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Yuh huh, ask all the other folks here who 'never planned to get more than 5 chickens' when they started out ;>
The other 2 pieces of information we need are 1) where are you located, and 2) do you expect to ever let the chickens out in the yard?
A big tractor would work pretty well if you live somewhere that does not get Serious Winters and you plan on letting them out to roam the yard for at least some time many days a week.
If you live somewhere without Serious Winter but don't want your chickens on the loose, a tractor would be a little more challenging but could most certainly still work, especially if you make the 'house' part and the 'run' part separate so you move 'em as separate (thus individually lighter-weight) units.
If you live somewhere with Serious Winter then a tractor may not work so well for you -- it is hard to keep it un-damp yet not drafty and excessively cold. Also of course if you do not *want* to have to move something daily, and get chicken poop strewn across the yard, then obviously you need a stationary coop not a tractor, no matter what your climate.
As far as stationary coops go, we would still need to know what kind of climate and whether the chickens will ever get out beyond their run. Brian's suggestion of 4x8 is a smart one (is much much cheaper and easier to build if you use 'naturally occurring' dimensions of lumber); if you added a 4x8 or 8x<whatever> run, they'd be pretty well off indeed.
Slightly elevated = just build it up on blocks, lots of designs here like that. Well, unless you want the chickens to be able to go under it, then it becomes a much more difficult proposition if you want YOU to be able to go into the coop as well (which, for that size coop, I would *highly* recommend, ease of cleaning wise).
Anything that is simply-constructed inside (not too many crevices) with a basically smooth floor (good-surfaced or painted plywood, or plywood with vinyl flooring over it) will be plenty easy to clean.
Make sure you slope the roof AWAY from the run - don't want to be dumping lots of extra water in the chickens' play yard
Hope this helps a little,
Pat
Yuh huh, ask all the other folks here who 'never planned to get more than 5 chickens' when they started out ;>
The other 2 pieces of information we need are 1) where are you located, and 2) do you expect to ever let the chickens out in the yard?
A big tractor would work pretty well if you live somewhere that does not get Serious Winters and you plan on letting them out to roam the yard for at least some time many days a week.
If you live somewhere without Serious Winter but don't want your chickens on the loose, a tractor would be a little more challenging but could most certainly still work, especially if you make the 'house' part and the 'run' part separate so you move 'em as separate (thus individually lighter-weight) units.
If you live somewhere with Serious Winter then a tractor may not work so well for you -- it is hard to keep it un-damp yet not drafty and excessively cold. Also of course if you do not *want* to have to move something daily, and get chicken poop strewn across the yard, then obviously you need a stationary coop not a tractor, no matter what your climate.
As far as stationary coops go, we would still need to know what kind of climate and whether the chickens will ever get out beyond their run. Brian's suggestion of 4x8 is a smart one (is much much cheaper and easier to build if you use 'naturally occurring' dimensions of lumber); if you added a 4x8 or 8x<whatever> run, they'd be pretty well off indeed.
Slightly elevated = just build it up on blocks, lots of designs here like that. Well, unless you want the chickens to be able to go under it, then it becomes a much more difficult proposition if you want YOU to be able to go into the coop as well (which, for that size coop, I would *highly* recommend, ease of cleaning wise).
Anything that is simply-constructed inside (not too many crevices) with a basically smooth floor (good-surfaced or painted plywood, or plywood with vinyl flooring over it) will be plenty easy to clean.
Make sure you slope the roof AWAY from the run - don't want to be dumping lots of extra water in the chickens' play yard
Hope this helps a little,
Pat
