I need some plans for a chicken coop that can hold 20 chickens because all my other pens are full and a fox or something is killing them like wildfire

-- greg hargett (birdthehunter@aol.com), August 30, 2001

Answers

Make a chicken tractor fast! You can put it where you want, move it easily and it will break down when you nolonger need it. I have pix if you want them.

-- Mary R (cntryfolk@ime.net), August 31, 2001.

What's a chicken track?

-- Stacey Christiansen (stacey@lakesideinternet.com), August 31, 2001.

Sorry, I mean chicken tractor.

-- Stacey Christiansen (stacey@lakesideinternet.com), August 31, 2001.

A chicken tractor is a moveable pen which houses the chicken. Andy Lee and Joel Salatin both mention them in their books. We built one this week with old wood.

First of all build a square/rectangle frame. We used old planks with small blocks at the corners to give added strength. Then build the same again. This will be fixed about 2 feet above the first using upright posts, (we did two per side,not one on each corner)

The top then has a battern fixed halfway across, to support the roofing. The Living end has a small shelf, with a cross piece of wood to make nest boxes.

The nest box end has corrugated tin around the sides and hinged wood on the top to form an opening roof.

The rest of the tractor sides are covered in poultry netting, stapled on. The netting roof has been pinned on to another this lightweight wooden frame. this is easily removed.

We can access the whole area of the tractor, by easily moving different bit of roof.

The whole structure is moved onto clean grass/land every day and the chicken scratch all the bugs and basically clean up the land.

I hope this helps.

Alison

-- Alison Homa (alison@mulacottfarm.co.uk), August 31, 2001.