Hi all,

I've been fussing a bit with a chicken tractor design. The housing part is built on a garden cart frame I got from the dump. It's all scrap wood. The run is made of three hog panels with a couple wood frames to keep it standing.

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The top couple rows of the hog panels are a bit large, and I might run some wire through them to make the openings smaller. Until then, it will stay close to the house, or within a larger/safe fenced in garden area.

Because everything is made of scrap wood, I'm having some warping, but maybe it's fine for chickens.

Inside, the middle is open and there's a fairly large nest on one end. The top lifts up on both ends. On the nest end, for egg retrieval. On the other end, it's a totally enclosed box, suitable for transporting chickens without them escaping. Only one side of the run is attached, so I can fold it down and climb inside to catch chickens, if necessary. Chickens can hang out in the shade underneath the housing. I also put a roost in the run since these photos were shot.

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I'm still tweaking it. The run is pretty heavy, but I have some ideas for making it more mobile. (I found a baby jogger at the dump too....)

Again, it's all scrap and reused stuff I've had around. So far, it's cost me about $3 in new nuts and bolts.

The chickens return to the barn at the end of the day. I'm planning on having three chickens driving this tractor. For anyone new to chicken tractors, the idea is that it gets moved every couple days in order to give the chickens fresh grazing area and to help fertilize/eat bugs and seeds/otherwise prepare new areas.

The run is 34.5 inches high and wide, and I think 12 (maybe 16?) feet long. The housing is 32 inches wide and I believe 44 inches long. The nest is 12 inches deep by the full 32 inches wide.

Looking forward to other people's designs and insights,

--Jonathan