Chicken Tractor, first build, suggestions

[Kris5902]

I’ve just mostly finished my first chicken tractor build it’s 6x12’ with a 3x6’ roosting area. Looking for suggestions for my next one. 3/4” hardware cloth on the run, it will be roofed with a tarp over the run portion, solid roofing (metal or plywood) on the roost box. 1” hardware cloth under the roosts.

Siding is cedar, but it’s been sitting outside for a year aging and doesn’t have a strong odor (way less than the shavings in the brooder!) I’m going to retrofit nesting boxes and a door on the side left open for the pics. I have 13 chickens for it, and I’ll be moving it very often.

 

[aart]

Would ask the same Q's that @123RedBeard did.

Chuckling at the sheep!!
Reminds me of my poodle testing the goat/sheep trimming stand.

 

[Kris5902]

 

[123RedBeard]

I'm not that familiar with either 3/4" & 1" hardware cloth ... what gauge wire is used?

Looks pretty good ... for chickens ... but not gonna hold many sheep!

I'm not sure how much rain you get ... while it looks like a pretty steep pitched roof, I'd be inclined to have more support for the tarp, as it can sag in between the rafters, then could collect where they meet the wall, and either collapae, or drench your chickens, or ... both.

I'd also extend the rafters another foot or so off the sides, to keep the rain out, but also provide more shade.

Is this for your meaties?

How do you plan on moving it?

 

[EggWalrus]

Any comments or feedback? Anyone?

Yeah, I have a comment. Those are the hairiest chickens I've ever seen! Biggest too!





Sheep joke!

 

[aart]

It has wheels under the roosting box, and actually moves fairly easily.

Have you moved it over the ground you propose to use it on?
Mine rolled great on the garage floor and gravel driveway...
...was a whole other story on the bumpy long grassed pasture it eventually was used on.
Tho yours is much lighter than mine.
Any thoughts on preventing digging preds?

 

[Kris5902]

Ok, I’m on day 3of having my chickens in the tractor. It has held up well to our recent torrential rains without extra rafters. Todays parking job required me to put random stuff along the bottom boards because the gaps were huge today.

One big thing I didn’t account for is the incredibly high winds where they are right now... it’s too heavy to blow away, but I don’t have enough wind breaks at chicken level for daytime comfort. Also, most of them aren’t using the roosts at night, but are standing on my HW cloth floor?

Happily, last night when I got home at dusk only one chicken hadn’t found her way into the box and was standing under the HWC floor trying to figure out how to get up with her flockmates. I had

put them right into the box on night one, on night two I had to pick everyone out of the corner under the box and put them in.

 

[townchicks]

That looks pretty good to me. I am going to nag about a skirt, though, you never know what predators you have until you put out a chicken buffet.

 

[Kris5902]

That looks pretty good to me. I am going to nag about a skirt, though, you never know what predators you have until you put out a chicken buffet.

No daytime predators here except hawks/eagles/ravens and if they would learn to go up on the roosts they should be safe at night. I just screwed two courses of siding around the bottom for a wind break. We will see if I can still move it tomorrow this siding is fully waterlogged!

 

[Kris5902]

Wow! I'm sorry about your leg, and glad the chickens are ok. I'm amazed, I too would have thought it was too heavy. You can cut some flaps in the plastic to let the air flow through, and maybe some tent stakes and tie downs. Those will make it a bit more hassle when you want to move it, but worth that, IMO.

I’m going to add a hanging 5 gallon waterer or maybe two 5 gallon water buckets with little cup drinkers on the front corners to keep the light end down.

We also had winds yesterday of over 100mph... more than we usually see. The power has been out to the entire island since about 11 am yesterday, and 6 large trees came down across the road between the ferry and our farm. The other side of the island got hit worse! Our volunteer fire department and emergency services have been out clearing the roads... hoping to get power back in the next couple of days at the farm (mostly for my mom’s heater, as there’s a wood cook stove in the farmhouse proper!)

This didn’t stop my husband and our other Jeep from getting here last night at 10 with my Corid from my vet though! Even if he was stuck at the ferry terminal most of the day waiting for a sailing due to the high winds. My hero!