Meat bird chicken tractor ideas

[Jeff Cooper]

View attachment 2876522here's the one we built

I love that ... do you have photos from different angles?

 

[Isadora]

Here's another one I have for two ducks. It's smaller than the previous one I had posted. To move it, we just loop a rope around one of the upright PVC pieces and pull. I'll look through the gallery on my phone to see if I have any other pictures.
@Jeff Cooper

 

[Isadora]

@Jeff Cooper here's another

 

[Mountain Roost]

We use a nipple water system. Pull cord on each corner. Each coop is a one person move. Door is a panel in the front. We put feed on the ground in the next fresh green spot and then pull the coop over top of the feed. The birds learned quickly to move with the coop. We finished 100 birds in four of these this year. The birds in this picture are about 10 lbs and on their way to the freezer.

You can see where they have been in the picture below.

 

[Mountain Roost]

Cool thing about chicken tractors is you can house other birds in them when the cornish are all done. I got some grown turkeys off of craigslist and in they went! Instant turkey house. I have a bunch of extra roos from hatching and all 20 are doing great in one until it snows. I love the ease of them. They aren't snow load worthy but I just pack up the tarp roofs at the end of the season.

 

[Iluveggers]

I was thinking of recycling an old swing set frame for a tractor for meat birds. It’s light enough to pick up slightly and move from place to place (hub lifts it alone but would use 2 people just to make sure they didn’t sneak out because we lifted it too high. If I covered w chicken wire and enclosed in a tarp on one side, that would suffice, right? How many do you think I could fit in a 4x8 space until full grown? (Sorry to hijack! But if you can get your hands on someone throwing out their swing set frame maybe that could work, too!)

 

[Mountain Roost]

Sounds do-able. Just remember that once you add chicken wire (or the like) it gets heavy. Maybe put a ring of PVC like mine and @Isadora to help it slide instead of picking it up. Anytime the land would have a divot, sure enough the birds would try to break out because the feed was right there waiting for them. lol Swing sets are just A-frames and would work great. I like to keep my birds dry because they are less dirty that way. So maybe tarp over the peak of the swing set a couple feet and down one side. Or tarp the whole thing during storms.

My tractors are 6 x 8 and 7 x 8 and I fit 25 birds per tractor. Twice that many when they were small. You can monitor if you have too many by how torn up the ground looks when you move them.


Not hijacking...this thread is about IDEAS right!?

 

[Iluveggers]

Sounds do-able. Just remember that once you add chicken wire (or the like) it gets heavy. Maybe put a ring of PVC like mine and @Isadora to help it slide instead of picking it up. Anytime the land would have a divot, sure enough the birds would try to break out because the feed was right there waiting for them. lol Swing sets are just A-frames and would work great. I like to keep my birds dry because they are less dirty that way. So maybe tarp over the peak of the swing set a couple feet and down one side. Or tarp the whole thing during storms.

My tractors are 6 x 8 and 7 x 8 and I fit 25 birds per tractor. Twice that many when they were small. You can monitor if you have too many by how torn up the ground looks when you move them.


Not hijacking...this thread is about IDEAS right!?

Thank you! PVC for sliding is a great idea. And so I’m thinking maybe 15-20 if you fit 25!

 

[Isadora]

Thank you! PVC for sliding is a great idea. And so I’m thinking maybe 15-20 if you fit 25!

Try to remember to post some pictures! That would be neat to see.

 

[Iluveggers]

Try to remember to post some pictures! That would be neat to see.

If we do this it will be in the spring, but I’ll make a mental note now!