You dont say how many chickens you will be keeping in your tractor. Are you building the tractor and run as one piece or two separate mobile pieces? We have a tractor and run that are separate pieces that we move and butt back together in the new spot. Here it is:
This was last winter. We have 8 hens. The tractor is 8x5 and the run is 10x8 (pvc so its easy to move). They can go under the tractor for shade and relief from the wind. We park it for the winter in one spot and run an extension cord to it for the cookie tin water heater.
Inside pic:
pop door and roost. Vents on top over roost.
nesting boxes on opposite wall lower than roost.
looking through the closed door to the other side,
view of back of tractor. You can see the two bottom vents with closable doors, the access doors to the nest boxes and the end doors that are double doors so they can be fully closed during inclement weather. The front, which you can see in the first pic, has the pop door to one side and the top vents also with closable doors.
Ventilation will be the biggest key to the coop. There is a good link on ventilation on the forum. We almost never close the vents or doors unless it is blowing snow or rain. Even in the winter, we kept all but one door open. I have a pvc feeder in the coop and put the cookie tin heater and waterer in there for the winter, otherwise the water is in the run under the coop . I have a big metal waterer and a heavy black water bowl and keep both filled. the heavy rubber one is nice for the winter as it is easy to knock the ice and refill it. it stays under the coop. I also use the deep litter method for winter and just throw in some boss and let the girls turn over the litter. If you do nothing else, build your tractor well, with plenty of ventilation and predator proof. Lock them up every night in the coop. Nothing but a human or a bear is getting into ours. Remember space requirements. The pop door is open every day for our girls and almost always they choose to be out in their run, no matter the weather. Hope this helps.
