Comments on: The chicken tractor

By: del bouton

del bouton — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 01:41:51 +0000

does any one have ideas about how to build a chicken door the one on sliders and raised with wire or whatever ? Del

By: Spring Chickens « The Ward Family

Spring Chickens « The Ward Family — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 01:05:32 +0000

[...] I built a chicken tractor based on a description from a blog that Jen reads (the original post is here). I still have to add wheels, but everything else is finished. Here are a couple of pics: The [...]

By: El

El — Sat, 01 May 2010 00:53:01 +0000

Thank you! Great idea. We are on Kauai so most likely will use PVC for the bottom frame also, related to moisture. My sustainability instructor recently told me that increased protein boasts egg production and prolongs life of laying. Aloha from Kauai!

By: mparker

mparker — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:19:22 +0000

Hey from a fellow chicken fan – I look forward to more.

By: Build a PVC Chicken Tractor | Chicken Coop Plans

Build a PVC Chicken Tractor | Chicken Coop Plans — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:14:46 +0000

[...] Fast Grow the Weeds: There are no instructions or material lists here, but the pic of El’s chicken tractor (and her egg laying girls) just might provide some needed inspiration. [...]

By: El

El — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:38:20 +0000

Thanks, Sylvie! Actually this chicken tractor was for our meat birds. I ended up raising only one batch in it; the 2nd batch got to live with my other chickens. I really just couldn’t get around the idea that confinement is confinement, no matter how often I moved the darned thing. So I am not quite sure what its future is here, if it becomes a garden structure or what. It could be a goose or turkey brooding area if I am lucky! But yes it’s fairly low; you do have to squat to get in it but our 4 year old could get in there just fine. I only needed to get in there to get a bird out to, uh, butcher it so it wasn’t a hardship for Me. Our egg girls though all live in a big coop.

By: Sylvie, Rappahannock Cook & Kitchen Gardener

Sylvie, Rappahannock Cook & Kitchen Gardener — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 14:59:37 +0000

El – I love this. We have all the pieces (or similar) already. Was it tall enough for you to go in and collect the eggs?

and you are not overwintering your chickens, are you?

Thank you for sharing. I love what you write and HOW you write it.

Best

Sylvie

By: El

El — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:24:55 +0000

Hi Seagrass: congrats on your coop! Nah, this tractor is just what it sounds like: a movable coop. They’ll spend the rest of their short lives in here, and we will move the coop once or twice a day to give them fresh grass to eat, lie down on, and poop upon. I am glad you’re getting your mom in on the chicken action too. Everyone, in my humble opinion, would benefit with a chicken or two around. But yes, this coop was all new materials; we’re pretty good at recycling our farm junque and didn’t have any to spare for the new tractor!

Liz, thanks. I swear a couple of our birds are near that size now. I think they’re five weeks but I would need to check. Sigh, This will be a bunch of no-fun days for me, chicken butchering. I know you split the chore with some of your friends: lucky. Nobody is stepping forward, though I might have to institute a draft and MAKE people help.

By: Liz

Liz — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:24:03 +0000

We did 8 weeks. We could have let them go longer, but they dressed out between 4 1/2 – 5 lb and that’s plenty for us!

By: seagrass

seagrass — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:23:36 +0000

we just made our coop for our chickens that we got this past weekend and now we are going to build a little corral to keep them in when we clean out the coop. is this what you call a tractor? i like your design, by the way. we are going to use a mashup of different ideas, too. next we are building a coop for my mom, improving on what we learned with the first one. it cost us about $150 to build. we want to try using scrap materials and see how cheap and practical we can make the next one! i think my chickens are cute, too.

By: El

El — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:41:09 +0000

Liz! WOot on the plucking! (I love all this advice I am getting.) No bears here (amen) but we’ve been known to have a puma in the area…it killed a horse a couple of years back. Oh and coyotes. They’re really shy, though. SO: how long before yours went into the freezer? 8 weeks, more, less?

By: Liz

Liz — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:18:24 +0000

Snazzy chicken house, El! (and so big! Mine is only 4×8′ for 12 birds.) I’m going to hope you don’t have bears in your neighborhood. Jamie (10signslikethis) had a tractor very much like yours that was obliterated by an area bear. It ripped open the chicken wire like it was spaghetti. Scary!

You mentioned in your last post about their chests not being feathered out “yet”. Based on our experience, I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for more feathers… That’s part of the appeal of meat blob chickens: less feathers to pluck!

By: El

El — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:07:25 +0000

Kelly, would it just be a day tractor? I’d think with your three girls you could make it 8′ long or so. You could always join two PVC conduits together to make a higher arch: the conduit typically has one belled end and one straight end for that reason. So…if it were a day tractor you might not need a perch, but if it were for night you would need to put one in there. Somehow.

By: Kelly (fhf)

Kelly (fhf) — Mon, 12 May 2008 00:57:08 +0000

I’m loving it! Meg and I are trying to find the time to make a tractor for our girls. Our main concern is weight. We want it to be structurally sound, but we don’t want it to be a struggle to move. Thanks for the design idea.