meat bird coop plans - need advice

[6of6chicks]

Hi all,

Chicken fever has hit and I'm already dreaming of expanding into meat birds! I've started researching and thinking about coop plans for meaties, and I'm realizing that I need to go an entirely different route than I did with my little laying flock. Hopefully the experienced folks will kindly point me in the right direction!

I'm planning 20-25 birds for my first try. I'm thinking an A-frame tractor setup would be easiest, with a secure coop on one end and whatever is an appropriate amount of run space on the other (?)

1. What should be the minimum coop dimensions? What about the run - I've read they are lazy little guys that won't use much run space?

2. I know from my first tractor that wood is HEAVY. I'm 5' 6" & 130 lbs. - I'd like to be able to move it around the yard myself. Any suggestions on lightweight materials, particularly the coop? Would a pvc frame be sturdy enough? What about corrugated plastic over a layer of hardware cloth for the walls of the coop? I'd time this for warmer months, so it doesn't have to be cold hardy. Any ideas?

3. Can anyone share pictures of their meat bird tractor/coops? I've found a few old threads that were helpful, but only a couple of pictures. I'd really love to see more!

I'd appreciate any help and advice with this!

 

[JessicaThistle]

http://foodcyclist.com/stress-free-chicken-tractor-plans/

This is the tractor my hubby just built. It went up fast and cost less than $200 to build.

I am 5 ft tall and can move this no problemo!

 

[Sabz]

This is really strange! I was also told that the meat birds are lazy, but mine are NOT! Maybe because I play with them a lot? I've let them play outside since they were 4-5 days old - supervised by my dog They learned to scratch and feed when they were young. In the brooder I had some toys and perches.

Now they moved in the coop and they go up the ladder to the "second floor" of the coop My layers don't even go there!

I don't have a pic with the chicks, but here is the part of my coop I use for my 20 meaties + 3 ducks:





I know I have gone over the top with that.. but, I have 8x8 feet of floor space, + the second floor. I also have an outside run. When they are outside, they bath in sand. They scratch, they perch on wood stumps.
In the coop they perch on the ladder, they go on the second floor, etc. They are curious and HUNGRY! Whatever I want them to do, I just need to lure them with food and they follow


So anyhow, I know you want a tractor, so my coop is not a very good example, but I just wanted to mention that they are not always lazy birds and that they can have fun and play, like the layers!

EDIT: Oups, I forgot. They have 3.6 square foot each. I think you can go below that, but I guess it will become pretty messy and you'll need to move the tractor often if you have less square feet per bird!

 

[6of6chicks]

This is really strange! I was also told that the meat birds are lazy, but mine are NOT! Maybe because I play with them a lot? I've let them play outside since they were 4-5 days old - supervised by my dog They learned to scratch and feed when they were young. In the brooder I had some toys and perches.

Now they moved in the coop and they go up the ladder to the "second floor" of the coop My layers don't even go there!

I don't have a pic with the chicks, but here is the part of my coop I use for my 20 meaties + 3 ducks:





I know I have gone over the top with that.. but, I have 8x8 feet of floor space, + the second floor. I also have an outside run. When they are outside, they bath in sand. They scratch, they perch on wood stumps.
In the coop they perch on the ladder, they go on the second floor, etc. They are curious and HUNGRY! Whatever I want them to do, I just need to lure them with food and they follow


So anyhow, I know you want a tractor, so my coop is not a very good example, but I just wanted to mention that they are not always lazy birds and that they can have fun and play, like the layers!

EDIT: Oups, I forgot. They have 3.6 square foot each. I think you can go below that, but I guess it will become pretty messy and you'll need to move the tractor often if you have less square feet per bird!

This is so awesome - I can't thank you enough!! I've been searching and googling, but it is surprisingly hard to find info on housing meat birds. I probably clicked on every coop page there is when I was designing my coop for my little laying flock, but then when I started reading about meat birds it felt like I almost had to start all over! Your picture looks awesome, and you answered at least one basic question I had - that an 8 x 8 coop will work for the number of birds I want at a time.

It's also great to hear someone say that meaties are active! I was starting to get discouraged, just because I read so many descriptions of meat birds being fat, lazy little lumps that just sit around in their own dirt & filth. Seriously - I've seen that a lot, and it makes me sad. I'm still wrestling with the idea of eating my birds, and if I'm going to eat them I at least want to know I gave them the best life possible and they were happy!

Do they still use the perch right up to the end? Somewhere I read they have trouble with climbing ladders because they get too heavy. How far apart did you space the rungs? How low is the perch - it looks like maybe 8 inches? Sorry for all the questions - I'm just really excited!

Anyway - that's why I was thinking tractor. I thought that if they're so dirty then a tractor might be a way to minimize that (?). But I really love the footprint of your coop, so I might borrow that (if you don't mind

) and maybe do open-air/screened walls (hardware cloth of course) to lighten it up. I don't know yet, but your post helped get the wheels churning in my head!

Thank you again! This really helped me!

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

I converted the back of our 1995 mini-van into a mobile coop and created a 6'X12' tractor that attaches to the back. I open the hatch in the morning and close it up at night. I've raised several batches of Freedom Ranger meat birds in it as well as a batch of Cornish X, and some heritage turkeys. Depending on how many birds I have there depends on how often I move it. With my Freedom Rangers, I've had as many as 35 young ones or 25 that are reaching butchering weight and I need to move it every 3 days or the poop is almost solid on the grass. Right now I have 3 little pullet chicks using it until my current batch of Freedom Rangers get bigger and it is like a luxury vacation property for them.

Here's the inside of the van with the first batch of 35 Freedom Rangers.
A view through the back before the tractor/mobile run was added.
Her maiden voyage.

 

[moneymoneyric]

I always strive for efficiency, it should require the least possible maintenance

 

[6of6chicks]

I converted the back of our 1995 mini-van into a mobile coop and created a 6'X12' tractor that attaches to the back. I open the hatch in the morning and close it up at night. I've raised several batches of Freedom Ranger meat birds in it as well as a batch of Cornish X, and some heritage turkeys. Depending on how many birds I have there depends on how often I move it. With my Freedom Rangers, I've had as many as 35 young ones or 25 that are reaching butchering weight and I need to move it every 3 days or the poop is almost solid on the grass. Right now I have 3 little pullet chicks using it until my current batch of Freedom Rangers get bigger and it is like a luxury vacation property for them.

Here's the inside of the van with the first batch of 35 Freedom Rangers.
A view through the back before the tractor/mobile run was added.
Her maiden voyage.

Holy potatoes, that's fantastic. My jaw dropped when I saw it! If I could give an award for creativity it would go to you hands down!

I don't think I can do that to my car, but I DO have a John Deer riding mower that I hardly ever use. This is giving me a lot of ideas for creating a lightweight coop like the one above, but hitched to the riding mower so that I can easily move it every day. Just an idea, but maybe I can figure out a way to make it work?

Seriously, this is incredible. Thank you for sharing!!

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Holy potatoes, that's fantastic. My jaw dropped when I saw it! If I could give an award for creativity it would go to you hands down!

I don't think I can do that to my car, but I DO have a John Deer riding mower that I hardly ever use. This is giving me a lot of ideas for creating a lightweight coop like the one above, but hitched to the riding mower so that I can easily move it every day. Just an idea, but maybe I can figure out a way to make it work?

Seriously, this is incredible. Thank you for sharing!!

A bit over the top perhaps, but we had the van and it had been parked in the meadow for over a year so I figured, what the heck. The amazing thing was that after only two nights out of the garage brooder and into the mobile coop we were forced to evacuate for 9 days due to the Waldo Canyon Fire and we just disconnected the van from the run and took off with all 35 juvenile Freedom Rangers in the back (the 8 hens were in a dog crate in our other mini-van). The chickens spent their nights in the back and their days in my sister-in-law's garage and dog run until we were allowed back.

Anyway, I think the riding mower idea is a good one. You want your tractor to be sturdy enough to fend of whatever predators you have in your area but that will make it heavy. Here is the wheel arrangement I added to mine to make it easier to move. It works pretty well. You flip the lever over to raise the tractor off the ground and onto the wheels. When you have it where you want it, you flip the lever back and the tractor lies flat on the grass.

 

[petersonfarms]

 

[petersonfarms]

the first pen is 12 foot by 5 foot easy to build using 1/2 pvc I house 50 broilers at a time in the pen and is super light due to the pvc my girlfriend can move it buy herself. its a better design to me that the salatin style chicken tractors-they are too heavy. you can build it for around 150 bucks. the second pen is made using a hogwire panel.