If chickens are in separate tractors.....

[heather576]

....for the summer and fall, will they get along when they move into a coop w/run for the winter, or will it be hard to re-establish "pecking order?"

I'm trying to plan for housing the 27 chickies we have coming the end of June, and it seems the largest practical tractors only hold about 12-14 birds....

Would I do better to invest in an electric fence and just pasture, so they can all learn to get along?

 

[Toast n Jelly]

Quote:
Not if you put them side by side and they get to see each other. There will always be 'the pecking order'...it's what they do, so as long as they are close by they should be okay to go.

I would never suggest not locking them up at night. An electric fence may protect them some from ground animals but not hawks and owls or whatever can leap over the fence without touching it. Better to be safe than sorry as many have experienced here on the list.

 

[heather576]

Oh, they would have a pasture shelter, I just wonder which would be more cost effective; fence + shelter, or 2 tractors - probably the pvc plans tractors like the ones jaku just made. I don't see how to add roosts to those, though.