Haha!! I thought the same thing.
The Flying Fortress Chicken Tractor
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- Start date
That's a great set up! Thank you for the detailed write up of your build 
Welcome to BYC!
Welcome to BYC!
This is just such an awesome build. I think I am going to try to make a smaller version.
My wife wants "cute", I want practical and functional.
I'm still trying to figure out why, if "cute" is so important, she ended up with me???
My wife wants "cute", I want practical and functional.
I'm still trying to figure out why, if "cute" is so important, she ended up with me???
- Thread starter
- #24
Hey CC!
If you've got the skill, the cutest thing would be a Woods Open Air, or Open Front Coop built on a heavy frame, mounted on skids as a tractor, but I don't have the skill, plus I didn't even know about the Woods House when I built my tractor. I went with ugly, but very, very functional.
If you've got open land, and a vehicle that can pull something heavy, I wouldn't make a tractor smaller than mine. It does take a bit of open space to maneuver this tractor though, especially when you add in the length of the pulling vehicle, but you can pull it in any direction, which helps.
Regarding size, I think I saw a post where you've got 15 chickens coming. The pen portion of this tractor is 8 feet by 16 feet, that's 126 square feet. People here say you should have ten square feet per bird, and I'm cheating a little because I've got 13 birds.
Okay, all that being said, even though I have a tractor, I've really become a huge fan of free ranging my chickens, they're out all day, every day, so that really changes the space dynamic in my favor.
As a coincidence, I read Dr Woods book, Open Air Poultry Houses from 1912 this morning. Oddly enough, after reading his book, it turns out this tractor is roughly the size and proportions he recommended, and conforms to the other goals he set for his Wood's House.
During the spring, summer, and fall, all four sides of this tractor are open, offering complete ventilation and cooling. During the winter, all sides of this tractor are closed, except the south side, which is entirely open, that keeps the air in the tractor very still, yet very well ventilated. We've had unusually low temperatures this winter, all the way down to minus 5 degrees, and my chickens have come through fine.
If you compare this tractor to a stationary Wood's House, I believe functionally this tractor is superior because of the huge advantages of being a real tractor, that's so easy to move.
Poop becomes a complete non-issue, there's zero poop management, poop becomes fertilizer left behind every time you pull the tractor (which takes 5 minutes), and the pull distance is short, usually only eight feet (I pull sideways most often), whether you pull it once, or twice a week. How often you pull is a function of how many birds you have, and how much free range time you give them.
Because the tractor always faces south and the orientation of my field, I'm usually pulling it sideways, like this.
If you're interested in Wood's book, here's a link where you can read it for free:
https://books.google.com/books?id=o...X&oi=book_result&ct=result#v=onepage&q&f=true
Getting back to the point, I would strongly recommend keeping the frame system I'm using. Its incredible strength is essential in a heavy tractor being pulled by a vehicle, to stand the pressures and torque of being pulled, especially since you can't feel problems when pulling with a vehicle. In addition, everything hangs in this tractor, which requires the heavy frame too.
The frame of this tractor, including the main frame, the main center beam, and the vertical post at the front are all 2 inch by 6 inch rough cut lumber (those are true dimensions, regular 2x6's are planed down to 1.5x5.5 inches), it's lumber used to build piers in salt water environments.
It will never rot because it has 2.5 pounds of salt treatment in it per cubic foot, unlike regular ground contact salt treated lumber with .4 pounds per cubic foot. It's going to be more expensive and harder to find, but it's worth the trouble, since it's way stronger than the planed down lumber you usually get, and I want a frame that simply won't rot.
I figure the dust box is 150 pounds, full feed 125 pounds, and water 65 pounds, and all those things swing during a pull. That's not counting the weight of the roof system itself, that's being supported by the beam. The main center beam is the backbone of the tractor, and it's hanging systems.
Haha, I should probably be mad at the operator for pulling this crazy stunt, but look at that strength, he's balancing the entire weight of the tractor on a single point, with no deflection in the frame.
If this tractor works for you, I'd build the frame and the wire system (cattle panels covered in half inch hardware cloth) at the very least, then you'll have the bones of a tractor that will last you the rest of your life.
Yes this heavy duty system is going to be a little more expensive up front, but you'll be well served in the long run by this tractor. Even if cost is a factor, and it's not until later that you're able to deploy all the state of the art systems you see on my tractor, it's worth the wait, because this is the absolutely easiest, yet at the same time, the healthiest chicken enclosure I know of.
I don't believe there's a tractor out there, that's able to do, much less do easily, the things this tractor accomplishes. I believe in the long run, this tractor is worth building, even if you temporarily leave other things out to keep it in your budget. Make the mats smaller, use throw away feeders, do bucket nesting boxes, use a cheap silver tarp to cover it, throw the dust box on the floor, forgo the clear roofing covering the front perch, but build the frame and the wiring system, then add the other stuff later, that'll be easy.
Tell me about your land and vehicle, let's see if this thing could work for you.
If you've got the skill, the cutest thing would be a Woods Open Air, or Open Front Coop built on a heavy frame, mounted on skids as a tractor, but I don't have the skill, plus I didn't even know about the Woods House when I built my tractor. I went with ugly, but very, very functional.
If you've got open land, and a vehicle that can pull something heavy, I wouldn't make a tractor smaller than mine. It does take a bit of open space to maneuver this tractor though, especially when you add in the length of the pulling vehicle, but you can pull it in any direction, which helps.
Regarding size, I think I saw a post where you've got 15 chickens coming. The pen portion of this tractor is 8 feet by 16 feet, that's 126 square feet. People here say you should have ten square feet per bird, and I'm cheating a little because I've got 13 birds.
Okay, all that being said, even though I have a tractor, I've really become a huge fan of free ranging my chickens, they're out all day, every day, so that really changes the space dynamic in my favor.
As a coincidence, I read Dr Woods book, Open Air Poultry Houses from 1912 this morning. Oddly enough, after reading his book, it turns out this tractor is roughly the size and proportions he recommended, and conforms to the other goals he set for his Wood's House.
During the spring, summer, and fall, all four sides of this tractor are open, offering complete ventilation and cooling. During the winter, all sides of this tractor are closed, except the south side, which is entirely open, that keeps the air in the tractor very still, yet very well ventilated. We've had unusually low temperatures this winter, all the way down to minus 5 degrees, and my chickens have come through fine.
If you compare this tractor to a stationary Wood's House, I believe functionally this tractor is superior because of the huge advantages of being a real tractor, that's so easy to move.
Poop becomes a complete non-issue, there's zero poop management, poop becomes fertilizer left behind every time you pull the tractor (which takes 5 minutes), and the pull distance is short, usually only eight feet (I pull sideways most often), whether you pull it once, or twice a week. How often you pull is a function of how many birds you have, and how much free range time you give them.
Because the tractor always faces south and the orientation of my field, I'm usually pulling it sideways, like this.
If you're interested in Wood's book, here's a link where you can read it for free:
https://books.google.com/books?id=o...X&oi=book_result&ct=result#v=onepage&q&f=true
Getting back to the point, I would strongly recommend keeping the frame system I'm using. Its incredible strength is essential in a heavy tractor being pulled by a vehicle, to stand the pressures and torque of being pulled, especially since you can't feel problems when pulling with a vehicle. In addition, everything hangs in this tractor, which requires the heavy frame too.
The frame of this tractor, including the main frame, the main center beam, and the vertical post at the front are all 2 inch by 6 inch rough cut lumber (those are true dimensions, regular 2x6's are planed down to 1.5x5.5 inches), it's lumber used to build piers in salt water environments.
It will never rot because it has 2.5 pounds of salt treatment in it per cubic foot, unlike regular ground contact salt treated lumber with .4 pounds per cubic foot. It's going to be more expensive and harder to find, but it's worth the trouble, since it's way stronger than the planed down lumber you usually get, and I want a frame that simply won't rot.
I figure the dust box is 150 pounds, full feed 125 pounds, and water 65 pounds, and all those things swing during a pull. That's not counting the weight of the roof system itself, that's being supported by the beam. The main center beam is the backbone of the tractor, and it's hanging systems.
Haha, I should probably be mad at the operator for pulling this crazy stunt, but look at that strength, he's balancing the entire weight of the tractor on a single point, with no deflection in the frame.
If this tractor works for you, I'd build the frame and the wire system (cattle panels covered in half inch hardware cloth) at the very least, then you'll have the bones of a tractor that will last you the rest of your life.
Yes this heavy duty system is going to be a little more expensive up front, but you'll be well served in the long run by this tractor. Even if cost is a factor, and it's not until later that you're able to deploy all the state of the art systems you see on my tractor, it's worth the wait, because this is the absolutely easiest, yet at the same time, the healthiest chicken enclosure I know of.
I don't believe there's a tractor out there, that's able to do, much less do easily, the things this tractor accomplishes. I believe in the long run, this tractor is worth building, even if you temporarily leave other things out to keep it in your budget. Make the mats smaller, use throw away feeders, do bucket nesting boxes, use a cheap silver tarp to cover it, throw the dust box on the floor, forgo the clear roofing covering the front perch, but build the frame and the wiring system, then add the other stuff later, that'll be easy.
Tell me about your land and vehicle, let's see if this thing could work for you.
Last edited:
- Feb 21, 2017
- 610
- 346
- 201
cool!
That's the best ever! Our first hoop house is serviceable, but not holding up to being moved, and needs rebuilding. I plan to come back to your design!
Mary
Mary
If that's a lazy man's tractor build, would like to see what you build when you're kicked into high gear! 
Nice job!
Nice job!
- Thread starter
- #28
Hi Eggsoteric,
Don't kid yourself, I am so lazy you wouldn't believe it!
I'm so lazy, that only thing I do is collect my eggs once a day, water it once a week, pull it once a week, load feed once a month, and never do anything else at all! I'm even putting a Pullet Shut Automatic Door on next week! Poop management, nah, don't even have to know what it is, much less have to do it!
Come on, you have to admit that's pretty lazy!
Don't kid yourself, I am so lazy you wouldn't believe it!
I'm so lazy, that only thing I do is collect my eggs once a day, water it once a week, pull it once a week, load feed once a month, and never do anything else at all! I'm even putting a Pullet Shut Automatic Door on next week! Poop management, nah, don't even have to know what it is, much less have to do it!
Come on, you have to admit that's pretty lazy!
I agree that the wood's open air would be my wife's choice, I just don't have that much confidence in my carpentry skills. So, unless I can get adult supervision, It has to go on the back burner.
Vehicle won't be an issue, My wife and I both have F150's, and I have a small farm tractor. I have 10 acres, but it butts up against family owned 40 acre hayfield.
Land is slight rolling terrain, formerly part of the hayfield, but not "lawn smooth"
House is o top of a "hill". Topographically speaking, negligible, but the winds are similar to what Howard E notes in his Wood's coop build thread. In a word, "breezy".
Building skills will be the biggest issue... lol
I'm also 6 hrs inland, and so have never even heard of the salt treated lumber.
Also, I'm looking around but don't have access to the scaffolding braces. I know that's where a lot of the strength comes from. Was considering scaling this to 10x12* to compensate. (edit* meant 8x12)
I bought 15 chicks with an eye at attrition.
We have so many predators in the area that I would be beyond stunned if more than 10-12 make it to the summer. IF for some reason they do, MIL, aunt or neighbor would all jump at the chance to get a few.
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- Thread starter
- #30
Hey CC,
I got my scaffold bracing at Northern Tools, here's the link:
https://m.northerntool.com/products/shop~tools~product_200642984_200642984?adv=false
It's 19.99 for what they call a 4 foot by 7 foot X shaped scaffold brace. In reality each X brace has two braces, and there's 96 inches between the holes on each end of each brace, so in reality, after you split the X brace apart, you're paying $10 for each 96 inch brace. You're going to need eight of them, four on the bottom of the main frame, and four on the top of the main frame, which means you have to buy just four X brace sets.
Some might think the scaffold bracing is pricey, maybe there's a cheaper alternative, but I like them a lot for what we're using them for here.
The nice thing about scaffold bracing is it's specifically designed for what we're asking of it, staying rigid and strong, in both compression and tension. They're already the right length, and have been flattened with a perfect hole for lag bolts already there in each end.
They're also corrosion resistant, and because of the height of the skids, the bottom layer of braces is off the ground, and out of the chicken poop. They're very strong and should last a very long time.
By the way, when you install the four lag bolts on the bottom of the frame, that will attach the braces on the lower level of braces, just above the skids on either side, notch out about an inch of the 6 inch height of the main frame, on the east and west side of the lower frame where you're putting the braces and lag bolts, but only on the lower side of the frame.
You're counter sinking the lag bolt head, and half the width of the brace, as it crosses over the skid. That way, the frame will lay flush and level on top of the skid, as it sits on the skid system. I didn't do that, and I have a small hump in the frame, where the frame sits on the skid because of the lag bolt heads and the half the width of the brace.
Here's what you want:
Scaffold is extremely common in the construction industry. As a matter of fact, most construction companies simply rent scaffolding for each particular job it's used on, so if you Google scaffold rental in your area, you can call those rental companies, and probably buy used X braces from them for even less, you only need four 7 foot by 4 foot X braces, that'll give you eight 96 inch braces after you split the X braces apart from each other. It's up to you to decide how much your time is worth.
The end holes in the braces are 96 inches apart, and those are the holes you're going to be lag bolting into the 2x6 rough cut (RC) timbers of the main frame, to strengthen it, keep it from racking, and to resist any force that would try to roll one of the frame timbers.
RC (rough cut lumber) hasn't been planed smooth, and really is 2 inches by 6 inches, unlike planed 2x6's you're used to, which are only 1.5 inches by 5.5 inches. The extra size is important because you're lag bolting into the short side, the 2 inch side, and you're going to need the full 2 inches, so the wood doesn't split, when forces try to compress, or separate the 96 inch scaffold bracing of the main frame.
When you get your four X braces, you're going to drill out the rivet that connects the two braces, giving you two 96 inch braces for each X. That drilled out hole is also where you're going to run a bolt through the 2 inch PVC pipe, that covers the all the top layer braces, the bolt keeps the PVC pipe from spinning. You wrap the PVC pipe in black Gorilla tape, otherwise it would be slippery and too cold in the winter. The chickens love to perch on these PVC pipes, it gives them a perfect view looking out through the open wire sides of the tractor.
So as you can see scaffold bracing is easy to get.
Here's the deal on 2x6 rough cut lumber. Texas like Virginia, has a huge coast. If you are building a pier in Salt water, you're allowed to buy special salt treated lumber that has 2.5 pounds of salt per cubic foot, unlike regular "ground contact" salt treated with .4 pounds per cubic foot, like to you find at Home Depot. The 2.5 pound treated lumber will never rot, unlike regular ground contact. To be clear, you're not supposed to be using 2.5 pounds of salt per cubic foot salt treated in any other application than a salt water pier, so if you happen to use it, that's up to you.
To give you some frame of reference, the rough cut 2"x6"x16 foot boards I used were $19.60 each, and weighed roughly 60 pounds each. So in round numbers the seven boards needed to build the entire structural frame of the tractor, would be about $140, and would weigh about 420 pounds. Of different suppliers have different prices, in different regions of the country.
The only other decent alternative is rough cut white (not red) oak, but exposed to the elements, it's probably got a twenty year life span.
There's only two common uses I'm aware of for this type of heavy rough cut timber, when salt treated, for piers.
Untreated rough cut white oak is commonly used to build heavy duty mats for construction, or logging sites, whenever they have to bridge over muddy ground, for heavy traffic, like equipment and tractor trailers, on job sites. The mats are something like 8x12 and are so heavy, they have to be placed using heavy equipment. So a Google search for construction ground mats might get you to someone who knows where 2x6 rough cut white oak lumber can be purchased.
A search of rough cut lumber for salt water piers would reveal marine lumber dealers in the 2.5 pound salt treated lumber.
You're not going to need a lot of the rough cut lumber, just seven 2"x6"x16' boards, because it's only used in the actual structural frame of the tractor, everything else can be the commonly available planed down ground contact salt treated, like they have at every Home Depot and Lowe's.
The caged eight foot by sixteen foot area that contains the birds is the core of this tractor, that's the part that's bullet proof and will last indefinitely.
All the other components of the tractor are add ons to this main core, and can easily be modified, added to, removed, or replaced.
Those add ons are the 1x3's zip tied over the wire, beneath the roof membrane, they give structure to the 36 inch eaves that extend out beyond both ends of the tractor. They also provide a 3/4 gap between the roof membrane and the wire of the main core. That's a very good themal break between the roof membrane and the the wire. It's crucial that the roof membrane be bright white.
My PVC is 60 mil black, it got so hot in the sun last summer, I couldn't hold my hand on it. Worse it was transferring that heat to the wire, as I wasn't using the 1x3's to separate them at that time. The inside of the tractor was an oven.
I painted the PVC membrane white and that made a huge difference, it was cool to the touch. I also added the 1x3's, by zip tying them to the wire, then placing the painted membrane over that. By the way, the paint is peeling like crazy, PVC is terrific because it's so durable, but I should have called Sherwin Williams to make sure I bought a paint that would adhere. PVC can be bought in white, I'm thinking I might switch mine out for white PVC. There's also a roofing product called TPO that comes in 60 mil thickness, it can be white, and would probably work just fine. However, after some reading, I don't think it's quite as durable as PVC. Both can be bought from a roofing supply house. My impression is for a couple of hundred dollars, but it is very durable and I wouldn't be surprised if it lasted 30 years.
The roof membrane (60 mil PVC plastic sheeting used in roofing), the clear plastic roofing over the south end and perches, the roosting boards, the roll out nesting box, and all the hanging components within the tractor, the feeder, waterer, the oyster shell dispenser, and dust box.
The skids are another add on because the main 8x16 core, simply rides on top of the the skid system, which is constructed from traditional 2x8 salt treated planed down boards. The PVC 60 mil sheet plastic that wraps the bottom of the skids, is the same material used for the roof membrane, so you include the little bit of extra for it when buying the roof membrane.
The PVC sheet wrapping the bottom of the skids is very important. It's screwed down to the top of the skids. It makes pulling the tractor much easier and the rounded shape it creates, keeps the skids from digging in, and gives this tractor the ability to be pulled in any direction. The only skids are on the two long sides of the tractor, the east and west sides. The rounded shape from the PVC, means the two skids are rounded enough for the tractor to be pulled sideways, you don't need skids on the short, south and north sides.
Finally there's the anti-dig mats, cheap 50 inch wide cattle panels from Tractor Supply, with half inch hardware cloth zip tied on top of the cattle panels.
I'm working on some simple drawings to make this tractor easy for others to build. I'm no carpenter, and it was easy for me. This tractor is a prototype, there's a lot of mistakes I made, and corrected, during its construction. There's also several things I can clearly see that can be even better, and simpler, now that it's finished. I'm going to make an article and share all that, along with some drawings.
By the way, with the improved framing plan I have in mind, you're not going to need that much of the rough cut 2x6 lumber, and it's all going to be 2"x6"x16' boards. Any smaller pieces will be cut from those boards with very little waste.
Again, figuring just using 2"x6"x16 boards on the structural frame, here's what I come up with, regarding how many of these boards will be needed:
On the lower main frame:
1 - on the east side
1 - on the west side
1 - half for the south side and half for the north side
On the upper frame:
1 - for the north door frame components
1 - for the main overhead center beam
1 - half used for the south vertical post, and the other half ripped into 2x3's, and used for the sides of the south and north belt frame
1 - ripped into a 2x3's for the east and west sides of the belt frame
7 is the total and there's practically no waste.
That's a total of only seven 2"x6"x16' rough cut boards, to make the entire structural frame.
I got my scaffold bracing at Northern Tools, here's the link:
https://m.northerntool.com/products/shop~tools~product_200642984_200642984?adv=false
It's 19.99 for what they call a 4 foot by 7 foot X shaped scaffold brace. In reality each X brace has two braces, and there's 96 inches between the holes on each end of each brace, so in reality, after you split the X brace apart, you're paying $10 for each 96 inch brace. You're going to need eight of them, four on the bottom of the main frame, and four on the top of the main frame, which means you have to buy just four X brace sets.
Some might think the scaffold bracing is pricey, maybe there's a cheaper alternative, but I like them a lot for what we're using them for here.
The nice thing about scaffold bracing is it's specifically designed for what we're asking of it, staying rigid and strong, in both compression and tension. They're already the right length, and have been flattened with a perfect hole for lag bolts already there in each end.
They're also corrosion resistant, and because of the height of the skids, the bottom layer of braces is off the ground, and out of the chicken poop. They're very strong and should last a very long time.
By the way, when you install the four lag bolts on the bottom of the frame, that will attach the braces on the lower level of braces, just above the skids on either side, notch out about an inch of the 6 inch height of the main frame, on the east and west side of the lower frame where you're putting the braces and lag bolts, but only on the lower side of the frame.
You're counter sinking the lag bolt head, and half the width of the brace, as it crosses over the skid. That way, the frame will lay flush and level on top of the skid, as it sits on the skid system. I didn't do that, and I have a small hump in the frame, where the frame sits on the skid because of the lag bolt heads and the half the width of the brace.
Here's what you want:
The end holes in the braces are 96 inches apart, and those are the holes you're going to be lag bolting into the 2x6 rough cut (RC) timbers of the main frame, to strengthen it, keep it from racking, and to resist any force that would try to roll one of the frame timbers.
RC (rough cut lumber) hasn't been planed smooth, and really is 2 inches by 6 inches, unlike planed 2x6's you're used to, which are only 1.5 inches by 5.5 inches. The extra size is important because you're lag bolting into the short side, the 2 inch side, and you're going to need the full 2 inches, so the wood doesn't split, when forces try to compress, or separate the 96 inch scaffold bracing of the main frame.
When you get your four X braces, you're going to drill out the rivet that connects the two braces, giving you two 96 inch braces for each X. That drilled out hole is also where you're going to run a bolt through the 2 inch PVC pipe, that covers the all the top layer braces, the bolt keeps the PVC pipe from spinning. You wrap the PVC pipe in black Gorilla tape, otherwise it would be slippery and too cold in the winter. The chickens love to perch on these PVC pipes, it gives them a perfect view looking out through the open wire sides of the tractor.
So as you can see scaffold bracing is easy to get.
Here's the deal on 2x6 rough cut lumber. Texas like Virginia, has a huge coast. If you are building a pier in Salt water, you're allowed to buy special salt treated lumber that has 2.5 pounds of salt per cubic foot, unlike regular "ground contact" salt treated with .4 pounds per cubic foot, like to you find at Home Depot. The 2.5 pound treated lumber will never rot, unlike regular ground contact. To be clear, you're not supposed to be using 2.5 pounds of salt per cubic foot salt treated in any other application than a salt water pier, so if you happen to use it, that's up to you.
To give you some frame of reference, the rough cut 2"x6"x16 foot boards I used were $19.60 each, and weighed roughly 60 pounds each. So in round numbers the seven boards needed to build the entire structural frame of the tractor, would be about $140, and would weigh about 420 pounds. Of different suppliers have different prices, in different regions of the country.
The only other decent alternative is rough cut white (not red) oak, but exposed to the elements, it's probably got a twenty year life span.
There's only two common uses I'm aware of for this type of heavy rough cut timber, when salt treated, for piers.
Untreated rough cut white oak is commonly used to build heavy duty mats for construction, or logging sites, whenever they have to bridge over muddy ground, for heavy traffic, like equipment and tractor trailers, on job sites. The mats are something like 8x12 and are so heavy, they have to be placed using heavy equipment. So a Google search for construction ground mats might get you to someone who knows where 2x6 rough cut white oak lumber can be purchased.
A search of rough cut lumber for salt water piers would reveal marine lumber dealers in the 2.5 pound salt treated lumber.
You're not going to need a lot of the rough cut lumber, just seven 2"x6"x16' boards, because it's only used in the actual structural frame of the tractor, everything else can be the commonly available planed down ground contact salt treated, like they have at every Home Depot and Lowe's.
The caged eight foot by sixteen foot area that contains the birds is the core of this tractor, that's the part that's bullet proof and will last indefinitely.
All the other components of the tractor are add ons to this main core, and can easily be modified, added to, removed, or replaced.
Those add ons are the 1x3's zip tied over the wire, beneath the roof membrane, they give structure to the 36 inch eaves that extend out beyond both ends of the tractor. They also provide a 3/4 gap between the roof membrane and the wire of the main core. That's a very good themal break between the roof membrane and the the wire. It's crucial that the roof membrane be bright white.
My PVC is 60 mil black, it got so hot in the sun last summer, I couldn't hold my hand on it. Worse it was transferring that heat to the wire, as I wasn't using the 1x3's to separate them at that time. The inside of the tractor was an oven.
I painted the PVC membrane white and that made a huge difference, it was cool to the touch. I also added the 1x3's, by zip tying them to the wire, then placing the painted membrane over that. By the way, the paint is peeling like crazy, PVC is terrific because it's so durable, but I should have called Sherwin Williams to make sure I bought a paint that would adhere. PVC can be bought in white, I'm thinking I might switch mine out for white PVC. There's also a roofing product called TPO that comes in 60 mil thickness, it can be white, and would probably work just fine. However, after some reading, I don't think it's quite as durable as PVC. Both can be bought from a roofing supply house. My impression is for a couple of hundred dollars, but it is very durable and I wouldn't be surprised if it lasted 30 years.
The roof membrane (60 mil PVC plastic sheeting used in roofing), the clear plastic roofing over the south end and perches, the roosting boards, the roll out nesting box, and all the hanging components within the tractor, the feeder, waterer, the oyster shell dispenser, and dust box.
The skids are another add on because the main 8x16 core, simply rides on top of the the skid system, which is constructed from traditional 2x8 salt treated planed down boards. The PVC 60 mil sheet plastic that wraps the bottom of the skids, is the same material used for the roof membrane, so you include the little bit of extra for it when buying the roof membrane.
The PVC sheet wrapping the bottom of the skids is very important. It's screwed down to the top of the skids. It makes pulling the tractor much easier and the rounded shape it creates, keeps the skids from digging in, and gives this tractor the ability to be pulled in any direction. The only skids are on the two long sides of the tractor, the east and west sides. The rounded shape from the PVC, means the two skids are rounded enough for the tractor to be pulled sideways, you don't need skids on the short, south and north sides.
Finally there's the anti-dig mats, cheap 50 inch wide cattle panels from Tractor Supply, with half inch hardware cloth zip tied on top of the cattle panels.
I'm working on some simple drawings to make this tractor easy for others to build. I'm no carpenter, and it was easy for me. This tractor is a prototype, there's a lot of mistakes I made, and corrected, during its construction. There's also several things I can clearly see that can be even better, and simpler, now that it's finished. I'm going to make an article and share all that, along with some drawings.
By the way, with the improved framing plan I have in mind, you're not going to need that much of the rough cut 2x6 lumber, and it's all going to be 2"x6"x16' boards. Any smaller pieces will be cut from those boards with very little waste.
Again, figuring just using 2"x6"x16 boards on the structural frame, here's what I come up with, regarding how many of these boards will be needed:
On the lower main frame:
1 - on the east side
1 - on the west side
1 - half for the south side and half for the north side
On the upper frame:
1 - for the north door frame components
1 - for the main overhead center beam
1 - half used for the south vertical post, and the other half ripped into 2x3's, and used for the sides of the south and north belt frame
1 - ripped into a 2x3's for the east and west sides of the belt frame
7 is the total and there's practically no waste.
That's a total of only seven 2"x6"x16' rough cut boards, to make the entire structural frame.
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