New tractor design questions

[WestKnollAmy]

Looking good!
Reminds me of the second one I built. I can slide it around the yard without any trouble and I am about a 50 and a woman. I built mine by myself and can lift the front to pivot it or get behind it and push it with my back and legs. I wish I had built more like this and will probably do so in the future for bantam Cochin trios to raise families in but otherwise, it is much to small for most of my breeding birds.
I have bought a chain and the hooks to attach to the front of this one if I ever need to move it with the truck but so far it does great in my backyard. It has great ventilation and I seldom close the door on it now. I may regret that one day but they sleep inside and the ground is fairly packed.

 

[MikeEyre]

This looks like a really close example of what I use, here in CT. It works great for my 5 birds. It's a 4x8 footprint with a 3x4 box floor area. It's a it heavy, but can be moved short distances easily enough..

 

[thunderwagn]

Great design and write up on this! Looks like you have put forth lots of effort to show everything you have done. I'm seriously considering trying your plans for my game birds. Would be plenty of space for them. They would love it. Nice job!!

 

[1 Florida chick]

I'm still keeping up with the tractor page. I like the new additions! How old are the hens now? Where do they stay while contruction is underway?

 

[jrossetti]

Quote:
I haven't been able to post any new pictures, my wife lost the charger for the camera and I can't find it! So because of that, I've neglected to post any updates, sorry.

They'll be 7 weeks old tomorrow. They're just as crazy as they were before, I gave them a couple of crickets yesterday as a treat and at first they were like "WHAT'S THAT!" then they were "OMG IT'S MOVING GET IT!" and Jenny and Babs were fighting to be the first to eat one, but Zoe was an airhead and almost missed the party. I'm still convinced Jenny could be a boy, her comb is now twice the size of the others and is a nice pink, and she's bigger, and has some cool feathers on her legs, but her spurs are small. But she jumps at the others so she's kind of a bully, so most of the signs point to her being a rooster. Will have to wait and see...

We had a cold front move in and it snowed so it's very cold outside, so I've been using the wood stove in the house, so I had to move the chicks (now pullets) out of the house, so I could still acclimatize them to the colder winter weather. So I cleared some space in my workshop (which has thin walls) and moved the brooder out there. It varies between 50F and 60F out there right now, I'm using a heat lamp and an old electric oil-filled radiator to try to moderate the temps a bit while I finish stuff up.

The coop is complete, I'm just working on the water and heater. I cut down a board to cover the inside wall, and it seems like there will still be enough ventilation, but the problem is the outside temps have been getting into the 20's lately and that's a bit too cold. So I hooked up an old porcelain light socket with a 40 watt bulb and a clay pot upside down over the top of it, and put it in the corner of the henhouse for a couple nights to test. While the pot itself registers some hot temps, it doesn't radiate very well, so the air in the henhouse hasn't ever registered above 30-32F (+/- 5% ya know), so I don't know what to do. I don't think upping to a 60 watt bulb will work.

In any case, I'm gonna keep the chickens in the workshop until I get this issue sorted out. I'm trying to stay away from buying a pad heater (I don't think I'd be able to find one small enough anyways).

 

[jrossetti]

Well, it's been freakin cold outside but I put in the watering system tonight before it got too dark to work. In summary, I'm using a 2-gallon bucket with a gravity feed system supplying water to two nipples, one in the henhouse of my tractor and the other out in the run area. Water is fed to the nipples using vinyl tubing. The bucket will be heated in the winter to prevent freezing using a small 50-watt aquarium heater. I've tested the whole system and it works well.

Here's some pics:

This is the bucket in place and the top of the tube system. These are quick connect fittings so I can remove the tube easily should I ever need to remove the bucket.

This shows the nipple inside the henhouse and the tubing that goes to the outside nipple.

Tubing as it exits the henhouse. I put the tubing on the inside edge of this support since I'll be fitting a panel of wood against the mesh in the winter when it gets just too cold for the birds. The panel will be cut in the corner to accommodate the tubing, and the tubing on the side will help hold it in place.

Outside nipple.

My only concerns with this setup are two:
- This will fail if the chickens peck at the tubing. I don't anticipate this to happen, since they don't peck at the same type of setup in their brooder now, they just mess with the tip of the nipple, now that they know where the water comes from.
- Tube that exits to the outside nipple might freeze in the winter.

 

[cobrien]

I love the design - very practical and way better than my chicken tracor! I would not use the plexi roof over the coop part in Alaska. The cold night sky will radiate right through making it much colder (think of how cold you feel on a cold night with a clear sky vs. a cloudy sky). The roof over their sleeping quarters should be an opaque material and perhaps insulated in a cold climate.

 

[jrossetti]

Quote:
Yep, I have some styrofoam sheets cut that fit between the supports just under the corrugated pvc roof - they slide right in - I made 3 of them that covers the whole roof of the henhouse, and still maintains great ventilation. I don't think I'll need them unless it gets REALLY cold (like 10F or below), but I doubt it'll get that cold here, at least this winter..

 

[patandchickens]

You do know that as soon as the ambient temperature hits freezing, your nipples will freeze... er, your chickens' nipples will freeze... oh, you know what I mean <g>, the waterer nipples will freeze up. More or less right away, and before the tubing does. You will need an easily implemented plan B for water.

If you are sticking with that watering system I would suggest adding a snap-on lid for the bucket -- you can cut a hole or notch up near the rim to let the tubing goes thru -- to avoid introducing unnecessary humidity into the coop air.

You sure have been busy!

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[jrossetti]

Quote:
Yep, I remembered that, but I haven't thought up a good solution for it yet. I have a light bulb under a clay pot that radiates enough heat that the henhouse generally stays above freezing, so I imagine that will be enough when the chickens are out and about, and will be more than enough when they're in sleeping, to keep the water line from freezing up, so I am waiting to put this system to the test and see if I need to move to plan b. Plan B is likely removing the vinyl hosing, replacing it with PEX and strapping a little 3-foot pipe heater tape to it, starting from the outside nipple end of the pipe. Between the bucket heater and the heate tape, it should keep the nipples in working order.

The only part I'm really concerned about is that last 6" of the hose and the outside nipple, but I don't have any solid ideas for it - yet (aside from plan b). You know I'll come up with something.

The bucket has a lid, I cut a couple of notches in the edge, one to allow the water heater cable to pass through, and the other to prevent a vacuum from forming. this side of the lid is on the outside of the bucket, which is outside the henhouse, so there's little danger of water vapor wafting into the henhouse. I'll take pics of this when I've got it all set up. Got a couple weeks until I really wanna move the pullets out into the tractor, so I wanna make sure they'll be warm enough and have access to water before I move them out there. (Especially since it's supposed to start getting colder).