Smoky Mountain Chix Tractor/Garden Bed Maker/Breeding Pen...

DawnSuiter

Songster
12 Years
Jun 3, 2008
1,988
123
226
Western Colorado - Formerly E. TN Smokies
My Coop
My Coop
This is our first tractor type thingy.
My husband and I can move it together, and have some wheels we may attach. It's 4X8 inside and will be a spring/fall season home for a group of breeding hens and a summer home for an extra roo or two (to keep the gardening in progress)

Materials:
5 Landscape Timbers $10
25' Roll 3' Chicken Wire $20
25' Roll 3' Hardware Cloth $25
1 6X9' Blue tarp $6
Assorted 2" & 4" screws
Poultry Staples
Hammer
Drill
Saw

and some extra fence boards we had on hand
It took about 4 solid hours to build and we'll be making another just like it.
If your interested in copying anything, please note that we used Chicken Wire for the top, to save a few bucks. This is not predator proof for most folks, and may not be enough for us. We have a dog on patrol that will prevent any other predators, and this is enough to deter him. So.. it's ok, we think for now.

2 8' landscape timbers for the left & right bottom, and 1 cut in half for the ends. 2 fence boards are for additional support for the wire (we cut the excess off the top later). Wrapped the chicken wire around, tucked the triangle corners like an envelope.
1stTractor.jpg


The corner construction, the hardware cloth skirt & bottom going on. The hardware cloth overlaps the chicken wire & we sewed the two together with leftover wire.
1stTractorcorner.jpg


another shot of the skirting for which we have landscape staples to firmly plant the skirt into the ground
1stTractorwireskirt.jpg


Inside the finished tractor..
1stTractorcomlete.jpg


Food/water shelf
1stTractorfoodshelf.jpg


Something to hop on/crawl under or whatever...they are still only a few weeks old.. they'll play with it somehow I'm sure
1stTractorroost.jpg


What do ya think?
 
It looks ok to me.....

I am in the process of making a tractor myself, I have hit a snag... I am not a builder by any stretch! Thankfully I am getting all the materials for free. I am at a standstill until Sunday, I put a water sealer on the coop portion I am building. And it has to dry for at least three days.

I will go to the library today and see if I can find a book on chicken tractors or coops that will inspire me with the "how to do" it.
 
Last edited:

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom