Chicken tractor... In process

[thejonesboy]

You could fill the lower part of the frame with sand to give it more weight.

[Robbie]

Good idea JB!

[SandyM]

QR_BBPOST I'm ripping off this idea for my tractor coops, but I plan on changing a few things. I'll have a solid coop in there and a different access hatch but I like the basic plan.
http://www.grit.com/farm-and-garden/do- ... actor.aspx

What's a tractor coop? Coop and pen on wheels?

[goatgal35]

We picked up a 10x10x6 dog kennel off of kijiji yesterday. Hubby is mounting wheels on the bottom so I can roll it around the yard. He wants to suspend a small coop inside the pen. Has anyone already done this? If you have we'd love to hear what you did. No point in reinventing the wheel if somebody else has already done it first :)

[Robbie]

QR_BBPOST

QR_BBPOST I'm ripping off this idea for my tractor coops, but I plan on changing a few things. I'll have a solid coop in there and a different access hatch but I like the basic plan.
http://www.grit.com/farm-and-garden/do- ... actor.aspx

What's a tractor coop? Coop and pen on wheels?

It's a movable pen, sometimes with a coop attached. The idea is that you can move the pen around so the chickens get fresh grass and don't trash their pen, turning it into bare dirt, which they inevitably will with a fixed pen.

[TomK]

Robbie....so true..took them all of a day to turn it into bare dirt here..lol

[Flat Rock Farm]

Good luck on the tractor build Patricia, look forward to seeing it's progression.

BTW on those adorable chicks

[SandyM]

QR_BBPOST

QR_BBPOST

QR_BBPOST I'm ripping off this idea for my tractor coops, but I plan on changing a few things. I'll have a solid coop in there and a different access hatch but I like the basic plan.
http://www.grit.com/farm-and-garden/do- ... actor.aspx

What's a tractor coop? Coop and pen on wheels?

Yes, which is what my own is and that's chickens who don't even stay in the pen. It's dirt!! Summer project is to do stones and this way it will cut down on the mud. Not that it matters because they are up tail feathers in the swamp out back daily. 2 girls I had to hose down yesterday. I swore they thought they were at the spa. Having a swampy property is great for amphibians and ducks, but for some reason these chickens think they're ducks!! Stones in pen. Perhaps pointless for mud control, but will have better drainage regardless.

In the tractors how do they lay eggs? You have to have portable nesting boxes too I suppose.

It's a movable pen, sometimes with a coop attached. The idea is that you can move the pen around so the chickens get fresh grass and don't trash their pen, turning it into bare dirt, which they inevitably will with a fixed pen.

[Robbie]

QR_BBPOST

QR_BBPOST

QR_BBPOST

What's a tractor coop? Coop and pen on wheels?

Yes, which is what my own is and that's chickens who don't even stay in the pen. It's dirt!! Summer project is to do stones and this way it will cut down on the mud. Not that it matters because they are up tail feathers in the swamp out back daily. 2 girls I had to hose down yesterday. I swore they thought they were at the spa. Having a swampy property is great for amphibians and ducks, but for some reason these chickens think they're ducks!! Stones in pen. Perhaps pointless for mud control, but will have better drainage regardless.

In the tractors how do they lay eggs? You have to have portable nesting boxes too I suppose.

It's a movable pen, sometimes with a coop attached. The idea is that you can move the pen around so the chickens get fresh grass and don't trash their pen, turning it into bare dirt, which they inevitably will with a fixed pen.

For layers, you'd have to have nesting boxes. It makes it easier if the nesting boxes can be accessed from the outside . It also helps to have every feeder, waterer, dust bath, etc. off the ground and/or attached to the tractor wall, so that everything moves together when you move the tractor.

[SandyM]

Just build a coop and open the door. Sounds like a massive 'facility' to accommodate all that.