Anyone willing to critique my tractor/coop/run design?

[FenDruadin]

Hey all,

Been a while since I've had chickens. Just finished building out a quail run, which is a comparatively simple endeavor. Now I gotta build a chicken coop. I've drawn up preliminary plans and would love experienced critiques from anyone willing.

Needs:

• House 4-6 chickens
• Include nest boxes for easy egg collection
• Easy to clean
• Easy to move
• Comfortable for the birds
• Allows access to lots of grass and bugs
• Predator proof without having to close up the coop every night

Coop features:

• 20 square feet
• Easy access door at back for cleaning
• 2 attached nest boxes for easy and clean egg collection
• Roosting space
• Trap door and ladder into "basement" run
• Handles and wheels for easy moving
• Run area covered in hardware cloth

Run features:

• 40 square feet
• Detaches from coop for easy moving
• Completely covered in hardware cloth

Please tear it to pieces before I begin on it. I would also love suggestions for keeping weight down.

Thank you!

 

[Vantic]

I build a lot of tractors. I have huge ones (8x8 walk-ins) to small ones (4'x8'x2'). My entire flock (about 150 atm) is mobile. I agree with your goals.

Problem 1: Weight, oh my josh this will weight a lot and it looks like you are wanting to move it by hand. I'm a strong guy, but my 8x8 walk-in is probably lighter than what your design and it about gives me a stroke moving it on my uneven property. Unless the run is a separate tractor?

Question 1: How often are you moving your birds to the fresh ground? The move ratio plays into how big the "run" needs to be. Also, where are you located? Is there snow in the winter and what will the little fuzzy butts do then?

I've worked on the idea of a cooped run tractor. The largest I built was for my five-year-old grandson. It held 4 birds and had to be moved daily as the run was small. I'm coming up with a new design, but it still maxes out at four birds and is intended as a breeding tractor and not their permanent home. Not saying it can't be done at the six chick level, but weight and maneuverability will be key.

I have to add that my layers run in two chickshaws, the chick shaw is surrounded by electric nets (pos/neg) to give them a "run". I do have more birds then you are asking about, but it is very easy to move the layers around and I don't have to do it as much as you would with a tractor.

 

[FenDruadin]

Thank you!

Yeah, I want to move by hand. Would I be better off having two separate, smaller tractors, then, to house my 4-6 birds? I am not super strong... I am a smallish female-ish person with roughly average strength for my size & bone structure.

I don't mind moving the tractor frequently. I have two quail tractors already and I move them every few days, although I sometimes get lazy and go a couple weeks. I move them by scooting one end over, then scooting the other, and back and forth until the job is done.

I do intend to separate the run from the coop if I use a design like this, but maybe this design is overly ambitious.

I used to free range chickens and had a proper coop, but I live in suburbia now and free ranging is not an option, but I still want them to have fresh grass and bugs regularly.

Or perhaps I should do a permanent coop but move them into a tractor during the day?

I live in the Charlotte, NC area. We *occasionally* get snow but it never lasts more than a few days TOPS. Ice storms are a bigger issue, and even they don't put ice on the ground for more than a few days.

Thank you so much for your input!

 

[FenDruadin]

I should add that these are layers, though I may keep a rooster.

 

[Vantic]

I'm adding this link for reference: https://www.springcreekidaho.com/product/compact-poultry-tractor I'd send you the link for the plans, but I haven't finished it yet.

If you had a tractor about this size 4'x8'x2' tall and you put a 16 sq ft coop over 1/2 of it that was no more than two feet tall, you could house four birds. Move the tractor daily and the girls wouldn't hate you. The wheels in the back make it so it moves easier than your (I like it) scoot method and the wheels would offset the weight of the coop.

 

[Vantic]

Also if you hang the nesting boxes off the back of the coop, it would help with the weighted feel of the front. The link tractor I can lift the front and move with one hand. So a coop would add weight, but it has "room for that weight"

 

[Arielle2]

How will you stop predators from digging under?? Or reaching thru?? Is there another layer of protection like a fenced yard....... ?

Ive come to appreciate locking the coop doors at night.

 

[FenDruadin]

Hi everyone. Thank you SO much for the feedback. I especially appreciate the experienced view that my design is going to be way too heavy. That has pushed me in a new direction.

Instead of one tractor, I think I will make two small arks. I'm leaning toward an a-frame with an enclosed portion at the top. This will be easier to move, simpler to construct (though more time-consuming since it's two projects instead of one, but what I learn on the first can be applied to the second), and will give me more flexibility in moving birds about as needed.

Regarding predators digging under, where I am that has never been a problem. I have kept quail in a tractor simply sitting on the ground for years and, prior to that, had chickens in the same situation. I check the enclosures daily for signs of digging, and occasionally find a few scratch marks. I generally move it at this point to prevent the predator from continuing the same dig, but I've never had one even come close to getting all the way under.

I think the raccoons are too well fed on trash to be bothered. I realize there's always a first time for everything, but prior to this, I kept chickens and quail for close to a decade in this manner and never had a problem, so I'm anticipating the same.

I do put boards on the ground around the tractors in any area that has gaps due to uneven ground, as those gaps will encourage digging if I leave them. That seems to be the only precaution necessary.

Thanks again for the help! Would love links to your favorite simple-but-elegant chicken ark for 2-3 chickens plans!

 

[Vantic]

How will you stop predators from digging under?? Or reaching thru?? Is there another layer of protection like a fenced yard....... ?

Ive come to appreciate locking the coop doors at night.

The easy way to keep things from digging is to attach a bit of cattle panel like fencing to the outside of the tractor to lay on the ground. The digging occurs at the tractor, just like a run. The metal stops it. I use electric net so they never get near the tractor.

 

[rc4u]

you must have a lawn tractor to mow, so just hitch up n go.. if yur on skids good to go if ya want wheels design like fish houses do