Anyone have success with chicken tractors? I am looking to raise some meat chickens or chicks and more importantly fertilize the soil. Ultimately, I'd like to have 5 to 10 tractors with 25-50 chickens in each. Leaning towards using 3" PVC at 10' x12' with corrugated metal roofing.

Any suggestions on materials to use PVC vs Wood? New or reclaimed materials? Ideal weight, what is too heavy what is to light (especially with high winds)?

Does anyone have any success stories or disasters? Just trying to learn before I build a few.

I'm glad you posted this- I was thinking of posting this yesterday but asking if anyone makes and sells them .

PVC in direct sunlight like that would be bad. UV light makes it weak/brittle.

Good point. What about a coat of paint? Help much or is it just a bad idea altogether?

Most of the ones I've seen are made out of wood. The ones that aren't are small hoop houses on wheels made out of metal conduit.

The most popular design would be one used by Joel Salatin. Just search for "Joel Salatin chicken tractor" to find plans.

you can probably get chicken manure for free. skip raising the chickens.

I designed my coup as a tractor. But I stopped using it as a tractor as I realized it would lead to nothing but the destruction of my entire lawn. Because the chickens will destroy all grass within a week. Maybe that's fine in our setup. But generally speaking manure needs time to become fertilizer, otherwise it is "too hot" for plants. It's a pain to move the tractor. You may find predators getting underneath. So you want meat? Forget the tractors, unless you have a ton of spare time and love moving them. I wouldn't do this in a million years.

Looking at that design recalls in my mind how many chicken snakes I killed in a regular coop.

How much property are you talking about? Because that's a lot of chickens. Don't discount the associated work with them either.

We started with a cheap tractor, then built a sturdier one. Neither worked well. Ultimately, my wife built an elevated coop (about 8 to 12 inches off the ground), which we then fenced. We've got 17 hens, and a rooster that was supposed to be a hen. Whatever you opt to do, go into it knowing you'll attract raccoons (a live trap is something you'll want to have as well).

As someone said, chickens will definitely destroy the ground they're on...so make sure it's located in an area where you're OK looking at bare soil.

Apparently I need to get out more, I had no idea this was a thing.

How has this not been marketed to the free range goat yoga crowd?

10acs w plenty of room to move them around.

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Because the chickens will destroy all grass within a week. Maybe that's fine in our setup. But generally speaking manure needs time to become fertilizer, otherwise it is "too hot" for plants. It's a pain to move the tractor. You may find predators getting underneath. So you want meat? Forget the tractors, unless you have a ton of spare time and love moving them. I wouldn't do this in a million years

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Mostly looking for weed control and fertilizer for some sort of crops down the line. My soil chemistry is trash right now.

Putting chickens on a piece of ground to improve it is like having a baby to save a failing relationship.

If you leave them too long they will damage the grass. Frequent moves will improve the soil and grass.

I would be careful with metal roofs, especially on a low tractor. It will become an oven in the summer.

If you want them to fertilize and help with weeds having them free range will work better than tractor. I built a permanent coop for mine and then just leave the door open and let them roam the yard every once in awhile. If you leave the tractor in one place for a few days everything will be gone and the dirt will be poor for awhile.

bbry81 said:

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If you want them to fertilize and help with weeds having them free range will work better than tractor. I built a permanent coop for mine and then just leave the door open and let them roam the yard every once in awhile. If you leave the tractor in one place for a few days everything will be gone and the dirt will be poor for awhile.

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And if your chicken comes in my yard, my 13 yr old Elite level pitcher will hurl his empty Gatorade bottle in it's direction. Just like my neighbors, I thought it would be a joke, with an empty Gatorade bottle and all, but it turns out he can hit his spots with one of those too. Makes a hell of a commotion with the squawking and feathers and all, but if those chickens ain't pooping in my garden area, they can get the hell off my lawn.

/speaking from my Gran Torino

surely someone has designed one of these with an electric motor and timer.

I disagree about the ground and grass comments, first off the tractor is supposed to be moved every 2-4 days not left till the ground is bare.. I have a small one- 6x10 ( I am on my 2nd batch of birds) and the grass recovers quickly,has less weeds and is dark green within 7-10 days of moving the birds. I'll try to load some pics and you will be able to see the last 3 places the tractor was and the 3 different stages of recovery since the spots are side by side. On another note it is way cheaper to buy chickens at the grocery store. I kept track of my feed cost, even did some of the fermented feed to go farther. It takes some time(about 3 hrs. from start to ziplock bags) to butcher and package to freeze 20 birds. My birds were the dual purpose buff orpingtons because the eggs I incubated were free and I kept some of the pullets for layers . At 9 weeks I averaged a 2.5 lb carcass. the meat was tender and all but so is the meat from kroger. this second batch I am doing will be processed at 12 weeks of age and I will sell the pullets instead of butchering(a better return). The only positive is I know how they were raised other wise I would have had to charge $10 a lb for the finished product but these were for just my freezer. I someone really wanted to do this and didn't have access to the free eggs I would recommend buying the cornish X meat chicks, the breast size on my birds left alot to be desired.

My tractor is similar to the one's called Hoop Coops- a wooden sq. frame and the PVC arched over it going to the sides covered in the plastic deer netting and metal poultry wire along with a section of the black mesh fabric for shade used for sun block or backstops. It was made for short term use but is working fine. you might want to make a cheap 1 first to see if you really want to fool with this idea.

First thought in this thread was "chicken tractor, what the heck?"

Thread delivers.

Has got to be one of the more unusual things I've seen. Who knew it was a thing.

Chicken truck chicken truck
behind it I'm stuck
Chicken truck chicken truck
it's just my luck
chicken truck on Highway 65

Well the hens are a squawkin' and the roosters are a crowin'
Slowin' me down when I need to get goin'
chicken truck on Highway 65

This times eleventy-billion.

That is too cool! Would love to have one except for a couple of problems....

There's no such thing as level land in East Tennessee. OK, that's not entirely true....but it appears that works best on flat land (our pasture is rolling).

Wish I had more land. I think our horses would have a problem sharing their home with some chickens.

Wonder is those were Bernese Mountain dogs? Next door neighbor swears by them. He's got quite a few chickens and a handful of goats. He has two Bernese Mountain dogs that protect his livestock...and in spite of their size, they are really neat dogs.

Do these setups work well for fighting roosters? Asking for a friend.

Check out a guy named John Suscovich on Youtube. We are in the process of building two tractors to split up a 30 bird flock. We are using his design specifically to see how it goes but then may modify based on our situation.

We are on 22 acres near BCS and wanting to fertilize/weed our grass, and provide meat. If you need lots of resources, we have found much in his videos and his website.

If you can manage to move the birds every morning, the scalding isn't bad and the grass recovers very quickly.

We are at 20 laying hens in a different style of tractor. The coop is stationary but the fence can be rotated around with little effort. The hens are in about 300-400 sqft of ranging. They stay in that area for a few months requiring us to move the fence only 3-4 times per year. It is working out very well and the hens don't have to worry about laying in a different spot, their coop is always where it is.

If you're close to the BCS area maybe we can meet up and talk chickens and the possibility of working together on processing birds.

Why buy when you can rent - try it out and see if you like it.

http://www.rentthechicken.com/p/central-texas.html


PS: I actually know these people...

Most dissapointing name for a chicken coup ever.

I don't think people making those comments know what a chicken tractor is

I used a chicken tractor last year moving daily but it got to be a chore with water and feed.

I'm now trying out Premier1 electric poultry netting. 164 ft roll moved once a week for a few laying hens. Hooked up to it to a 2 joule charger. It's been about 2 months but haven't lost a single bird. Our dogs have hit the fence once and now won't go anywhere near.

Premier one just came out with a gate that attaches to the netting that is a game changer. You can go in and out of the netting without turning off the fence.

Tim Weaver said:

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Most dissapointing name for a chicken coup ever.

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I believe you mean a chicken coop. A chicken coup is what happens when the chickens have flown the coop and ended up in the trees. Kind of like the Ninja chickens from this thread: https://texags.com/forums/34/topics/3035243/replies/54218391#54218391

Now if the chickens drive a coupe instead of a tractor you have a whole new set of problems.

Open from above? Seems like a hawk buffett (at least where we are).

That's good to know about the Premier1 fence. We are about to install a P1 fence for our pigs and really want the dogs and, funny enough, our donkey to stay out. When the boar breaks through the panels on occasion, the donkey is the worst about herding him back into his pen.

We've kept our layers in an open area as well and they stay inside at night. We haven't had a problem with any predators since the acquiring the donkey.

Ol Jock 99 said:

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Open from above? Seems like a hawk buffett (at least where we are).

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As a rule of thumb, yes. With laying hens we keep a protective rooster and don't have any hawk problems.

zooguy96 said:

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First thought in this thread was "chicken tractor, what the heck?"

Thread delivers.

Has got to be one of the more unusual things I've seen. Who knew it was a thing.

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Honestly.....I was kind of hoping Von Miller was looking for machinery advice. Yes, I'm a bit disappointed.