Need plans for cheap tractor for 8 chickens!

[ThePhoebeFive]

Aggghh! So many chicken tractor pics out there, most don't tell me much about how many chickens the tractor will hold. I need a place for my 8 girls! Anyone who can point my spinning head in the right direction?

 

[faykokoWV]

Unless they are bantams you're going to have a hard time building a tractor that will hold that many. To get an area big enough to house 8 chickens it won't be movable. Most tractors are designed to hold 3-4 full size chickens

Are you going to use the tractor as permanent housing or just a away to let them out during the day for grazing?

 

[elmo]

For 8 chickens, figure on building something around 80 square feet. Do a search on "hoop coop" here, or you can also do a google image search.

 

[patandchickens]

It is not too hard if you live somewhere with beautiful weather 365 days a year and are going to free range the chickens (so the tractor is merely for nighttime housing, they will have free run of a large area all day every day). In that case all you need is something big enough to contain 6-8 linear feet of roost.

It is also not too hard if you live somewhere that does not get freezy winters or lots of bad weather, and either the tractor will be located somewhere you are willing to bet is totally immune from major digging predators like dogs or foxes (e.g. if it'll be in your totally-privacy-fenced backyard and you don't own a dog yourself) or if you are willing to play predator roulette and cope with maybe losing much or all your flock some night. If that is your situation, you can do an 8x12-ish cattle panel or pvc-based hoop coop with one end enclosed (tarps or tin) for shade/shelter, with flip-down aprons to prevent minor digging in.

If you live somewhere with lots of nasty weather (cold winters, or lots of wind) and/or are not comfortable with a not-especially-predatorproof setup, then your only options are the following: 1) crowd them like crazy and hope to have survivors for a reasonable length of time; 2) build something that requires a lawn tractor to pull it; 3) build a two-part setup, where the coop and run are separate units that you move separately (possibly requiring a lawn tractor) and dock together when they get where they're going; or 4) have fewer chickens or don't use a tractor.

(oh.... unless these are meat chickens you're talking about growing, like CornishX that will only be there for 6-8 wks and then to freezer camp; you certainly CAN build tractors adequate for that, go check the meat birds etc section of this forum for lots of examples)

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[ThePhoebeFive]

Just saw all these responses; my spam filter was catching all my notifications!

Thanks for all your replies. I think we might try a run and coop that come apart and hook back up after moving them.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Check out my byc page. We have a tractor and run that we move around our yard. We parked it for the winter and it works well for us. The tractor is predator proof and the run is made of pvc pipe. They move independently and attach to each other when we get it set where we want it. I like my tractor and it works well for us, even in this past winters worst storms.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
Check out my website. I have plans for the M*A*S*H unit and it will hold 15 birds though usually I have only 10 in each one.

 

[ThePhoebeFive]

Thank you both!