newbie questions about using a chicken tractor

[MyFirstFarm]

Hello everyone. I have a few questions about chicken tractors, not making them but using them as part of flock management:

1) do people use tractors in place of coops, or is a tractor just for day use while free ranging?

2) when you are moving the tractor to a new patch of ground, where are the chickens?

3) how do you know when it's time to move the tractor to a new patch of ground?

4) if your tractor is a ways from the coop, is there an easier way to get the chickens back to the coop at night without having to move the whole tractor?

TIA!

 

[crperdue]

1. The tractor is the coop

2. In the tractor

3. Once a day, sometimes twice a day if your raising meaties

4. Tractor birds stay in the tractor, so this is not a problem

 

[buckabucka]

Quote:
I am a new to this, - our chickens do not arrive until May, but we plan to build a tractor that is used in addition to the coop. I had many of these same questions. We plan to build a light weight tractor with a door, that we can move up to the door in their run, to usher them into or out of the tractor. We hope to have it on wheels, and move it around slowly while the chickens are in it.
There are a lot of predators here, so we want to lock them in a more substantial coop at night. I would love to free-range them during the day (much easier than moving a tractor), but I worry about hawks, and especially about the neighborhood dogs (not to mention I would have to fence my garden). There is a leash law, but people don't follow it.

I don't know if there is any easier way to get the chickens back to the coop, but I'm hoping this system will work.

 

[catdaddy66]

1) My tractor will be THE coop but some use it in the day.

2) I will move mine with the chickens in the tractor. I have seen several videos of people moving the tractor with the birds on the ground, but we know they can be rather, uhh...stupid. The tend to get their feet caught in the frame as it is being pulled!

3) The tractor should be moved every 1-2 days depending on the amount of poop they leave underneath

4) the tractor is their coop so it is a moot point. Chickens do remember the roost spot after a couple of weeks so they will probably return of their own volition. They are creatures of habit

Hope that helps, and Good Luck!!

 

[SF Chick]

In our case, the tractor is separate from the coop and run. It allows them to "free range" without worrying about hawks. The coop and run are secured against night time predators (for us, raccoons) also, but the tractor is pretty flimsy. We have an enclosed city backyard so dogs aren't a problem.

It's harder to get them into the tractor than back into their run, so we usually put it next to the run door and let them wander in, then close it up and move it (with the chickens running along). We have 4 chickens and they can decimate a grassy area under the tractor in half a day. But even if there is no grass they still dig for bugs and take dust baths. To get them back to the run -- from the tractor or from free ranging -- I sprinkle scratch or sunflower seeds through the top of the run. They know the sound and come running.