Tractor or fence?

[Beaker99]

Hello,
I am a total newbie here. My spouse and I are in the process of selecting a mobile coop design for 8-10 standard hens. I want a tractor attached so they will be protected but still able to forage. My spouse thinks it will be too heavy to move (I'm very small) and thinks we should use some moveable fencing.
I have read loads stories of hens flying over the fence so I don't think it will work.
We have a decent sized backyard, but only three sides have a fence (we rent, so no permanent structures are permitted). What would you do?

 

[CatLoverLu]

We tried fencing in our roosters with electrical fencing, and they were able to squeeze through the small holes. Our first chicken "house" was a tractor, and it worked well because we only had six hens, and it was easy to move. We gradually got more, and had to move them to a bigger house. ( the tractor was only temporary) Hope this helps!

 

[SandyRiverChick]

This is an actual struggle, you're both right. I've never been able to get tractor's to work well, too heavy and just flat out pain in the butt. And there is always a "young," hen that will laugh at my moveable fencing. The older and heavier they get, they stop trying. I get the tallest chicken wire I can find and attach wooden stakes to it every few feet with a stapler. It rolls up nicely, rolls out, I hammer the stakes in a little to make it stand up and then drive a few metal garden fence stakes in with a hammer to help support it. They have a hard time getting over the 4 or 5 foot chicken wire.

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC. Where, in general, are you? Climate matters, especially when it comes to housing.

If you put your general location into your profile people will be able to give you better-targeted advice.

Here's some general information in re: chicken coops:

The Usual Guidelines

For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:

• 4 square feet in the coop (.37 square meters)
• 10 square feet in the run (.93 square meters),
• 1 linear foot of roost (.3 meters),
• 1/4 of a nest box,
• And 1 square foot (.09 square meters) of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.

8 hens

• 32 square feet in the coop. 4'x8' is approaching the limits for a non-walk-in coop even with the access door in the middle. 6'x6' should be walk-in because even the tallest chicken-keeper won't be able to reach the far wall.
• 8 feet of roost
• 80 square feet in the run. 8'x10' is a nice looking number but, remembering the common dimensions of lumber, a roomier 8'x12' is actually easier to build. 6'x14' looks good on paper but would require a lot of weird cuts.
• 8 square feet of ventilation.
• 2-3 nest boxes.

12 hens

• 48 square feet in the coop. 6'x8' is more practical than 4'x12' since a long, skinny coop like that would be difficult to work inside.
• 12 feet of roost
• 120 square feet in the run. 10'x12' or 8'x15' -- 8'x16' means fewer odd cuts than either of those. 6'x20' is possible, especially if your run is an open-topped, fenced area instead of fully-enclosed with a solid and/or wire roof but risks social problems because subordinate hens need to be able to pass the dominant hens at a respectful distance.
• 12 square feet of ventilation.
• 3 nest boxes.

As you can see, for the number of birds you're thinking of you're getting into the territory where a tractor is getting big and unwieldy -- though sometimes people build a mobile coop on an old trailer that can be towed by a vehicle.

I'm personally a fan of the Premier 1 electric poultry netting -- though the openings are large enough for young chicks to go through so I have to put in an inner curtain of plastic net while they're little.

Yes, they *can* fly out -- and Point-of-Lay pullets are the worst offenders -- but they usually *don't*. I clip wings on the birds who get out twice (except Chiptole, my California White who is not only capable of flying out when she wants to but who is one of the rare chickens who is smart enough to fly back IN when she wants to).

If you're set on the tractor idea, hoop coop tractors are usually the lightest as well as the easiest build.

Rules of Thumb

• If it looks like a dollhouse it's only suitable for toy chickens.
• If it's measured in inches instead of feet it's too small.
• If your walk-in closet is larger than the coop-run combo you're thinking of buying think carefully about whether you have an utterly awesome closet or are looking at a seriously undersized chicken coop.
• If it has more nestboxes than the number of chickens it can legitimately hold the designer knew nothing about chickens' actual needs and it probably has other design flaws too.