Gallery of chicken tractors

I begged
for some photos of chicken coops and tractors and several of our readers
complied.  Here are some of our favorite tractor designs, starting
with the simple and moving up to the complex.

Neil Brooks built the
four foot by eight foot chicken tractor above
based on Joel Salatin’s model.  The 2″X2″ construction, low
profile,
and open sides give a lot of chicken living area for very little
weight.  Judicious cross-bracing will allow you to build even
larger
tractors while still using thin, light lumber.

RDG from WeekendHomestead.net built a simple chicken
tractor to house
his extra roosters while they were growing up to broiler size.  He
wrote, “The chicken tractor I built is made from 2X6 pressure treated
lumber for the frame.  The frame is 12 feet by 4 feet.  Half
inch EMT metal electrical conduit is used for the hoops.  Chicken
wire is used to enclose the structure.  The ends are made from
half inch (1/2 in.) pressure treated plywood.  I have hung a
feeder and automatic watering bucket from the conduit.  I used the
only 4 foot tarp I could find to keep rain off the broilers.” 
RDG’s design could be made with lighter framing components (a 2X4
bottom and PVC pipe hoops) for an easier to pull tractor that’s just as
simple to build.

Brian Cooper’s chicken
tractor would fit into any neighborhood, no
matter how nice.  He built his tractor using the Catawba
coop
plans available
online.  The tractor is an A-frame structure, with
an open-bottomed “downstairs” and a wood-floored upstairs. 
Chickens hang out on the ground, but head up a ramp to lay eggs or
roost for the night.

Finally, I thought I’d
throw in a photo of our first chicken tractor, built for next to no
money from mostly found materials.  It was light, lasted about
three years before the found wood rotted out, and provided hours of
entertainment for our cat.