Chicken Tractor Build #3

[Kris5902]

All is now explained! I often find instructions hard to follow but thanks to all your great photos I think I could build one of these following the piccis. I'm weird like that!

Me too! That’s another reason why I’m doing it... it will be a while before I build out another of this style, so now I will have a reference on what I did and will have to spend less time dodging and cuddling my cockerels to measure my model because I forgot where I put the door, and how high the verticals supporting the ridge pole are

 

[Ribh]

Me too! That’s another reason why I’m doing it... it will be a while before I build out another of this style, so now I will have a reference on what I did and will have to spend less time dodging and cuddling my cockerels to measure my model because I forgot where I put the door, and how high the verticals supporting the ridge pole are

Yes. Repetition in these matters always helps. Every so often DH needs something done on his computer that he rarely does & I NEVER do but I'm the one who has to figure it out & unless it's related to something I do use it's a matter of pressing buttons until sometime happens. He could do that too but he's happier for me to do it ~ only then he asks what I did! Not a hope! lol

 

[Kris5902]

Ok, it’s been a while, sorry for the delays, but I got it all done! And my chicks arrived, and everyone is settled. My build went very sideways at the “door” stage this time through a combination of exhaustion, foul weather, and communication issues. Oh, and I put things up in the wrong order, but I will describe the way it should go and I ran out of hinges, need 5 have 2... but nothing ever goes exactly as planned with chickens in my experience so far.

 

[Kris5902]

So we started by putting bird/utility netting over the entire run area, stapling it down heavily to rafters ridge pole, and the top of the wall. I also used the shiny new staples to attatch the missing hardware cloth. Husband worked on the door while I finished the siding on the back. We also attatched the 10x12 tarp on over this. 10’ portion on the length of the run, just pin the front in place with screws in the grommets, but staple securely to the front roosting box rafters and the first rafter out from it. Fold the excess up on the 2x2 and staple it down so it’s not flapping around in the chickens faces in the roosting box at night!

6’3” boards for the back width of the box, then 65”, 52”, 40”, 27”, 12” pieces for the angled section. Hold the board in place, scribe the angle on both ends and cut. I need help marking the two longer boards, if I had to work on my own I would screw the board in place to mark it, take it off to cut it, and put it back in place

Next measure and cut plywood for the space on the doors left, because no I’m not siding that small an area! Make sure to leave some of the 2x2 exposed to catch the ramp/door. Notch the top left the size of a 2x2.




Yes, I had already done my front siding... don’t do that. I had to squeeze and hammer the plywood into place. Also ignore the 1x2 pieces scabbed onto the door, you don’t want to do that either... I did mention we were tired, and it was raining?

Now do this section of the siding, you’ll need 7 pieces 43 1/2” long, one 6’ , and one about 44 1/2. Put the edge of the siding flush against the hardware cloth side of the tractor so you’ll have space not covered by the ramp/door. For the ventilation opening you will need to cut the corner of the 43 1/2” pieces out will sit against the ridge pole. I rip a board in half width wise to fit in the bottom. Thick side of the siding goes to the outside of the triangle.

Tack the hardware cloth up first then do the siding on top of it and secure it all in place.

 

[Kris5902]

Now you can roof over the roosting box. I have some heavy metal roofing I got free, so that’s what we use 54” minimum because you want it to extend over the sides or the tractor making little eaves to shed the rain.

Our ridge cap is duct tape, because we are classy like that!

 

[Kris5902]

Cut your ramp out of 3/4” plywood. It should be 14”x31”. I was tired and asked my husband to do it... I said 14x31, he asked again and I said 14x31, he had to go pick up the saw from the back of the Jeep (it was raining) and came back and promptly cut it 12x31”... this is why I have scabbed the 1x2’s to the inside of the door frame. (Remember everything is fixable, somehow!).

Screw 5 or 6 bits of 1x2, 9 1/2” long to the center of the ramp for traction with 1 1/4” screws and mount it with the hinge you don’t have. These pics are from my first two tractors. Either way works, just fiddle around until you get it working. I prefer the one on the left. If you’re going to use strap hinges you will probably want to use 2.

A scrap of 1x2 screwed on the 2x4 post of the right side of the door will furr out the gap perfectly so you can attatch a throw bolt to it to lock it up at night. I also had to use a chunk on the left to keep the door straight, this is because of the single small strap hinge I had available.

I use two hinges on the left side of the roosting box like this to turn the whole side into a door. Mounted on the top and bottom boards

The person door is 2 2x2’s 67” long, 2 1x2’s 35 1/4” long and a piece of 2x2 in the center I don’t have a measurement of, but it’s whatever size fits the gap




Put a throw bolt on the outside, a hook and eye on the inside, and you’re basically done!

 

[Kris5902]

Throw bolts and hook to keep the door closed when you’re inside the run... so you spend more time servicing the feeders and less time trying to catch escapees. Also our improvised handle.



You will have plenty of scrap left to make this classy little grit and OS feeder, using some round ziplock containers that got cracked rolling around in the back of the Jeep during winter... I hang it mostly centered just right of the ramp and then it is one less thing to move when you move the tractor. It stays dry so far, as well.

I also use 2 3lb hanging feeders tied to cup hooks screwed into the rafters, with these snap lock swiveling things.

And my assortment of favorite fasteners

 

[Kris5902]

It moves well if you put the wheels on it, and I have a bunch of broken straps from our attempts to not drag our roof trusses for our house too much along our dirt road to get them here, so I use them as pull straps attatched outside of the door frame.

You probably noticed that the tarp in the pictures of the last post is blue and torn up a lot... that’s from me slashing it so my tractors wouldn’t fly away in some windstorms we had. This is why the tarp is only secured to the first free rafter and the roosting box now, and why I have the bird netting over it instead... it can be folded back like this for high winds

Or pulled fully forward for shade/rain protection.

This means I no longer need to weigh down the front corners with buckets of gravel.

I plan on replacing these with a horizontal nipple or cup waterer before summer, but right now I’m getting by with 1 gallon waterers raised up on mayonnaise buckets. Ignore the lower siding here (it’s an ineffective attempt at a wind break) I will be removing it

And I think that about sums everything up. I’m happy with the functionality, but they aren’t really great in winter. I’m going to include a special bonus for you all to laugh at as well... my actual working notes! So you can see how badly I needed to do this post, in part to keep myself straight for the next one, as well as sharing what worked. Thanks for bearing through this with me, and I hope it is helpful for anyone that might want to build something along these lines in the future.

 

[Kris5902]

So, would this have been at all helpful? They’ve been rained on, dropped in the mud, and don’t even fully make sense to me... and I wrote them!

Oh, and just buy a few extra pieces of everything, for when you get tired and make mistakes cutting things and such. Especially if you have to travel for lumber! Our material list went sideways at the people door again... 67” somehow ended up being 63”, and the hinge spacing wasn’t accounted for, so things are too big, too small, and luckily I have a bunch more materials hanging around for my meat tractors or I wouldn’t have a door!

 

[Maugwa]

Cool chicken tractor! I really like it and may build myself one like it. One thing you may consider trying is a trick I've been using for tent stakes for years. Find yourself some 5/8" or 3/4" x 12" hex head lag bolts and a socket to fit them that fits your cordless drill. I've driven bolts like this quite easily into solid frozen ground in a few seconds, and it's even easier in the summer. When I get a new tent or screen room anymore, I throw the stakes they come with away and get lag bolts. I've even screwed them through asphalt, and staked down ice fishing huts like this. I bet 6 or 8 little brackets on your coup to put the lags through and bolt it to the ground, and it would never blow off, short of a tornado. I'm from Wyoming, so the wind is a top priority to me.