Tractors or Coops?

[creekrocket]

Where do yall house your meat birds? In tractors or coops? If you have pics, please post them up . Thanks

 

[fried green eggs]

This is my first time with meat chickens we just have 6. I don't have pictures to post yet but, I just got my meaties moved tonight to their new temp home/coop. The new small coop was a pallet box 3'9"x7'9"x 5'9 tall and cdx floor. Free - we had most of the materials to make a decent coop for them and I got rest of stuff needed at Habitat and Resale Store. We used extra kennel pannels to make a 8x10 run but had to buy HWC and netting for top. The floors and walls are lined with bathtub plastic sheeting from Habitat, which I caulked so coop can be power washed. We have layer chicks in a brooder so, when we process meaties they will be moved to the small coop

 

[Country Parson]

A tractor (no pic, but its a basic pvc/chicken wire hoop design). I don't want to even think about the work involved with cleaning out a coop with 7 weeks of CornishX poop! With a tractor I just move it daily (towards the end, anyway) and never have to clean anything.

 

[brandislee]

Mine are in a tractor. It's a heavy pain in the #$(#* tractor to move, the gate is a pain in the %($*% to open, and well, it's just ugly. But it works really well

I think tractors are better because they spread the poo around instead of having to clean up the massive amounts these guys put out. They're also great because they get the birds out in the fresh air and sun and encourage them to be active, but you can achieve this other ways, like keeping them with your other chickens (although then I can't imagine the mess... oh wait, yes I can!). And you can get away with more birds in the space, so you don't have to build a huge tractor to do a bunch of birds. I have 10 in mine (which is roughly 7x11), but it's big enough that I think I'm going to do 20 or 25 next time.

 

[rickerra]

I have 9 broilers in my first batch. They are currently 5.5 weeks old.
This a picture of my broiler pen I built to house them. It's only 3' x 5' so it's good for about 10 birds, but after you factor in the large gallon waterer and the feed trough... I won't do more than 8 in it next time.

These are old pics with my layers playing in the pen after I built it... now the broilers are in it.

Cheers!