how do you transition hens from coop to tractor?

[Sandrachx]

my coop run is now dirt - hard, packed down dirt with the occasional dirt bath hole. how do you people with tractors get your hens in to/out of the tractor when you want to move them to a nice fresh grassy spot on your property? haven't quite figured that out. seems like the chasing and catching of the girls would take the fun out of the road trip around the yard.

 

[msrma7670]

IT IS ALL IN THE DESIGN. UNLESS OF COURSE YOU LIKE CHICKEN NASCAR HENS START YOUR FEATHERS!!! BOCK BOCK BOCK


P.S. they can turn to the right!!!

 

[Dawn419]

Skip moves our modified Chick-N-Barn by hand as we haven't gotten wheels on it yet. He moves each end about 6 - 12" at a time, so it's slow going but we just leave the Silkies in there and they have proven to atleast be smart enough to move to the opposite end that isn't being moved.


Dawn

 

[patandchickens]

Do you mean how do you get them from a fixed coop to a separate tractor? I use an old printer box or a wire rabbit cage, depending what I can find at any given moment

One chicken at a time is easier than trying to put 2 chickens in a box, btw -- when you're putting one in the other is always trying to pop out...

If you mean how do you move the tractor around the yard, mine has wheels, and I leave the chickens inside it and they slowly walk along as I move it. They may need help at first (e.g. person behind back wall of tractor, shooing them onward) but mine learned it just great after the first move. Don't run over their feeties

Good luck,

Pat

 

[Sandrachx]

thanks pat! i was speaking of how to get them from the stationary coop to the tractor - and you helped me get the picture in my head. do the chickens follow the lead of the first couple hens? do they figure out that it's a fun thing after the first couple of trips out in the tractor?

 

[brookwoodpat]

I am trying to decide how to put a floor and wheels on the chick-n-barn too. I think it's not a bad coop for the price (given how ridiculously expensive coops are) and for the unhandy, it's okay, but I wish someone would sell an "upgrade" kit for it, with a floor, a raised hardware cloth and 2X2 frame and wheels. It is going to be too small for me (unless I sell some of my chickens before this winter), but for summer and for young chicks it's been fine so far. I bought wheels from AllElectronics but they'll probably take another couple of weeks to come. When you modify yours please post pictures

 

[Smitty's Farm]

Last year when our chickens were little and still living in the brooder box in the garage we would transfer them in the chicken wagon w/ a screen on top (all 16 & a baby turkey) and pull them to the tractor for the day until their big coop was built. The turkey eventually got to tall, but would follow behind us like a puppy. Now all I'd probably have to do is throw sunflower seeds in there and they'd all go running in after them. LOL!!!!!! Oh yea, the chicken wagon was my garden wagon. Eventually they were trained to hop in the wagon to go outside for the day.
Then they would hop in for me to pull them back to the garage and I'd take the screen off the top and they'd hop in their brooder box for the night.

Now I'm using it for my new babies. They just started training a few days ago.

I don't know how big or how many chickens you need to transfer, but that worked for us.