Coop vs tractor

[David M]

I know there are a number of PW's with chickens. What pros and cons of a chicken coop vs chicken tractor. I'm figuring I'll have both hens and roosters, both for eggs and meat. Guessing a coop would have to be under 6ft height to be legal unless permitted. I'm thinking I'd need roofed structure to collect water rather haul water. All thoughts welcome.

David

Ninole Resident

[Rob Tucker]

Tractors come in all shapes and sizes. Mine is small enough to carry around but is only useful for raising chicks or constraining an injured hen. I built a coop/yard with an off the ground roost and nesting boxes and kept the chickens locked in the coop/yard for a few weeks to get them into the system of laying in the boxes. After that, full grown, I let them roam. I just used the small tractor for raising young ones.

[jerry]

I built a 4x8 tractor but it did not work out. There were 7 hens inside and I had to move it pretty much every day or the grass/weeds would be reduced to bare ground. Also on my property things are not so flat and clear so moving it was a big operation. David's lot is much flatter, so that should not be a problem.

Jerry
Art and Orchids B&B
http://www.artandorchids.com

[pslamont]

I prefer my stable coops for general egg production but I have a LOT of chickens. I have also built a tractor that I use for introducing the chicks to the outdoors once they no longer need the heat lamp Mine is made of PZVC pipe bent in an upside down U with a tarp covering a portion of it (remember we are in the >200 inches a year rain belt). When there are chicks up to pullets in it, I moved it every other day at least. That is the whole point of the tractor.

With my full size chickens I have used it several times for mother/baby space wherein there were 2 to 4 mom's and their babies. It worked well to protect the chicks. Still, I prefer the stable coops. The advantage is that if you garden, you spread straw in the bottom every couple of months. They pick at it, scratch at it, poo all over it and at the end of six momths or so you dig it all out and you have the best already composted chicken manure for your garden available anywhere. This system lends itself to letting the chickens free range during the day and just let themselves in toward evening. We close ours in and let them out in the morning. Just depends if you have predators or not (mongoose, dog, whatever). Free ranging them gives them a very protein rich diet AND you feed them a lot less. We do feed in the coop in the evening so they all come in around 4 to 5, eat and settle down for the night.

Good luck with your project!

I want to be the kind of woman that, when my feet
hit the floor each morning, the devil says

"Oh Crap, She's up!"

[pslamont]

I prefer my stable coops for general egg production but I have a LOT of chickens. I have also built a tractor that I use for introducing the chicks to the outdoors once they no longer need the heat lamp Mine is made of PZVC pipe bent in an upside down U with a tarp covering a portion of it (remember we are in the >200 inches a year rain belt). When there are chicks up to pullets in it, I moved it every other day at least. That is the whole point of the tractor.

With my full size chickens I have used it several times for mother/baby space wherein there were 2 to 4 mom's and their babies. It worked well to protect the chicks. Still, I prefer the stable coops. The advantage is that if you garden, you spread straw in the bottom every couple of months. They pick at it, scratch at it, poo all over it and at the end of six momths or so you dig it all out and you have the best already composted chicken manure for your garden available anywhere. This system lends itself to letting the chickens free range during the day and just let themselves in toward evening. We close ours in and let them out in the morning. Just depends if you have predators or not (mongoose, dog, whatever). Free ranging them gives them a very protein rich diet AND you feed them a lot less. We do feed in the coop in the evening so they all come in around 4 to 5, eat and settle down for the night.

Good luck with your project!

I want to be the kind of woman that, when my feet
hit the floor each morning, the devil says

"Oh Crap, She's up!"

[Smith]

The only reason I've used tractors is to move it along a line of horse manure so they scratch thru it for weedseed and insect eggs and larvae.
Makes for weed and fly free and quicker processing of compost.