I am looking for the Best chicken tractor design out there

[chunt]

I am looking for the best tractor plan for 10-16 chickens that is easy for one person to move, yet safe all year around for NW Washington weather.... Most tractors are small for 3-4 chickens, or else too heavy to move without a tractor. Is the triangle best or the chicken house style with attached low run? Any tested ideas/plans would be GREATLY appreciated. Has anyone built the really solid looking beige one that is in the picture gallery that is posted by Im4Eggcellence Michael Burr? Is it really too heavy for one person? ? Would bigger wheels help? Does anyone know how to get ahold of Michael?

 

[cnicho05]

Hello,

I would strongly suggest that you consider building your own chicken coop/tractor. As you mentioned in your post...most of the pre-built chicken tractors available online or in retail stores only fit 3-5 chickens at the most. I've looked at many of these for my own chickens and quickly uncovered that most of these are rated for 3-5 chickens but can only fit 1-3 chickens of a large breed. If you decided to purchase one, particularly online, make sure that you check the size rating for large breed or bantam breed chickens...

There are two major benefits when building your own chicken tractor that you likely won't see with pre-built designs. The first benefit comes in the form of cost comparison. It is my experience that many of the retail pre-built chicken tractors can be handmade for almost a fourth of the original cost. This helps out a lot when you are working with a budget...or with the number of chickens you have.

The second benefit comes in the customization you can do when building your own tractor. Not only can you adjust width and length you can also adjust height and if the coop is attached or not.

I do, however, foresee you running into a large problem when exploring the use of chicken tractors. Since you have 16 chickens you will likely have to split them among several chicken tractors. I've attached a picture of a basic design, which can be found on Google, to help you imagine what I'm writing about. A chicken tractor this size, in my opinion, will fit about 5-8 chickens and should be moved a minimum of once per day. If you attempt to put too many chickens into one tractor you will experience numerous problems.

In the perfect design, and if you have the budget to finance it, I would suggest you build one large chicken run around a central chicken coop. This fixed run should be roughly 20'x30' to optimally fit the number of chickens you currently have. You could then use a small chicken tractor...and place several chickens into it daily for the areas you are looking at developing...

 

[fiddlebanshee]

I am looking for the best tractor plan for 10-16 chickens that is easy for one person to move, yet safe all year around for NW Washington weather.... Most tractors are small for 3-4 chickens, or else too heavy to move without a tractor. Is the triangle best or the chicken house style with attached low run? Any tested ideas/plans would be GREATLY appreciated. Has anyone built the really solid looking beige one that is in the picture gallery that is posted by Im4Eggcellence Michael Burr? Is it really too heavy for one person? ? Would bigger wheels help? Does anyone know how to get ahold of Michael?

Check out hoop houses. They are usually quite big, lightweight and probably fine in Washington State weather as long as you have a good tarp cover and some kind of shelter. They are usually built from cattle panels.