Best sized chicken tractor for 7 hens?

[KikiDeAnime]

Note: I'm not good with sq ft, just say ft when telling me size otherwise I'll be clueless.

As soon as we're able to move, I plan on moving the chickens around in a chicken tractor with hardware cloth , a tarp, and netting during the day to get them use to the land before they can start free ranging. And don't worry, our 9 yr old male GS will be "guarding" them during free ranging. He won't actually be acting like a guard dog but he doesn't bother them when they're out so I'm able to leave him alone with them.

I need to know what's the best sized chicken tractor for 7 hens

 

[sourland]

My gut instinct is that an absolute minimum would be 4' X 8' and that it would have to be moved at least every other day so would need to be mobile.

 

[KikiDeAnime]

My gut instinct is that an absolute minimum would be 4' X 8' and that it would have to be moved at least every other day so would need to be mobile.

It will be mobile, that's the point

 

[NatJ]

My gut instinct is that an absolute minimum would be 4' X 8' and that it would have to be moved at least every other day so would need to be mobile.

Yes, 4 by 8 feet would be a good minimum for 7 hens.
5 by 7 feet or 6 by 6 feet should also be fine. They have slightly larger area, but the dimensions are usually less convenient to build.

Note: I'm not good with sq ft, just say ft when telling me size otherwise I'll be clueless.

I started with square feet, then converted it to dimensions in whole-foot increments that are large enough.

In anyone wants the background numbers:
All of these are based on needing 4 square feet of ground space per hen, so 7 hens need 28 square feet plus space.
Acceptable: 4x8=32, 5x7=35, 6x6=36, maybe 5x6=30
Not quite: 4x7=28, which would be just barely big enough except that the feeder and waterer will take up some amount of space, so what's left isn't enough.

 

[KikiDeAnime]

Okay, I'll go with 4x8

 

[McChooky]

To best determine the size you must also consider the materials its going to be made of. I've yet to see the 1st chicken tractor made out of pallets and I suspect I won't.

 

[NatJ]

I plan on moving the chickens around in a chicken tractor... to get them use to the land before they can start free ranging.

Depending on the details of your new setup, you might be able to just skip the chicken tractor, if you want to.

Are the chickens going to sleep in a stationary chicken coop for the night? If it has a run attached, you can just allow them access to the run for the first week or two, then let them out.

They learn the closest land by looking through the sides of the run, and once they are outside they wander around and learn the rest of it.

 

[KikiDeAnime]

Depending on the details of your new setup, you might be able to just skip the chicken tractor, if you want to.

Are the chickens going to sleep in a stationary chicken coop for the night? If it has a run attached, you can just allow them access to the run for the first week or two, then let them out.

They learn the closest land by looking through the sides of the run, and once they are outside they wander around and learn the rest of it.

So looks like we're not getting that house with the chicken coop.
One thing I did notice about the run attached, is it was just a chain link fence so it would need hardware cloth around and underneath with netting over top. Plus, the run was too small anyway for our flock of 7.
There was a lot of work needed to be done on both the coop and run to make it completely secure.

I'll come back to this once we're sure that we're going to move so that I can go over it again