My cheapo tractor

[Chickenmaven]

Just wanted to post a photo of the new tractor. I am proud that I designed this & made it with a friend. It is 3ft x 8ft. and 24" high. It is covered with plastic mesh, so no it is not preditor proof. It is more of a day playpen than anything. The materials are all new & it only cost about $30. Anyone with scraps laying around could make a tractor cheaper. We plan to use this inside our coop as a brooder, too.

 

[Shared Acres]

Nice. we need to make some similiar.

 

[gaduke]

 

[Chicky Tocks]

Love it! Bookmarked for DH to make one for me

 

[Labeedoor]

Nicely done. Keeping life simple!

 

[Omran]

that's looks nice

 

[GardeNerd]

As long as your yard is fenced in, I think it looks like a perfect daytime playpen! Your silkies are cute in there!

 

[Peepspeare]

That looks great! Okay, time for my (probably) dumb newbie question. I'm in the pre-chicken planning stages right now and I've pretty much decided on a permanent coop with a small run plus a lightweight, mobile tractor on the order of what you have here; they'd be spending all day, every day in the tractor, basically.

So my question is...how do you get them from the coop to the tractor? Do you pop them in by hand, or do you have some way to hook it up to the coop for chicken transfer? My yard is only 3/4 fenced, and we aren't actually supposed to have chickens, so I definitely don't want to have to fetch a fugitive out of a neighbor's yard. "Why, no, that's not a chicken, it's my...ground canary. With a gland problem."

Thanks in advance for answering a dumb question!

 

[Chickenmaven]

If your yard is not all fenced, you will want to build a sturdier tractor than I did. I would suggest using hardware cloth and enclosing the bottom, perhaps. This tractor is a playpen.

We hand deliver each chicken into the tractor. We have had some issues getting them out.

I will likely add a ground level side door.

 

[Peepspeare]

Thank you for the reply! Yes, I was planning on making it out of regular chicken wire with hardware cloth skirting, just on the order of your basic design.

The information is good to know-- I was wondering if they'd be hard to get out of there.