. I thought the local TSC or Lowes had what I wanted, but nothing had bearings and was more expensive than these.
http://flatfreeusa.com/18-x-8.50-8-Air-Filled-Tire.html

I have more updates coming tonight or tomorrow, they're still on the camera that's in the shop.

 

[perchie.girl]

Wow Its beginning to look Aerodynamic..... Hee hee. Beautiful work.....

Love the term.... "Voluntold"

deb

 

[themichigander]

Nice progress I read all your posts and I love your chicken tractor idea. But what I don't get is where all the chickens are going to roost in your coop and run area. Also what breeds do you have.

 

[colburg]

Nice progress I read all your posts and I love your chicken tractor idea. But what I don't get is where all the chickens are going to roost in your coop and run area. Also what breeds do you have.

Where the tin is, with the beginning of the floor is where they'll roost and lay. Hopefully it starts coming together a little quicker and I keep up the posts.

We ordered a mix of Layers to begin with. Black Austrolorps, Red and Black Stars, Delawares(on my moms advice but they're the only ones that have died so far so we're rethinking them), Rhode Island Reds, and the 25 Brown Egg Layer Assortment from Murray Mcmurray.

I forgot to get the pics off the camera last night, so maybe tonight I'll get the next update posted.

 

[colburg]

At last, some decent progress. The floor of the coop is 3/4" #13 expanded metal which has diamond holes of .688" x 1.782". From what I've read, this size of hole should be ok for letting the poop fall through and not hurting the chickens feet.

I'll also point out some sequencing tips as I go through. Some of you may refer to these as sequencing DUH's,but when they're afterthoughts, they're tips.

When laying down the floor, I had to pull the lower siding off so that I could staple it down.





The expanded metal I had was scrap pieces from my Dad. They're 6' long and 10-12" wide. I welded all the pieces together so that there wouldn't be any gaps to get a chicken foot stuck. The strips you can see in the floor are the overlap of 2 pieces.


To enclose underneath the coop, I also went with expanded metal. We've decided this can be used as an intermediate place to keep the chicks since they're about to outgrow their brooder. To install these sides without things looking like total crud, I had to undo the lower sidings again so the metal would go behind them.



To secure the corners, I left one piece of the expanded metal a little long and just bent it over and stapled it down. I liked this better than trying to butt two pieces together and use bailing wire.


Sequencing tip #2: Build the sides below the floor before you put the floor in. By doing the reverse of the tip, I had to crawl in between the 2x6 and 2x4 in order to staple the sides. There is only 10" of room to squeeze through and it wasn't comfortable for a 6'2" 275# fella to fit through.




Notice the metal on the inside of the 2x6. This is why I had to crawl to the inside to staple it up. I thought about putting it on the outside, but thought it looked better on the inside. Plus, it overlapped with the chicken wire and cattle panels better this way.



Sequencing tip #3: If you ignore tip #2, get all of your siding in place before you crawl in. Dont do what I did, which was to get one side in place, crawl in, staple, crawl out, get the other side in place, crawl in, staple, run out of staples, crawl out, get staples, crawl in, finish stapling, crawl out. WHEW, I need another beer just reading that.

Another update is coming later today.

BTW, trapped my first raccoon of the season this morning. Man those things are ugly up close.

 

[pcappy2]

Great coop!!! just luv this idea

 

[perchie.girl]

Awesome job. Love the expanded mesh. You dont have to worry about welds breaking and it makes a smooth flat surface if its a rolled mesh. (mechanically flattened). And if you do find it a problem with feet and toes you can always cover it with Canvas. Canvas or even shade cloth will allow the poo to dry and it can be hosed off periodically. Some people make Poop hammocks out of it.

deb