Newbie looking to design a chicken tractor

Date sort Score sort
Thanks again for this continuing education. Last thing I want to do is kill or make the chickens sick.

I would have room to pull the entire tractor into the barn onto a dirt floor. This would make it easy for me to have electricity for heat and keeping the water from freezing. If I go to another structure at some point in the barn, I can do that in the future. Any of the numerous thaws that we have during the winter, I would be able to move the tractor back outside too.

So no blocking ventilation for keeping heat in. 2 roosting box. Yes, the pull out floor would be so I could easily do a thorough cleaning. I'll forget about any deep litter method. The pull out floor will actually be pretty easy. Thanks for pointing out the reach aspect. I'll be sure to keep that in mind when finishing up the design. Also, I'll pass on the leghorn. The local farm store had them and claims cold hardiness. I'll keep it to 4 birds total then.

Thanks!
 
You have 16 acres in New York? You really don't need a tractor. You can just hire five people to baby-sit your chickens while you're out golfing.
 
You have 16 acres in New York? You really don't need a tractor. You can just hire five people to baby-sit your chickens while you're out golfing.

ROTFL -- you have never been to central NY, have you? There is a whole entire *state* called New York, most of it pretty rural, some of it *very* rural, hardly any of it New York City
wink.png


Pat​
 
Cold temps are not a problem with birds as long as you follow a few rules. 1. no drafts
2. a heated base for water bowl or be ready to break the ice daily from the bowl (on the farm I had old pots and busted the ice with a hammer, birds don't die of cold.. we have a few weeks of -30C or 0F in Ottawa)

3. the bigger the bird the better they deal with cold temps

4. careful with big combs as they will freeze, or do yourself a favour, get birds with a rose comb or pea comb (or you can dub a single comb)
 
We have several of these we use for our meat bird project, they are used for a very short period of 8 weeks for the meat birds. But ive used them for breeding pens also at times.

I wouldnt recommend housing birds in these in Pa for the winter with out incloseing an area in the tractor for protection. But for summer housing these type's are great. preds are kepted in check here. so we do not have problems with them.

Ive also added a pic where you can see we added a tarp over the top that we can remove on the less hot days of summer if we need to.

tractor.jpg


Newtractor.jpg


Charlie
 
I live in central NH. There's still two feet of snow on the ground, and we had days that were well below zero F this winter. Cold doesn't seem to bother our birds. Our coop's not insulated. I made a cozy seasonal shelter out of bales of hay, but they almost never go in there except for a couple broodies. Our biggest problem is the water constantly freezing, even with a heated waterer.


Quote:
Thanks for that link, by the way. I'm going to build one myself.
 
Yes, I live in NY, not NYC. That's often thought of the source of all evil around here. Land is relatively cheap were I live. You can still find land for close to $1K/acre. You just need to be prepared to pay the taxes on it.

I have gone ahead and ordered the chicks. I should have about 2.5 months to get the tractor built. I will not be insulating it, but I will bring it inside when the snow is significant and the temperatures are going to be very cold. That will keep the drafts out as well as make it easy to change to water a few times a day. I actually have hot water access in the barn too. They will just be on a dirt floor.

wilds of pa,
what happened to the minimum sq ft requirements? Does it not apply to a tractor that is moved daily on fresh grass?
 
Hello,

I'm new to the board. Have been reading the forum for a number of days. We had decided we would convert an old wooden box, that was formerly a dog house, into the coop part of a chicken tractor. When we pulled it out of the storage shed we discovered, to our dismay, it shrank. Well, in our thoughts/memory (could be our dreams) it was much bigger. It used to sleep two big dogs and one little one. It will not house 10 chickens. You see, I have 10 chicks on order. I figured they probably wouldn't all survive. I really only wanted 6. Also, there was a $25 min. at Ideal. They're being shipped on Sept. 3.

So, my question is: Will the chicken tractor from Mother Earth News house chickens in the winter and summer right on the ground? And, how big should we make the coop and the run? We live in North Central Texas. Sorry, I feel like it's probably one of those duh questions but there's just so much to soak in and try and remember.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/2003-02-01/Building-Mothers-Mini-Coop.aspx

You all are great and I have enjoyed reading the forum.

Thanks,
Tweeza
 
Tweeza,
Feel free to check out my page and whatt my tractor looks like. I have to believe I'm near the limit on the size. 6 chickens would need 24sqft in just the coop. That's 4X6'. That will weight a lot. I build a tractor because I figured my cats and dogs would eat them, but there is no problem, so I free range a lot.
For Texas you definitely should be able to go year round with a tractor. I'll be doing it, but I'll be pulling the tractor in the barn before heavy snows.
 

Similar threads

H
Chicken Tractor
Replies
7
Views
309
HotLips
H
R
Chicken tractor/spring grass?
Replies
2
Views
202
Penpal
P
D
Used chicken tractor
Replies
2
Views
266
DSJMHenDen
D
E
    • Love
Chicken Tractor Question
Replies
7
Views
638
eworms
E
MuthaCluckas
    • Like
  • Poll
Coop Interior Input Needed!
2 3
Replies
20
Views
951
StinkyAcres
StinkyAcres

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom