Advice Please....Decided Against the Omlet and Want to Build a Coop for 50 Chickens

[Corbin_Dallas]

The people who report success with moving their layers around seem to mostly be using a mobile coop and portable fence rather than a standard tractor.

Perhaps that is my fault mixing terms. I was using 'tractor' as any type of moving coop; it seems 'tractor' better describes a low roof Salatin/Suscovich/hoop enclosure for meat birds and 'mobile coop' more aptly describes a larger mobile high tunnel based structures like those used by production shops (ie Primal Pastures).

I patterned my coop after the high tunnel production guys though I'm not running any type of e-fence. I'm currently at 8sqft /bird and haven't had any social issues but the flock is still months out from laying.

What do you define as 'intensive management'? My daily morning routine consists of raising the roosting bars, moving the tractor, lowering the bars and opening the feed port on my hanging feeder ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Evening is simply close feeder and adjust green house flaps as needed for weather.

Sorry I did not intend to hijack. Density/structure plays a big role in OP's question as there are many ways to manage a flock. As a fellow Ohioan, OP also needs to account for Ohio winters (specifically lake effect snow in her case) so structure and space requires special attention.

 

[3KillerBs]

What do you define as 'intensive management'? My daily morning routine consists of raising the roosting bars, moving the tractor, lowering the bars and opening the feed port on my hanging feeder ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Evening is simply close feeder and adjust green house flaps as needed for weather.

Commercial style management -- forced air ventilation, close monitoring of temperatures and ammonia levels linked to said forced air ventilation, conveyor belt feeding, etc. All parameters monitored and constantly adjusted for, often automatically.

Basically, the things you find in a broiler house with 30K birds or more in it that make modern, high-efficiency chicken production possible.

 

[NatJ]

Perhaps that is my fault mixing terms. I was using 'tractor' as any type of moving coop; it seems 'tractor' better describes a low roof Salatin/Suscovich/hoop enclosure for meat birds and 'mobile coop' more aptly describes a larger mobile high tunnel based structures like those used by production shops (ie Primal Pastures).

I tend to use "tractor" for a contained pen that the chickens do not go out of, and "mobile coop" for a pen the chickens sleep in at night, but come out and range in the daytime (with or without a fence around the ranging area).

Whether they are allowed out in the daytime can make a big difference to how it functions, and how big it needs to be for how many chickens. (My own experience, with 6 hens in 3 x 8 feet, they were not allowed out.)

I think the name "tractor" originated with a book titled "Chicken Tractor" by Andy Lee, published in 1998. That book describes a contained-at-all-times model. But that was quite a while ago, and the word has a much wider usage now.

 

[3KillerBs]

I tend to use "tractor" for a contained pen that the chickens do not go out of, and "mobile coop" for a pen the chickens sleep in at night, but come out and range in the daytime (with or without a fence around the ranging area).

That's how I use the terms too.

IMO, the reason that layer tractors so often fail is that in order to give layers sufficient space to thrive along with shelter in all weathers the tractor has to be so large that it becomes too heavy and cumbersome to move readily.

Whereas a broiler tractor is simply a very large brooder on wheels.

 

[NatJ]

IMO, the reason that layer tractors so often fail is that in order to give layers sufficient space to thrive along with shelter in all weathers the tractor has to be so large that it becomes too heavy and cumbersome to move readily.

That might be why mine worked. It was summer-only. It only held 6 hens per pen. And it was deliberately built to be lightweight (2x2 lumber for the frame, tarp on the top and around one end for weather protection, no wheels.) I mostly followed the instructions in the "Chicken Tractor" book, but down-sized it from his 4x10 feet, to fit 3' garden beds and 8' lumber.

Mine would not have stood up to a hurricane, or winter weather, or even a very determined predator-- but it worked for me in the summer in an area that does not get hurricanes. If a determined predator had shown up, the hens would have been moved back into the sturdy "winter" coop, and I would have re-worked the situation somehow.

Whereas a broiler tractor is simply a very large brooder on wheels.

Or without wheels, depending on who builds it

 

[3KillerBs]

Mine would not have stood up to a hurricane, or winter weather, or even a very determined predator-- but it worked for me in the summer in an area that does not get hurricanes.

No one-size-fits-all in chicken-keeping.