post your chicken coop pictures here!

[owlflights]

Ok, i know im illiterate but what is a tractor? The ones im familiar with plow fields and pull wagons, not house chickens???

A chicken tractor, if that's what you mean, is a mobile chicken house/run setup. It can be moved around land to give the chickens new landscape to dig at in the run. Used when people can't free range or have limited run size.

 

[bluema]

A tractor is basically a run/coop on wheel that you can move/push around. Wherever you place the tractor, chickens will clear any greens on the ground. Can be useful when you can't free-range your chickens and want to give them access to greens.

 

[sawilliams]

This looks great. I would put some hardware cloth over the chicken wire... or some welded 2x4 wire for added security. It looks great though, I love it. Great job... I always use re-purposed or leftover material to build my coops!

What do you have planted up against that fence? Is that some kind of bamboo? It looks great!

Yes it's bamboo, we had moved it to that side away from the house to provide some afternoon shade from the sun. Makes a nice brush for the chickens to settle and play in.

And yes we do plan on adding hard wire later on. My sister had found a stray chicken and couldn't find its owners so we had to biuld it up faster then we had planned

 

[Adorkable]

Quote:
I've been thinking about planting some bamboo for the chickens. I've actually been thinking about it for a couple of years now. I should go ahead and get a clumping kind in the spring. I think it's so pretty ,and it would make some nice shady spots for them.
Oh wow. That's really nice of you guys to take it in. Lucky chicken to have found you all

 

[bestnestbox]

Here is the inside of our mobile set ups. We use tarps over the cattle panels. Their nest boxes set on the back of the trailer. We pasture our chickens so they always have fresh grass.

 

[bestnestbox]

Here is another view. We collect the nigh time manure in plastic storage containers.

 

[bruceha2000]

Thats what i figured too. if the bucket is too low they cant get the water into their beak and down their throat. Guess ill have to find a way to.get it higher.

Funny to watch though, my new one must have been watered.that way on the farm it came from because it spends a lot of time pecking at the nipples. Dont know if shes getting any water but she tries Havnt seen any others try yet.

I'm sure she is getting water or she wouldn't keep doing it. The others will learn from her, especially if you remove their other water. You might need to watch for a bit to be comfortable that they are watching and learning from her.

Fabulous! Nice big run, covered with netting.

Not only that, she carefully weaved leaves into the netting for shade

May I ask what type of eater are you oing to use? I need to get a heater for mine..... Rae

Depends on the temperatures you expect to have. I'm sure MeepBeep's 55 gallon drum would need something other than what I have in my 5 gallon bucket. 250W stock tank heater down to about 15F and an aquarium heater below that. The stock tank heater only gets the water to about 40F I think, it is really a de-icer, not a heater so it doesn't keep the water hot enough at the colder temps to not freeze when it comes out by the pin.

Broiler tractor will hold 25- 30 birds. I will cover it with. Piece of plastic sheeting at night and when it rains to keep it light. In Feb I will build a few shelves in the back lift area to hold seed starts.

Um, for how long? It doesn't look nearly big enough for 25, let alone 30, birds big enough to eat.

 

[lynnehd]

Quote: Haha! I'm glad you understand the effort that took. And now they've all dried up and blown off to allow the winter sun to shine through.

 

[Jenlyn9483]

Is that a metal frame what are the dimensions ?

It's made of powder coated lifetime warranty Aluminum. The same grade as what you would have a screenroom or florida room built onto your house with. Its aprrox 8.5FT X 7.5 FT So a total of just over 63 SQFT. This is the business my husband has so we have alot of scrap. This pen was built out of scrap and wire and hinges we have accumulated over the years so this cost me $0 of new expenses for this and 5 hours on hubby's part to build the frame and half a day for me to finish putting on the wire and latches.

Quote: This is a tractor I plan on moving to new grass twice per day. I only do about 15 birds each batch. The general consensus for a set up like this is 1.5 SQFT per bird but my personal preferences would not be less than 2 SQFT per bird. This tractor is a little over 63 SQFT. This give my 15 broilers 4.2 SQFT each.

 

[Cluckies]

Nice, is it in a shaded area or do you add a tarp for shade?

I'm not sure if I've posted pics of the inside of my coop yet, so I'm posting some. We only have ventilation on two sides and I'm wondering if this is enough. It's at the top, on the east and west facing sides. We do the deep litter method and due to the cold the Windows have been closed and it was a bit stinky in there today.

I have a very similar set up as you. ventilation east and west sides.

I would suggest you put down Sweet PDZ (Horse Stall Refresher) on the floor, that would help with the smell and help dry up any poo left in there. Also, you don't want it moist in there, especially in winter.

Here is my floor:

Floor of the coop


Sweet PDZ the floor for the winter


Flakes over Sweet PDZ on the floor

I would think about a system to remove poo from under the roosts everyday as well. I have a Poo tray with Sweet PDZ in it, under the roost, that I scoop out everyday.

For more photos click on "My Coop" under my avatar.