analyticalblonde
Crowing
Every chicken tractor that my husband and I looked at on YouTube, various websites, and poultry supply operations were bulky, heavy, small and in my opinion, seemed kind of lacking in many ways.
We have ten girls, have no landscaping at all right now and lots of Red-Tailed Hawks that loom above just about every day...I can see a nest from my back porch! Because of this, my girls for the last 9 months have had to stay in our integrated coop and run. My heart would break because I wanted them outside more but after getting responses from BYC members that RTH will attack even if I was standing guard, my husband and I went on the hunt for a solution - a chicken tractor! At least I would be able to let my girls out to free-range on our property while providing the safety needed from the hawks.
My husband just got done making ours and I have put pictures of it for you to look over.
We made ours quite large because I have ten girls and we wanted them to have about 10 sq ft each in the tractor...it is 9 ft wide and 12 feet long...but it is lightweight because we made it with PVC pipes and wrapped the perimeter and top with standard chicken wire fastening with zip ties- not hard wire. I know I’m going to get chewed out on this point but it was a matter of keeping the tractor lite enough for me to be able to move it by myself.
My husband fashioned a handle that I can use to pull/push the tractor around and then he made tractor wheels using lumber, bolts, and 2" wide children training wheels that we got off of Amazon. They
easily slipped under the frame, they hold in place because of how my husband made them fit with the pipes while I move the tractor, then taken off so the bottom of the tractor is flush with the ground. It took him about two weekends to put together with some help from my son and me. He also made access from the top and sides with pivoting doors. He is going to make a couple of extensions next.
We have ten girls, have no landscaping at all right now and lots of Red-Tailed Hawks that loom above just about every day...I can see a nest from my back porch! Because of this, my girls for the last 9 months have had to stay in our integrated coop and run. My heart would break because I wanted them outside more but after getting responses from BYC members that RTH will attack even if I was standing guard, my husband and I went on the hunt for a solution - a chicken tractor! At least I would be able to let my girls out to free-range on our property while providing the safety needed from the hawks.
My husband just got done making ours and I have put pictures of it for you to look over.
We made ours quite large because I have ten girls and we wanted them to have about 10 sq ft each in the tractor...it is 9 ft wide and 12 feet long...but it is lightweight because we made it with PVC pipes and wrapped the perimeter and top with standard chicken wire fastening with zip ties- not hard wire. I know I’m going to get chewed out on this point but it was a matter of keeping the tractor lite enough for me to be able to move it by myself.
My husband fashioned a handle that I can use to pull/push the tractor around and then he made tractor wheels using lumber, bolts, and 2" wide children training wheels that we got off of Amazon. They
easily slipped under the frame, they hold in place because of how my husband made them fit with the pipes while I move the tractor, then taken off so the bottom of the tractor is flush with the ground. It took him about two weekends to put together with some help from my son and me. He also made access from the top and sides with pivoting doors. He is going to make a couple of extensions next.
