newbie building tractor ?

[mgw]

I am building a tractor for 5 week old chicks. my ? is how high should the roost be. also ive heard that the chickens will wreck the grass even if moving every day. is this so.I wish i would have found this sight a long time ago would have made things much more easy. any help or suggestions would be welcome and i would be grateful.

 

[clothdiaperingmom]

 

[NurseELB]

How many chicks?
I built an ark type tractor 8' x 2' with the assumption that it would take 4 birds. It comfortably will fit 2 of my big girls, 1 more if I let them free range all day. Having to build bigger/ shed structure now since I have new babies.

eta- roost higher than the nest box. Can't keep the girls out of the nest box at night for the life of me- grrr. At least the box is big enough that the two of them poop and sleep on the one half and lay their eggs on the other.

 

[mgw]

Rigth now i 4 chicks 3 polish 1white sultan no idea about sex .I thought i would give one away if it is roo. So there will 3 in the tracktor. The run part 4x10 the coop is 3x4 with nest box built in door.Hopefully will finish project tommorow so i can do some more work on our stationary coop & run. I was all proud of it called it the caddy til i looked at others coops runs on BYC now i call it the hostel lol

 

[NurseELB]

Bah, some of these people have A lot more time, and A lot more resources

I wish I had a handy pic of my ark, won't be able to post one until Monday, too late to help. All I can say is it sounds good, size seems okay, I'd love to see it, and to make sure there is an enclosed roosting area that is above, or equal to the nest box

 

[mgw]

I will try to post pics tommorow might have to get my youngest daughter to help with that cuz i am helpless.lol thank you so much for info i am sure i will have many more ?s soon.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

When you build it then you can make the roosting board so it can be raised up as long as you can keep the ceiling about 18" from the final height. I give my birds plenty of room! Once you read on this forum for a while you may see a lot of problems with chickens is from lack of room. Overcrowding them in a coop or pen can lead to multiple problems with sickness and boredom.
So far it sounds like you have plenty of room for your 4.

Check out either my BYC page or my website under Housing for more ideas.

No, chickens do not wreck the grass if you move it every few days. We have some 10x10 tractors we only move once a week and you should see how the grass grows back into those areas! I also have a few small 4x6 and 4x8 tractors that I move every few days for fresh ground and though they may have made a small dust bath area it still isn't bad and after a few weeks you can't tell there was ever anything there.
So I would say that you may lose some grass for about a week but it grows back much greener and nicer. It just depends on how long you leave it in one spot.

 

[mgw]

I finished building my tractor today look on byc page!!!pics