green horn here (beginner)

[kardar2]

Hello,
I live in Redding CA. And yes I can have chickens in my back yard.I grew up on a farm in Kansas and we had chickens lots of them. They where free range no pin or run. My question:can you leave your chickens locked up all day in the inclosed runs. I noticed everyone that post pictures their chickens are roaming outside the run.and can someone tell what the purpose of a tractor is for ( like why do you you need to move it?) Thanks I have been a luker here and going to make a coop this. Fall.thanks Karl

 

[nikki1]

Most of us keep our birds in a predator-resistant coop at least during the night, with an attached run for day and/or bad weather use. My birds are loose with our corgi during the day for exercise/foraging time, but some don't let the birds out for fear of predators, or because their yard fencing would allow the birds to escape too easily. Or because they don't want their chickens to destroy their landscaping.

A tractor is for those who want the best of both worlds. The birds stay enclosed, but they can forage in the grass and get fresh air and sunshine. If the tractor is moved regularly, they won't destroy the grass underneath, but they'll eat the bugs. To make a tractor small enough to move conveniently, it usually only houses a few birds. (Okay, there are people who move their tractors, well, with tractors, but most backyarders move 'em by hand.)

Does this help?
--Nikki

 

[polishserb]

I have a tractor with 8 birds. They eat the bugs and stomp the grass where I can't mow. I also have a coop with meat birds and layers. I too am new to chickens. If I were to do it again I would have made the tractor bigger to hold more birds. I don't like keeping them penned up in the coop but don't have the equipment to pull a large chicken tractor. I'm gonna have to have less birds if I want to keep the tractor at a size that can handle the birds and that I can move without breaking my back when I move it. Start with the coop and go from there. I had a hard time developing a tractor and I didn't feel confident in the plans that i found online. Plus I didn't have the materials to build with scrap material and found that an 8 x 4 tractor is too small and expensive for my taste. Could be that I'm new to this too though. Good luck and take your time before deciding on a type of tractor.

 

[Angelak]

Tractors r great bc you can move every few days n they always have fresh grass,and u dont end up with a big dead area of grass.put wheels on back at coop n therefore easier to move.we have 7 tractors now,and 5 permanent pens

 

[kardar2]

Thanks for the info. I am reall looking forward to building one.

 

[Angelak]

Do u want to c a pic of ours?

 

[kardar2]

Of course I would love to see pictures.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I like the idea of tractors but in practice I find it doesn't move much. But that is of course me being lazy or in a hurry in the morning as it's best to move the tractor while they are still in the coop. Don't get me wrong, I like the small 4x8 tractor I'd built and use it for a grow out pen of hatched eggs each year and as a quarantine/introduction pen for any new birds.

What works for me is to have a good size run with a coop on stilts in that. I use a 6ft tall 10X10 dog kennel for the main pen, water and feed is hung under coop and netting/plastic roll fencing on top of kennel to keep hawks out/my birds in. Free ranging time is reduced to a few hours prior to dusk so the birds don't leave my yard and disturb neighbors.

 

[Angelak]

This is just 1 of tractors more to come

 

[Angelak]