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Chicken Tractor... What the Hellam I doin?

S.S.Tupperware

S.S.Tupperware

Ok I guess I'm gettin old... I've always been a Cracker, and like harvesting what you can. I have a great spot for Oysters, Blue Crabs, Red Fish, Swamp Cabbage, and on and on... Not a lot of places here in Otown to hunt although Collered Doves are delcious and an Exotic meanin I can shoot me an all I can eat buffet with my pellet gun. My buddie got some chickens at a market with no place to keep them, cept for the turd filled porch!!! I was talkin to the Ole Ball and Chain about gettin a few for eggs, so i went and made a Chicken Tractor... Yeah that's what I said WTF is a chicken tractor?
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Thats Choppers the chicken gardian...
I still have work to do and add mesh I have a roll of Geo Fabric to hold retain walls on the Interstate in place, so I doubt the yardbirds can make it out...
I plan on 3 since it's 2 of us so 1 every her day is fine for us on laying...or every other day... from the lil I know... I made 3 nest boxes, has a hoistable gangplank and all the aminities they could need.
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Easy acess to eggs on top or feed and water below...
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I know they like a roost, and from what I can gather its nothing more than standing on flat ground... so hence the 2x2 across.
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I know this will be a progressive learning curve, but I'm sure we can figure it out.
So I guess my questions to you chicken experts is...
What type? I am not AG so I need to fly under the radar... I need a quiet non crazy azz yard bird. I have informed the wife these are not pets, but we'll see about that. The neighbors are cool with it, and I live on a lake so no one behind me. i would like to get 3 different type that can live together in harmony for the most part. So what say y'all
 
Not sure. I have been wanting some guinea hens to keep the ticks down.

Do me a favor and pull the tags off the end of your lumber, it drives me :crazy: :D
 
Hahahaha you guys crack me up.

That's a really cool chicken tractor. Easy to clean too. Good job.

I'm with you LanMan, the tags....
 
Send Gumbii a PM...think its (she) raises all kind of chickens. All I have ever raised were some banty's with my grandfather. They had a pretty good disposition, but could still be a little unruly from time to time.

Lan and Scovie...your OCD is showing! I am the same way. I have a hard time reading through someones glog if their rows aren't straight.
 
Well I finished off the coop. I just need o find some wheels to make it mobile... I havs some angle I will weld to make a bracket. The wife was kinda freaked out with the idea but Saturday coming back from Melbourne, I stopped by the store and picked up 2 Rhode Island Reds, and a Barred Rock hen (chick) The had some Amurcanas but were sold out sine last time I was there a few days ago. I found one close to me on CL so we have a total of 4.
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There quite friendly and handleable... In a couple more weeks they will be out in their Coop, and hopefully eggs won't be too far behind...
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The larger hen I picked up for my buddie that lost one of his and only had one, so this should help, shes friendly and likes to be held...
 
Ameraucana hens lay green eggs. Those are cool chickens. Watch for them picking at each other as they get older. They are rather dumb and will just stand there and pick each other.

My mom has raised chickens longer than I've been alive. For as long as I can remember she feeds the babies starter and then switches them to lay at some point. I think she usually uses a purina mills product. When she can, they are fed any type of produce, especially greens. I take her salad greens and other stuff when I can and the chickens tear it up. She les them wander the yard on ocassion when she is tired of feeding them. They make a mess and need daily attention. I didn't know this until about a month ago. A chicken can become egg bound. That's when an egg becomes stuck. If another egg forms behind it and tries to come out and cracks the stuck egg, the bird is dead in a day. Surgery is an option but is expensive. She had that happen recently. Its the first I ever heard of it but that's happened before. I doubt its often but another useless tidbit of info.
Clean water every day. Possums love chicken eggs and wil eat chickens too. Keep an eye out for snakes as well getting into the boxes where they nest. A chicken snake (rat snake) can smell a chicken from quite a long ways off. They also love eggs.

Having the puppy dog around can help some. Our dogs have always loved to hunt the chicken pens for whatever gets in there. I think every dog has always hunted and killed a few snakes each.

They do need vaccinations but I couldn't tell you what. I just remember mom doing stuff.

That's all I can think of for the moment.
 
ameraucanas don't lay green eggs, they lay blue eggs if you're lucky... LOL... to get green eggs you need a hybrid ameraucana-black maran to achieve that, and it's a hard feat to do... look up olive eggers...

i would hit up a feed store and ask if they are vaccinating for merecks disease... i dunno how it's spelled... LOL... but it sounds like that... not all areas get vaccinated... and it's super easy... you just stab them in the web... sinchy...

i you want great egg layers get buff orphingtons... they never stop laying no matter what the temp is...

one huge thing i would do (other than pulling off those tags... ugh... *shudders*) is to cover the "nest" with some piece of wood... and make it cover about 2" more than the actual nest box area... or else your chooks are going to poop in there non stop and it will get gross... you don't have to elevate the roost, but i would... maybe over the wood that will cover the nest box...

that's a good trailer so far... but, i would want it a lot more predator proof... check out, backyardchickens.com for more info... that's a great forum...

HTH...
 
Good job on the coop! I'll be taking notes on this thread.

Me and the kids have been trying to talk my husband into chickens for a couple years now, but haven't made much headway. I need him on board, since he is the one with the carpentry skills. He built the loft in our home, the pergola over the patio, and our kids bunk beds, so I know he would make a fine chicken coop, if I could just convince him that we have enough space in the backyard. Our town allows 3 hens, no roosters, within the town limits, but I have a neighbor that has 5 hens, and no one's complaining. Certainly not me, since they occasionally send a dozen fresh ones my way.
 
Thanks for the info... Now how I see how they work, I will definatly cover the nest boxes for sure. I would definatly get some, there commical now for sure. It's quite entertaining
 
Wish id seen this before you brought them, oh well.

We have many chickens (lost count ages ago) but the best ones for laying plenty of eggs & since you have gone for only four hens i would have said the Isa Brown is a good hen,

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They don't live very long (two years) but they normally pump out an egg a day easy, you could fit a perch inside the tractor & squeeze a few more in there, chickens don't mind sharing nesting boxes when they lay.

Make sure they always have water, food not so critical but water is.

Mezo.
 
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