It looks nice! I few questions, since I don't have a chicken tractor myself...

When you want to move it, what do you do with the birds? Do they stand inside while you drag it or roam free for a bit? What happens if one of them gets sick or hurt and you have to remove a bird in a hurry--how do you get it out without setting the others loose? Like I said, I don't have one so I'm wondering how that works... :)

If this is the chickens' only home and not just a day spa...As to suggestions on the construction, I'd make sure that the doors and hatches can be latched shut to prevent predators such as raccoons from opening them or lifting the lid enough to slip inside. My other concern is with chicken wire--if you plan on raising chicks, they can slip right through chicken wire and so be exposed to danger. Even without chicks, chicken wire in my opinion is way too flimsy to keep predators out--big ones can tear right through it, and small creatures such as rats and mice (that carry disease) can come and go freely through the holes. Much better is hardware cloth, which is the small, tough wire with square openings--the same stuff that they use on houses over the rectangular vents on the outside at ground level. Lastly you need to make sure that nothing can dig UNDER the edge of the tractor.

How is water provided? Do they have adequate protection from wind and rain? Are they absolutely secure at night? You are planning on feeding them chicken food too, right? See, I warned ya, lots of questions...*L*

Lovely tractor and VERY pretty little hens! Have fun with them and enjoy! :)

Velvet ~:>

Good point about the chicken wire, Velvet. I just found out that even hardware cloth has its limitations. We used it on the bottom of a rabbit nest box and when we removed it, after six weeks use, there was a hole in the hardware cloth about two inches in diameter... from the doe's scratching or chewing, we assume. Certainly no predators have had access to the cages.

When I move it, all the hens will be shooed behind the drop down door, which is a bit longer than the structure itself, and it will drag on the ground, only allowing the hens a few inches on any side to even comtemplate escape.

This is a full time home.

I have no intentions of raising chicks, I will have to order straight runs and butcher soon, or just deal with what I get. I live right in the midst of a large metropolitan area. There is some questionability of my 'right' to have chickens, but as I have only hens, they're pretty quite partiers.

We don't have racoons, only possums and skunks. The skunks could prove to be a problem, but we seem to not have a large population living in the sewers right where we are. Don't know enough about foxes to speculate so far.

If we had used hardware cloth, I would have a tough time moving it on my own.

My biggest reason for chickens is for a natural insect control. I try to garden as 'green' as I can. I show and exhibit plants every year, and would like to leave as small a foot print on my ground as possible.

Since I started my compost heap, I have an extraordinary amount of pincher bugs, slugs, snails, and 'c' grubs, that grow up to be Emerald Jewel Beatles, also known as June bugs where I'm from. There are hundreds of sow bugs, and 'sow bug' spiders, also known as wood lice spiders. I am just looking for a way to keep some of that population down, without drenching the whole lot in killing chemicals.

The girls really LIKE 'c' grubs, so far.

They have free standing water and food within the hatch that runs across the end. Right now, they are getting plain scratch. I will collect eggs if I get them, but am not sure there is a need for lay mash. They also get kitchen scraps, leftovers and food prep.

Thanks for running the questions by, other viewpoints ALWAYs help!

I forgot to add, if you click on my 'My Page' link, there is tons of chicken info there that might help you... :)

I'd only add that to make sure that the chickens can't get their legs caught and broken as you drag the tractor, because if it is possible for a chicken to get injured on something, somehow it will find a way. :)

I can't encourage you enough to change the chicken wire over to hardware cloth! It's more expensive and a hassle, but I'm trying to save you heartache later on.

The weight difference between hardware cloth and chicken wire is negligible, and if the issue is the lack of handholds, bolt on a couple of metal handles to the frame. Chicken wire is made to keep chickens out of gardens, NOT for creating a secure pen for your birds. It's only a matter of time before something comes in the night and devastates your flock if you use chicken wire. I've seen more heartbreaking stories here and elsewhere than I can count--ravaged pens, dead and dying birds, horribly mutilated birds that die slowly and in great pain, all with the owners saying, "I should have known..." Also, predators such as raccoons, possums and skunks are FAMOUS for simply reaching through the wire at night, grabbing a chicken with one paw and eating it by the handful with the other, usually it's the backs of the chickens they eat, then they leave and the bird dies slowly afterwards. If you search here on the forum you'll see many instances of strange predator attacks where the flock owners never heard a thing.

My chickens go mad for the June Bug grubs, too...we had loads of fruit trees around here so the pesky things are plentiful. :) I also live in the city suburbs and people are always surprised that we have chickens. I think every home should have a few hens and a garden, though! :)

Velvet ~:>

Grass and weeds are great treats but you will need to purchase layer pellets or layer mash.
Those are light brahmas? They lay beautiful eggs for years, to me they have been the most gentle hens yet.

Can't agree more with Velvet! Chicken wire is much too flimsy to protect chickens from predators.

And, do be extremely careful in moving the "tractor"...we have moved ours any number of times but one day one of our little hens stayed too close to the end and we caught her leg in it. She was limping badly, then simply sitting...
I was just sick! Took her out of the "tractor" and gave her serious TLC in a box, alone in our utility room. Finally, we put her back with the group but inside a small cage within the tractor. Then we opened the door to her private little cage and allowed her to chose the time to rejoin her mates. It tooks a week or more after we left the door open for her to feel confident enough to come out.....a long process but she is as good as new now!

Good luck with your pretty girls!

Judy

i've had no problem with chicken wire protecting my chickens.
you guys must have some very desperate predators.

We use the 1/2 x 1/2 hardwire cloth stapled to our entry door to the coop. Nothing's breached it yet.

Neat pictures. This may be a good winter project for the chickens summer use. Thanks for posting!

Thanks for the repeat warnings. Since I am about five miles from the beach in LARGE city, I know that no racoons live here. Took nearly 23 years living here to even see one (I thought they were myths like Marmosets and whistle pigs! until I saw one nearly 45 miles from here) but you are right about the skunks and possums. The nest boxes are enclosed, and boarded off from access. Hopefully that will prevent the through-the-wire-buffet. The skunks get lots of meals that way here from the Wildlife Rescue folks who cage possums. Especially in 'hatch' season.

I have changed the way I move the chickens. They react better if they can see where we are going, and herd pretty well. If I dropped the other end on one of them, it would be 'chicken tonight'.

Although, The Gentleman Farmer (my mother) has actually cast a chickens broken leg and done well. The blind-from-birth bird never did well after hand feeding quit and was put in the yard, but she is determined to disprove that eat-by-sight theory and prove that their nostrils work too! I'm NOT that type of chicken farmer.

I don't get MM catalogs any more. Is there a site online where I can go look at photos, or something to determine the breeds of my girls? I am totally clueless, and had not even a hint that they could be light brahmas.

I did buy lay mash and oyster shell this week. Still no eggs, and they have (like true connoisseurs) spurned my avocado pit fake eggs. I am hoping its the weather.

The white girls have little to non existant combs, not sure how I'm supposed to tell if they are coloring up??? They have a teeny 'ruff' that doesn't even extend to their eyes, let alone past thier ears!

Cena, I used to have hens who had a view of San Diego Bay from Point Loma (okay, they probably wouldn't have been able to see it unless I grabbed one and tossed her up in the air, but it was there). They were visited on a regular basis by raccoons, coyotes, a fox (I only saw him once), and a hawk. If you have hens, you will quickly learn that a lot of predators live in the city. My chicken pen was made from two layers of poultry fencing held in place by lath and it withstood assault from all of the above plus an excited standard poodle puppy.

We don't have the canyons down here in South Bay that Point Loma has. We do have acres of skunks (which I think would be enough right there!) and foxes. I am waiting for the fox to visit. Husband says to use weights on the nest boxes as they have handles and he is confidant that a predator will have no trouble opening them right up.

I may just roll another layer of CW out, and staple it down.

Hi Cena, It seems we have at least 2 things in common that we like - Sansevierias and chickens.. Hah!

OK, here's the deal. I used to have a chickin tractor. The thing I didn't like about it was that part of the tractor was out in the open allowing rainfall to enter the cage area. Ever been around chicken poop and rainfall? You won't like it. Also, chicken poop is serious poop! It will burn your grass in a few heartbeats leaving these weird looking, dead, brown squares on your lawn when you move it. Before you know it, your chickies will have eaten every blade of green grass and what they can't get to will soon be brown, and dead, and then muddy when it rains. I did not like the idea of my chickens scratching on the poultry wire - hard on their little footies. At best, I can say - remember the old TV show 'Rawhide' with Clint Eastwood? Their theme song was: "movin', movin', movin'...keep them doggies movin'....". Well my advice to you is to keep that tractor movin' !

A 50 lb. raccoon is a seriously strong animal. Determined, it will tear your poultry wire even if it has to chew the wire to break it. You need to reinforce it with hardware cloth. Poultry wire will rust and get weaker and weaker over the years anyway.

The chickens will constantly foul the water and food unless you get it off the ground. Table scraps will soon begin to attract wild critters like skunks and possums and coons. Neighbors will begin not to speak to you anymore if a skunk 'goes off' one night!

Sorry to be the bearer of this experience, but it is my experience with chicken tractors.
Mike

Thanks, Mike. Tell Dale I said Hi!

The tractor is open to ground on the bottom. The condition of my backyard is such that there is Not Much Grass anywhere. I don't think a few brown patches will matter.

My mom runs a chicken ranch, with about 200 birds loose in the barn yard. One of the biggest reasons that my chickens stay confined! I already got a boot scraper.

I rake a day after the tractor has moved, and I have been running a pretty big compost heap since we moved in. I also use pine shavings and cover any 'deposites', whether in the nest box, or on the ground. When I rake, I'm pretty vigorous at removing 'deposites'.

I do have a few revisions to do. I gave them a dowl, not realizing that their feet don't grasp and that they would be much happier with a 2x2 for a roost. We are fixing that in the coming days.

Where I am, it doesn't rain. We get MAYBE 10 inches a year if we hold our mouth right...

Since I only have a handful of chickens, I don't feed large amounts of table scrapes, I'm figuring out what they will and will not eat. At first I only give a nibble. If two are interested, they might get a half cup of whatever. If all five come out and fight, they might get a cup. This ensures that by nightfall, most all of it is gone.

I have found that my regs limit me to 12 hens, (TWELVE!) and I can get four turkey hens or geese or 12 rabbits on top of that!!! I won't get rabbits as I am highly allergic. But I was pretty impressed I can have 7 more girls!

I'm not cultivating grass in my back yard. For the most part, if it wouldn't be totally a muddy mess for 2 months and a dust bowl the rest of the time, I would strip it down to dirt. More room for Sans, Brugs, and tomatos!!!

Thanks Mike.

From experience - (I live 5 blocks from the ocean north of you, and my back yard borders on a canyon.

I have 2 hens (city says 10 OK), but last year a coon broke through the chicken wire - and finished the last two. That convinced me that chicken wire - even in the city - is not strong enough. Also, the canyon supports a band of (5) coyotes that also visit the streets in the summer - getting bolder about searching for cats and/or ?

I would definitely reinforce the chicken tractor with galvanized hardware cloth -

I won't even leave the plywood door open now - even though the door behind is made like a dog kennel, but has openings big enough for a coon to stick his foot in.

The nightlife here is very extensive, as evidenced by a lot of tracks that are everywhere - the skunks - of course - come to dig in the compost or even my raised beds unless I put PVC cages on top.

My hens are about 2 years old now - only one is laying presently, as the other just finished moulting. We get enough eggs for our small family anyway, and even some that I freeze on occasion. Just great having fresh eggs, and the fertilizer has done wonders for my veggie garden. You should see the size of the cabbage I just picked. It will be sauerkraut very shortly.

Enjoy!

Bejay