Hello! My name is Jacob, I have been in Lewisburg for almost 5 years now. I had 6 leghorns when I got here in 2020, they were allowed to free range and were locked in a horse stable at night. A pack of coyotes took 3 at around 2pm in november or december after learning that they would not be accessible after the evening hours. After that time they were no longer able to free range. I made a run for them and used buried welded wire around the bottom of the horse stable, they were still picked off 1 by 1 in february/march. I could not figure out how the predator was getting in. Fast forward to this year, I decided to give it another shot. Instead of egg layers I have opted for freedom ranger broilers from Freedom Ranger Hatchery in Pennsylvania. As we all know the chicken quality bought from the store is subpar and those chickens live miserable lives. The non-gmo, organic, pasture raised chicken is around $7-9+ per lb and my belief is that tractored rangers will be better quality than what can be bought in stores. I have a local grainery who sells 300lb drums of non gmo broiler feed for $115. I built a brooder that they have outgrown in 2 weeks. These birds can eat! This weekend I am building my chicken tractors, I have settled on a simple a-frame design by Ana White (the simple original version). I will attempt to add the link here.
https://www.ana-white.com/woodworking-projects/frame-chicken-coop-tractor
The design should cost about $100 per tractor, I will be running a portable electric fence in attempt to keep out most predators. Instead of chicken wire i will substitute 1/2" welded wire 19 guage. The design states that each tractor will have 40 square ft of run space and 10 sqf of roost space. I am trying to decide whether to just opt out of the roost box being that it will surely be filthy in no time, not to mention that the chickens would be crowded regardless of how many chickens i put in each tractor. What are yalls thoughts on this? For 50 chickens I was planning to build 3 of these tractors, that would give 120 square ft and move them daily, and 16 2/3 chickens in each tractor. Should I scrap the coop/lay box? should i make one side solid to the ground?
Tennessee summers can be brutal sometimes, the humidity makes things awfully miserable above about 95 degrees. Last years drought came with a heat wave around 95-105 with evenings only cooling to around 85, this was sustained for about 3-4 weeks. I am concerned about keeping the sun off of my chickens as well as i can, should i opt for a silver tarp instead of the 3/4" plywood?
I appreciate any opinions or advise in advance, yall have already been very helpful to me as I have been reading on this forum for months already. I hope yall have a great season and plentiful harvests!
https://www.ana-white.com/woodworking-projects/frame-chicken-coop-tractor
The design should cost about $100 per tractor, I will be running a portable electric fence in attempt to keep out most predators. Instead of chicken wire i will substitute 1/2" welded wire 19 guage. The design states that each tractor will have 40 square ft of run space and 10 sqf of roost space. I am trying to decide whether to just opt out of the roost box being that it will surely be filthy in no time, not to mention that the chickens would be crowded regardless of how many chickens i put in each tractor. What are yalls thoughts on this? For 50 chickens I was planning to build 3 of these tractors, that would give 120 square ft and move them daily, and 16 2/3 chickens in each tractor. Should I scrap the coop/lay box? should i make one side solid to the ground?
Tennessee summers can be brutal sometimes, the humidity makes things awfully miserable above about 95 degrees. Last years drought came with a heat wave around 95-105 with evenings only cooling to around 85, this was sustained for about 3-4 weeks. I am concerned about keeping the sun off of my chickens as well as i can, should i opt for a silver tarp instead of the 3/4" plywood?
I appreciate any opinions or advise in advance, yall have already been very helpful to me as I have been reading on this forum for months already. I hope yall have a great season and plentiful harvests!
