My chicken tractors

[cashdl]

Hi All,

I have a big coop and several breeding pens but one is never happy or done, so here are my chicken tractors for my breeding trios. I plan on building between 8 to 10. I have 1 complete except caulking. In late spring I will add a screen window, but too cold for now. I also plan on painting an araucana chicken on the front of each one.

I built these myself from scratch with lumber we had around the place. I have enough lumber to build 3 more, then will have to break down and buy lumber for the rest.
They are 3X8 with a 3X3 chicken house on top. They have wire bottoms so I don't have to worry about burrowing animals looking for a quick meal. The sides are 1/2" hardware cloth. And we have our dogs loose at night to discourage the bazillion coyotes running the creek on our property.

They each are complete enough to have chickens warm and dry in them, kicking around eating my grass and bugs. I will put wheels on them later. I am trying to decide if I want two weels or more.

Lanae

 

[MamaChic21]

very nice

 

[ther00ster'scr0w]

Im super jealous! they look really nice! Are there roosting bars inside?

 

[MamaChic21]

you cut put 2 wheels on each of them and a handle bar and wheel them out like a wheelbarrow. Where can you get wheels ?

 

[cashdl]

I have roosting bars in each one 10" from front wall and 12" off the floor with 2' of head room above the roost.

TSC has wheels so I may put them on. Right now they are fairly easy for me to move short distances. In the summer I will move them down by the horses under trees for shade and I will most likely load them on a pallet and move them with my husbands skidsteer. But I will still need wheels. I can pick up both ends and move side to side, their not too heavy. In fact when I was putting the wire on the sides I tilted them about 1' off the ground and held it with 1 hand and stapled with the other hand. But they are heavy enough not to blow around in heavy wind.

Lanae

 

[CoyoteMagic]

You can get wheels at Lowe's, Home Depot and Tractor Suppy.

Where do you put the roost?

I'm working on something similar

 

[MamaChic21]

if you don't mind me asking, (i'm just curious) why did you built 3 of them, is it because it can be portable or are you going to breed them ? And how many chickens are in there or will be in there ?
Never mind

I went back and read your post and answered my own questions

oopps !

 

[cashdl]

So far all three are set up different. The one with the inside view has a roost that runs from the nest box to the front of the house. It is only about 2' I plan on teeing off from that and going to the opposite wall than what the nest box is on if that makes sense.

In my favorite one so far. The house opens at the back and the roost is up by the front of the coop and runs side to side and is 3'. The nest box opens to the back instead of the side.

There are 3 birds in each but I can add another hen if need be but probably wont. I raise tufted rumpless araucana chickens, they are not a huge breed. Kinda mid sized. About 4, or 5 lbs.

Coyotemagic that is very pretty. I love how easy they have been to put together.

Lanae

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Oh that's not mine, that's the plan I'm working on. This one is from Craigslist for $750 HA!!! I'm thinking of adding nestbox to the outside that way I can run the roost the entire width of the 4x4 box. The opening is in the front of the box where I will put a ramp. The whole thing is 4x8 and will fit over my garden beds come winter.

 

[cashdl]

$ 750.00 Ouch and then some!!! I am not even close to that on materials. My frame is 2x2 redwood S4S that we have a huge pile of laying around. At least we had a huge pile before I started. LOL! My mom wants us to make them like an assembly line and then sell them in the spring. My husband is rolling his eyes, cause according to him chickens only cost money, not make them. I have been trying to figure out what to charge once I get the set up perfected.

I like the idea of redwood because it will hold up to ground contact well and doesn't need to be painted like other woods do. My chickens have pecked all the paint off my green house 3' down all the way around. The will jump as high as they can to get at the paint, very irritating, so I didn't want any painted parts where they can get their little beaks at.

The hardware cloth was the biggest expense. I bought exactly the length I needed for the first one and it cost me $ 65.00. Then I got smart and bought a 2' wide roll and a 3' wide roll. It dropped the price for each tractor significantly. I have priced redwood for when I have to go to buy it and it is way expensive. It will probably cost me about $ 150.00 for the frame material. Then I have two sheets of plywood and all the hardware, and the harware cloth. Right now the tractors for my own personal use are costing me about $125.00.

Lanae