I considered it a few years ago. However - it sounded good, but in actual practice, it had a few drawbacks. Mainly, where I live, on the edge of a "wild life preserve" there are critters in the canyons, which can be very troublesome at times. The coyotes and raccoons love chickens. Hence it is necessary to build something fairly strong, in order to protect them. So - if strong, it usually means heavy as well, and a chicken tractor needs to be fairly mobile in order to keep its usefulness - able to be moved from one spot to another - which is easier lighter than heavier. One other item - was how to keep the hens cool during the heat of summer - this requires a shade of some sort - which also adds to the weight, which makes it heavier to move, which becomes more less likely to be accomplished as time goes on. Sooo - that being said, perhaps in some places - in some climates, with some hardy folks to do the moving - they might be well whorthwhile. Just my 2 c's. Bejay

After much deliberation and inquiry from local chicken-keepers, I decided on what I think is the best of all worlds - a movable (with tractor) wire-bottom coop, with an insulated interior area (warm in the winter, cooler in the summer), with a door at each corner for rotational grazing options, ultimately keeping the chickens ranging in a large electrified yard. We live out in the boonies, so predator protection has been our biggest concern. Who knows...I do know that too much time and thought have been put in for just 14 chickens! On the bright side, Fort Chicken was built with culled lumber from Lowes, at a very small fraction of our initial estimated cost. At that price, we can justify experimenting with different coop setups. Best of luck to everyone else starting on their own chicken adventure!

Thanks Posey I must not have copied it right the first time Good info Here is a link that might be useful: the link does work!

Red, I love Anatolian Shepards, but since I have eight dogs already, the last thing we need is another dog. (sigh) Our dogs are good guard dogs (they HATE strangers) and they are loving pets, but they can't be trusted to guard the chickens. Deer are smart and adaptable. Since last July I have trained them to travel through a specific part of the property by leaving little piles of hen scratch there. Naturally, this deer trail is as far from the garden and house as I could make it, and now I have wild turkeys coming to eat the hen scratch so that's a nice bonus. We haven't had any plants around the house nibbled by the deer this year and that's a good sign considering I have hollyhocks (a favorite of the deer here) in a flower bed that's not fenced. This is the first year in ages that the deer haven't touched the hollyhocks. However, one of my neighbors who drives by daily around sunrise says he sees our resident herd of 9 deer (4 does, 5 yearling fawns) near my garden daily although they haven't bothered any plants that stick out through the fence. If the deer breach this 7' tall fence, then we're going to add two more feet to make it 9' tall. Rabbits have never bothered the garden much although they probably could squeeze through the fencing if they want to. Last week a coyote came dashing out of the woods, ran into the open door of the chicken coop, grabbed a chicken off the nest box and took off with it, and I was right there in the garden just a few yards away. Two days later a neighbor's small dog disappeared from their yard. Sometimes, no matter what you do, the varmints win. One of our neighbors has shot 5 coyotes on his ranch in the last couple of months, but we seem to have plenty of them left here preying on our animals. Some years we don't lose but one or two birds to predators the entire year, but this year the predation has been awful. Dawn