Chicken Tractors
… and what we have learned so far.
written by Mike
For those of you who are new to this, a “Chicken Tractor” can be any movable construction built to house and protect your livestock. The “Tractor” has no floor, allowing grazing and foraging. You will typically move it daily, refreshing the supply of grasses and insects. This is one way of raising “pastured” chickens.
There are vast amounts of information available, on how to build your chicken tractor. From the tried and true, to various inventive examples by not so experienced individuals.
For our first tractor we decided on a rectangular wood frame, for the base, and PVC hoops to support the netting. We were hoping to keep it maneuverable, yet strong, and quite predator proof. A drawback with a tractor though, having no floor, is that it will not protect against snakes, or any burrowing predators. For that we had decided on a movable coop, as well as movable electric fencing.
We built the base of 2×4 lumber, added corner bracing of left over 2×4, framed a human sized access door on one side, and a smaller gang plank hatch on the other. We were going to build a covered gang plank, allowing protected passage from the tractor to the coop. We also built a holder for a home made bucket/PVC pipe with water nipples.
For simplicity, as well as hoping to keep the weight down, we made the hoops of pre-cut 10 foot lengths of 1/2″ PVC pipe. Finally we covered with poultry netting. Later we ended up adding 10″ wheels, to make it a bit easier to move.
This tractor has proved to be quite sturdy, and mostly functional. It was easy to attach a tarp with zip ties, and it has held up very well. Water runs off by design, and shade as well as ventilation can be modified with tarp placement. The biggest draw back is the difficult access, making you stoop or even crawl on your knees, to get around inside.
For our second tractor we decided on a PVC version of the flat top tractor. The basic concept has been widely used, and we had found several very positive videos describing the various benefits. The most attractive attributes, to us, appeared to be easier access to the chicks, better maneuverability, more shade, better rain protection as well as longer lasting.
Not much of this proved to be true. Already during construction we could tell that it would end up very heavy. That the PVC piping would allow it to slide easily simply wasn’t so. For stability we had to add some vertical posts, so all in all, the tractor ended up so heavy that we needed the pick up truck to move it. But worst of all was the lack of weather protection. Attempting to keep the chicks dry in blowing rain, we added tarps over the shading corrugated metal roof. Guess what … sure enough, the rain immediately pooled, and eventually broke through the tarp. We should have seen that one coming.
Because it took the truck to move, we were very afraid of crushing any chicks straggling during the pulls. Access wasn’t that great either, the birds ran to the back, and the low profile made reaching them an acrobatic maneuver on your knees.
We will soon start building our third tractor. This will again be a rectangular wood frame base, with 1/2″ PVC hoops. However this time we will take the time and expense to have almost 6 foot tall hoops.