Hello I have ordered 40 chicks with the plan on rotating my flock come late September. I have a permanenet coop and enclosed run for about 40 birds today and need to build a tractor to keep the chicks in once they move out of my work shop. I was thinking about 12 x 8 would be enough to get them thru until they can move into the permanent home, any thoughts? Kevin
40 chickens in a 12x8 tractor is 2.4 square feet per chicken. TOTAL. If they arrive to you in 3 weeks, they will be half-grown in six weeks and virtually full-sized starting sometime in August. I would sure not even consider doing it myself. If you're going to try it, I 'hope' you are ordering debeaked layers or something, or you are likely to have giant problems with cannibalism. Also they will make a terrible mess even if you move the tractor a couple times a day. Just sayin', but good luck and have fun, Pat
That's an awful lot of birds to keep in any sort of tractor for as long as you're talking about unless it's on wheels or being moved with a tractor or some such that would allow you to make it larger. By the time they come out of the brooder they're going to need about two square feet per bird. That's to start, but to keep them in there until they are ready to move into your coop in September they're going to need at least three square feet per and more likely four to five depending on how well they tolerate confinement. You can ameliorate this somewhat with frequent tractor moves to keep them busy with fresh pasture, but towards the end it'll mean moving at least twice a day. A tractor the size you're proposing will work OK for the first month, maybe two, but you're going to need more space pretty soon after that.
Thanks for the feedback. I will have to rethink my plan. I can always add a second tractor half way thru to increase their space or use some movable fencing during the day to increase their overall space. I want to ensure they are happy and healthy birds and will do what ever ot takes.
