HELP WANTED! I really need Chicken Tractor ideas...

[Bogtown Chick]

A chicken tractor that will house 12 chickens would have to be pretty big to keep everybody comfortable. 48 square feet or more.

 

[MsChickenMomma]

Yeah I realized that... I am thinking about just giving him a smaller flock, or making a permanent coop and just having my flocks free range at seperate times.

 

[gg706]

I agree. I vote for 2 seperate coops. And range them seperate every other day if you are stuck on adding 12 more birds. My rooster only has 3 hens and he is quite content. He is very gentlemenly and the hens are happy. he does not overbreed them, they do not have bare backs or anything. I think it depends on the roo if a small harem would work. If you go with a tractor I would give him 3 or 4 hens and keep the tractor smallish. It is a pain to move them.

 

[MsChickenMomma]

Well, we came up with a plan. We are going to re-home our goats this spring, because I have been too busy to milk them, and they are too expensive to feed without getting milk from them. Then we will turn their pen into a coop, and expand my current coop. Then when they aren't free ranging, they at least have a nice sized coop to be in. I'm sad that I have to re-home my goats, but we have been considering finding them a new home all winter. This way I will be able to give my younger rooster all 10 chicks that I am getting in May. He won't be able to share the coop with them until at least September. I think he'll manage too though

 

[foulplay]

A chicken tractor that will house 12 chickens would have to be pretty big to keep everybody comfortable. 48 square feet or more.

You don't need to have that much space for the birds as long as you are letting the chickens outside for the whole day. Mine holds 100 birds and it is only 8x16 feet. That way you don't have to build a huge coop for the birds.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

You don't need to have that much space for the birds as long as you are letting the chickens outside for the whole day. Mine holds 100 birds and it is only 8x16 feet. That way you don't have to build a huge coop for the birds.

That's alot of birds in that small space. I agree that free ranging or allowing unlimited outdoor time allows for less squabbles in the coop...but I think the 4 sq ft per bird is a good rule of thumb. I'm not sure if the poster will have times when the birds need to be left in the coop for safety reasons (preds or vacation time away...etc.) Does the poster plan to winter them and they usually chose not to walk on the snow here at my house....so I've definitely been grateful for that 4 sq ft per bird. In my humble opinion 100 birds in 128 sq feet is a little on the tight side.

 

[foulplay]

That's alot of birds in that small space. I agree that free ranging or allowing unlimited outdoor time allows for less squabbles in the coop...but I think the 4 sq ft per bird is a good rule of thumb. I'm not sure if the poster will have times when the birds need to be left in the coop for safety reasons (preds or vacation time away...etc.) Does the poster plan to winter them and they usually chose not to walk on the snow here at my house....so I've definitely been grateful for that 4 sq ft per bird. In my humble opinion 100 birds in 128 sq feet is a little on the tight side.

yeah it is a lot of birds but about three quarters of the coop have roosts and the other half is their nest boxes. They are always let out every morning at 6:00 am and locked in at 9:00 they are sometimes one or two that take advantage to the worms coming out at that time. i also have poultry netting around the coop so predators aren't a problem with me. I also have a winter coop for them with about three square feet a bird. I believe that it matters what your chickens are like two. I have plymouth barred rocks and ISA hybrids they are very chill and don't seem to mind not having a huge area to run around in. They also love the snow weird i know.