Poultry Arks

[tx_dane_mom]

I am seeing that Poultry Arks are very common in Europe & I, myself, would love to have these (but wouldn't dare pay the S/H to have one brought over here) from such companies as forsham.com and lindasgrove.com My question is...do you think there is a market for these here in America? My husband does some very nice wood working, and if I could get him to go to the trouble of building me some (and buying the tools to do it) do you think others would have the interest in buying quality habitats like this for their birds, as they obviously are not cheap. I just know most people around here are so used to 'T-post' and chicken wire, it seems that Eurpeans are much more fond of making their poultry comfortable

Also, if anyone has experience with these, how practical are they for ducks in particular as far as easy to clean.
Thanks SOO much,
Kristi

 

[Dawn419]

Hi Kristi,

Arks/tractors are popular in the U.S. too. check out some of of our members' creations in Coop Designs.

We bought a Chick-N-Barn & Yard months ago and plan on building our own version as DH is a carpenter/wood worker/cabinet maker and I'm one heck of a helper. Check out our modified version of the Chick-N-Barn/Yard link in my signature.

There are people that will buy them if you build them.

Dawn

 

[Newchickenmom&kids]

Forsham has companies in USA that sell one or two of theirs. I really like ours...we just built it by looking at the pic of Forshams.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3724

 

[ukchickengirl]

Speaking from someone living in the uk i would say that we like to keep chickens but not many people can free range them

alot of people like to have say a pair of "egg layers" in the back garden, people that have seen or heard about the size of our run cant believe how big it is!!!!

i'm guessing that tractors in the us are similar to our arks??

Good luck with your business venture!

H x

 

[tx_dane_mom]

That's great guys! I am still VERY new at chickens and all I have noticed really in my area, like I mentioned, is chicken wire, PVC, and T-post. So, I will certainly have to look over the 'small' coops, as I did look over the large ones before. I have a PVC tractor I constructed/am constructing. But, I want something that will last and be dependable in a strong storm for instance.
Kristi

 

[User48]

One thing I tried that worked surprisingly well was to post an ad on Craig's List looking for a chicken coop builder to make a tractor. I have an exceptionally great tractor from Coops4you.com, but I am not in a position to keep spending 600.00 or so for the dimensions I need while also paying for postage. Tractors are ideal for me because I want to keep my silkies separated by color, but I want to keep them predator-safe & happy space wise too. My plan is to let everyone free range for a bit each day once I actually start focusing on breeding, and to confine the silkies to their various tractors while the other "colors" are out free ranging. Meanwhile, all my standards are confined to a big, traditional chicken coop & large run (though now they're still free ranging since no one's old enough to breed). Anyway, I wish Coops4you was local, as the quality surpassed my expectations & the price was reasonable given that quality. I'll likely order a smaller tractor from them again down the road. I also REALLY liked the owners which obviously makes a difference. Meanwhile, I told the chicken coop builder from Craig's List that he should feel free to use recycled materials, which he did, and that resulted in a very reasonable price. He also used hardware cloth & met all my other requirements. Once I get both tractors fully painted & "prettied up" a bit more I'll post some pics.

Laura