Light weight and durable chicken tractor

[chiknGeek]

Also, will the color affect the temp of the inside of the coop? In St. Louis it can also get up to 80 and so I do not want to bake them inside with a black tarp.

I chose white, so that it doesn't absorb heat in the summer. I am in NW Missouri. They made it through the super cold spell this Feb just fine.

It has held up very well, just make sure you fasten it down taut. Rubbing against something when the wind is blowing will wear it quickly. We regularly get 25 mph sustained winds here.

 

[chiknGeek]

I put mine on the coop with the back side facing out, so it is white on the outside.

 

[PandaGirl]

Ok, do you have the tarp completely covering the coop down to the ground so that it stops the wind. In the photo above they do not have it coming to the ground and so I am skeptical if the chickens could make it through the winter in it. Also do you have the sides covered (the sides that are not covered in the pic?}

 

[chiknGeek]

My coop has a plywood front/back and raised floor. The tarp completely covers to the ground. Chickens are very cold hardy as long as they can get out of the wind.

 

[chiknGeek]

The example you posted above is a meat bird coop, which is typically only used in spring/summer/fall, but the same concept works in winter too with a little more coverage.

 

[chiknGeek]

I have a more normal coop that we built ourselves too, on the coldest days it was still only 10 to 15 degrees warmer in the regular coop than the hoop coop.

 

[3KillerBs]

what would I have to do to it to make it withstand my average coldest temp which is about 25, although I will tell you that it does not get that cold for very long before going back up?

25 isn't cold for a chicken -- they have built-in down coats so as long as they can get out of the wind they're perfectly fine at that sort of temperature, which is a very mild winter. If you scroll back a few months you'll find photos of people's chickens scratching around outside on sunny, sub-zero days.

We don't need to try to keep our chickens warm -- especially those of us who live in mild-winter areas. We need to keep the DRY so that they can keep themselves warm. If the coop has enough ventilation for good health the temperature should be approximately the same as it is outside on both cold days and hot ones.

People often park tractors in the lee of a building for the winter and year-round tractors usually have one solid end that is turned toward the wind.

 

[PandaGirl]

Ok, that is good to know !Thanks!