My Finished Tractor

[jaku]

Finally got it done! My birds will be going into it tomorrow hopefully. It's darn heavy- not bad to drag though, now that I fixed the wheels. Made with a 2x2 frame (pressure treated where touching the ground,) 1/2 inch hardware cloth, and plastic corrugated roof panels. 6'x10'.

 

[k0xxx]

Very well done, neat and functional. I's say it's a winner.

 

[bluedog]

nice job your chickens will love it !!

 

[Fearlessphil]

Very nice. A few questions:

What are the dimensions?

Is it fairly easy to move?

How many chickens are you going to have in there?

I currently have a hoop coop. It is pretty heavy to move without the tractor.

 

[greyfields]

Very nice. It looks nice and light, easy for hand pulling.

 

[jaku]

Quote:
It is 6'x10'x2'. It's pretty heavy, but it's not bad now that I fixed the wheels. I only lift one end (the light end,) and pull it. I can move it myself without much trouble. I'll only be moving it one pen-length at a time. I have 22 birds right now, then later in the year when these are butchered, I'll be getting 50 to go in it.

 

[jaku]

Birds went out to pasture today! Since it was a nice day and I dealt with them in my garage for three weeks, I decided to go for it. It still gets into the 40's at night here, so I put their heat lamp in the back of the pen. I've been raising the lamp about 3"/day for the past week or so to get them used to the transition. Hopefully they'll be ok. Now my worries can switch from the lamp burning down my barn and cleaning the brooder twice a day to animals getting at them. Here are some pics.

The dogs weren't sure what to make of these strange creatures they've been hearing for weeks, but only now are seeing.

 

[HobbyChickener]

That isn't very big very 22 let alone 50 is it? I am trying to decide how big to make the one that I need for my cornish and I have 15. I do like your design, looks nice and simple and very effective.

Good Work!

 

[s6bee]

Ouch, I thought you were gonna have just a handful, but 22 is a lot for that space. Remember inside the run you should had a min. of 3 sq. ft. and outside is usually double that. You will not be able to save your grass at all if that was the plan with the tractor. That many birds in that space will wipe it out in less than a day. Plus they will pick on each other. How do you plan on moving that many? You may run over some birds in the process.
I'm not trying to be critical but it's just not going to be big enough.

In that space you should have no more than 12-15 birds, otherwise, for a few birds it's nice.

 

[UncleHoot]

I think 6x10 should be fine for 22 birds. 50 would really be pushing the limit. I have a 10x10 and a 10x12 tractor (new). I'll be putting 60 in the 10x12 next week, and that's about as many as I feel comfortable with (2 sqft per bird), but I've heard of people putting 100 in that amount of space.