Chicken Tractor

Materials List for Chicken Tractor

2x3x8                Quantity 18

Hinges                Quantity 2 (make sure the hinge pin isn’t removable)

Metal                  Quantity 16’ Sheet cut at time of installation

Metal screws       Quantity 25

Chicken wire      Quantity 32 foot

Wire on Door      Quantity (can be chicken wire) Approx size 7’ x 4’

Screws               Quantity  2 Boxes 3” deck screws

Staples               Quantity 1 Box (poultry staples)

Wheels               Quantity 2 from Harbor Freight – solid wheels

Axles                  Quantity 2 ½” by 6” Carriage bolts

Washer               Quantity 16 ½” flat washer

Nuts                   Quantity 6

Plastic                24’ x 24”  – cut to length during install

Tips

  1. Make door the size of your metal. 
  2. Extended arm for door should be 3” shorter than height from the ground to the top of the tractor.  This will enable the door to open in tall grass.
  3. Cut your supports for the walls at 21.5”. This will give you a little wiggle room with the chicken wire. 
  4. Install a block for you axel and add a nut with a washer to the outside so that the axle doesn’t sag.
  5. Stack enough washers on the axel to ensure the wheel doesn’t rub the frame.
  6. On the sides, measure the distance of where you want the door to land and eliminate one upright support on either side. 
  7. Consider buying 2 or 4 extra 2×3’s in order to run them diagonally to increase the lateral support. This would be in lieu of the vertical supports or in addition to them. If I did another one, I would add a the cross brace from the top where the door lands to the bottom where the wheel is located.  If you are using metal on the side, this is not necessary. 
  8. Consider metal on the sides.  This will increase the rigidity of the frame.
  9. This may be hard to visualize and if so email me and I’ll figure out another way to explain this…  On the next tractor I build, I will have the outside walls on the outside of the front and rea wall.  This will enable you to use the existing vertical supports to hold you waterer. I didn’t do this and I needed to install blocks to accept the waterer. 

If you can think of some suggestions, please email me so we can share them with everyone.  Every tractor I built is very close to this design but I’m always looking to make them better.

Thank you for visiting this page. 

God bless you!

Kevin

Scroll to Top