Square foot per bird in hen house chicken tractor

[Ol Grey Mare]

Aart, look at the screen name. Probably someone from Arkansas. Of course they could be out-of-state.

Tractors are different than normal coops because you are always moving them. That keeps thing interesting and stirred up. They are not as likely to be bored. Regular rules of thumb don’t apply because your management techniques are different than what that rule of thumb is based on.

It’s not how much space is in the coop by itself. It’s how much total space is available to them when they need it. An 8x12 is big for a tractor. I don’t know if the 4x6 coop is included in that or extra. Usually a tractor includes both the coop and run as a protected area so you should have the total space available.

You will be fine with 9 chickens in there though that may be getting close to the limit if you don’t move it much. I don’t know how often you’ll need to move it with nine. Maybe not a whole lot. Usually they are more crowded and you have to move them pretty often because the poop builds up and starts to stink.

How many could you possibly shoehorn in there? That’s real hard to answer. Part of that will depend on the personalities of your chickens. Each chicken has its own personality and each flock has its own dynamics. Part of that will depend on how often you move it. I’m not even going to try to give you a number, there are too many unknowns.

X 2 - tractors are a whole other animal.

 

[Razrbckfan]

The door on the back side is so I can scrape the chicken manure out and compost it. The Hen house is the same kind of pipe that is welded to the yard. There cover in the yard is peaked so the snow wont cave it in. Its the first one so its design is kinda rough. There will be a 2.0 version hopefully next year.

 

[mrchicks]

Nice tractor! I'd love to have the space to be able to do that. We're in the woods, so it's not very do-able for us.

 

[bigmrg74]

yeah, I can see why you might want mechanical assistance in moving that thing.

Right on the ceiling where the covered roof meets the open wire area, I'm assuming that you got some more of that Diamond wire or hardware cloth in that gap? That would be easy access for any critter like a raccoon to get in there and help himself to some chicken dinner.

 

[mojoejoe]

67 sq inches thats about10"x7". EWWWWWW VERY small.
That is one of the main reasons I think most people raise chickens, to avoid those crowded situation. When you raise your own you know what they are eating and doing during thier lives and that they have room to move and/or roam. The more room I can give mine the better.
However, if you dont have the room, provide them with as much room as possible. It's healthier and more natural for you and the chickens .
If you have to just get fewer chickens.
You can always make it work!
my 2 cents