I can't believe how many are still asking about this! The OP posted this in 2007: "Posted by dannic_az z7AZ (My Page) on Tue, Jul 3, 07 at 0:28 Sorry folks, the chicken tractor plan is no longer available."

Hi all, I've been fussing a bit with a chicken tractor design. The housing part is built on a garden cart frame I got from the dump. It's all scrap wood. The run is made of three hog panels with a couple wood frames to keep it standing. The top couple rows of the hog panels are a bit large, and I might run some wire through them to make the openings smaller. Until then, it will stay close to the house, or within a larger/safe fenced in garden area. Because everything is made of scrap wood, I'm having some warping, but maybe it's fine for chickens. Inside, the middle is open and there's a fairly large nest on one end. The top lifts up on both ends. On the nest end, for egg retrieval. On the other end, it's a totally enclosed box, suitable for transporting chickens without them escaping. Only one side of the run is attached, so I can fold it down and climb inside to catch chickens, if necessary. Chickens can hang out in the shade underneath the housing. I also put a roost in the run since these photos were shot. I'm still tweaking it. The run is pretty heavy, but I have some ideas for making it more mobile. (I found a baby jogger at the dump too....) Again, it's all scrap and reused stuff I've had around. So far, it's cost me about $3 in new nuts and bolts. The chickens return to the barn at the end of the day. I'm planning on having three chickens driving this tractor. For anyone new to chicken tractors, the idea is that it gets moved every couple days in order to give the chickens fresh grazing area and to help fertilize/eat bugs and seeds/otherwise prepare new areas. The run is 34.5 inches high and wide, and I think 12 (maybe 16?) feet long. The housing is 32 inches wide and I believe 44 inches long. The nest is 12 inches deep by the full 32 inches wide. Looking forward to other people's designs and insights, --Jonathan

My son has chickens, 16 I believe, he has lost a few to predators, they are out of their pen during the day, but the other day he lost the pretty rooster, golden polish, he had won in a pet contest and blue ribbon at the fair. The neighbors dogs escaped their pen and they were awakened by the indoor dog barking his head off, this was 6 a.m. dog inside the pen, it was covered in that chicken mesh stuff, now covered in the heavier wire. He has cochins, a blue silkie (rooster), domineckers, white crested polish, two kinds that came from rural King that I don't know what they are, but they keep to themselves, I would get chickens too, but we have alot of dogs going through as well as all the other varmits..hope you enjoy yours as much as we have theirs.

cora: I don't know how much land you have--but it certainly makes a difference, in the scheme of things. From my point of view, chicken (or hen) pasturing makes more sense on a large farm, where there are diverse fields and pastures. I can also envision, on a small farm of 10 acres, or less, there would be much less desirability for chicken pasturing, as a flock of poultry would pretty much cover that much area on a daily basis, while housed in a permanently located poultry house (and allowed to free-range, daily). On our family farm, there was a poultry house enclosed in a fenced poultry yard, of about 1/4 acre. The fence was 6' chicken wire; and, although I've seen a hen or two fly the fence, it was rare. We had heavy-bodied hens such as Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks, and White Rocks, which are not such notorious flyers as smaller types, such as Leghorns. These heavy bodied varieties were dual egg/meat producers--eggs were gathered daily, and when hens didn't lay, or only laid sporadically (generally, as they got older), they were eaten. On a family farm, a flock of 100 laying hens was commonplace; and eggs were collected, kept in a cool basement location, and taken each Saturday to town where they were sold. (At the time, there was a buyer in town who graded and bought eggs from local producers--which included nearly everyone who had a family farm). At night, when the hens went to roost (on roost poles in the henhouse), the hen house door was shut and latched, and, of course the henyard gate was shut and latched, also. In the early morning, the henhouse door was opened (by my father, on his way to milking the cow(s), but the henyard gate kept closed). After lunch ("dinner", in the country), my mother would give the hens water and feed (from grain produced on the farm), filling two buckets from a large box inside the "gear house"--also strategically located, opposite the hen yard. The hens would all come running as she approached the gate to the henyard--then she broadcast the feed on the ground, and while the hens ate, she filled the waterers and collected the eggs from the nests in the henhouse. On her way out, she propped the gate open. When the hens finished the grain, they rushed out the open gate, and spent the rest of the day OUTSIDE, eating berries, seeds, insects, larvae, etc. I would say they easily covered 10 acres in their daily roamings. They seemed to have the good sense to stay away from the woods--where hidden danger could easily lurk; but they foraged in the orchard, the hayfields, around the yard and woodshed (and woodlot), and all about a very large area (surrounding the henyard). Toward dusk, they meandered their way back to the henyard, into the henhouse, and up on the roost. Then, right before dark, the henhouse door was again closed and latched; likewise, the henyard gate. These were truly "free-range" hens--and the taste of their eggs and their meat duly reflected it--the best eggs and chicken I've ever eaten in my life. The presence of people and a free-roaming dog about the farm was enough deterrent to keep predators away. I don't ever recall a problem of hens being caught by ground-dwelling or airborne predators, in the daytime; and believe me, these predators abounded, as it was a very rural area. Hawks were commonplace, but I doubt there are very many hawks that cosider an 8-10 pound hen, likely prey. It would almost take an Eagle to deal with a bird that large (and we had no Eagles). I think the activity of people and animals about the farm was deterrent enough, against daytime predators. I think it should be in your case, also, for grown hens. If you were to raise hens from baby chicks, they, of course, would have to be kept under watchful eye (and in the confines of the henyard) until grown, when they could fend for themselves. Of course, all of the ground-dwelling predators I mentioned are nocturnal--so a secure henyard and henhouse is important to keep such predators at bay while you (and the dogs) sleep.