Is a Cattle Panel Chicken Tractor a GOOD IDEA? YES or NO?
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- Опубликовано: 5 авг 2024
- You can make a cattle panel chicken tractor... but can you move it? We decided to build and test one!
I have ordered 65 more chicks which are due to arrive in the mail on Tuesday or Wednesday. To give us more space for birds, my sons and I built a chicken tractor from cattle panels.
We used this design from the University of Kentucky: www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs/AS...
Unfortunately, it's very, very heavy. The original design says you can just drag the tractor with a piece of rope. We found that to be almost impossible, so I added wheels to the sides after building it.
We have severe predator issues here, so we also added an additional layer of defense - a no-dig wire skirt, like so: www.backyardchickens.com/arti...
Get my free composting booklet here: www.thesurvivalgardener.com/s...
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You can build a cattle panel DIY chicken tractor, but as you'll see, you might want to try a PVC chicken tractor design instead. In other news, we're also fermenting chicken feed. So far, so good. 
Хобби
I wanna be Dave's neighbor so I can just copy him and pretend I know what I'm doing.
We're all pretending like we know what we're doing...
@@davidthegood Especially politicians...
You can copy him over the internet and still pretend to know what you are doing :-)
😂
Oh, l did need a good laugh, today!! 😂😂😂Thankyou! 😁
One part comedy, one part prepping, 3 parts education 😂🤣😭 keep up the great work man!
It's pretty cool how you content creators give each other subtle shoutouts.
The world needs more of that!
Looks good. I built one slightly shorter with 3 pieces of 3/4 inch pvc, field fencing and hardware cloth on the lower quarter. I screwed pvc to the undersides of the 2x4 rectangle so they dont make ground contact to avoid rot and so it slides across the ground easier. It is light enough to pull with a rope. I made the hatch out of 1x2s. Strong, predator proof and light is a hard build to pull off.
I love your black mini panther. Ours also likes to drape itself over arm branches.
On a similar cattle panel hoop tractor, used a 4"" PVC pipe cut in half lengthwise and curled up at the ends using a heat gun as skids. It glides easily and could save you from those ankle breakers called wheel axles sticking out of the side there.
Great idea.
We were going to do that but, as it turns out, PVC is just as crazy expensive as lumber right now 😱
@@davidthegood I wonder if aluminum or plastic gutters would be a viable option for skids, 2x2 lumber instead of 2×4s?
Remember the survival gardening saying "Everything Easts Corn"? E.E.C. also stands for "Everything Eats Chickens", too ...
Thank you, thank you for the best chuckle-to-a-belly- laugh I've had this month (your ending hit my funny bone perfectly). Rock on, chicken gardener.
With the addition of two more chicken gulags for the new birds, you will have created the Gulag Archipelago! Bahgawk!!!
oh no!!! I will never be able to sit through church and not think about Pastor Poultry!!! binder twine is my go to.....
I'm like dying over the comments and the price of 2×4's etc., so hilarious and true!
I thought you were kidding about the panther. Then at minute 8:50 . I saw the panther walk by the tractor.. HE HEE!
There are big cats nearly everywhere. You just don't usually see one. I had one try to take down a full-size horse in Texas once. Fortunately for her, she looked lame but could run when necessary. Lost a big chunk of her shoulder though - and all the horses ran through 3 fences in their panic. That one was a cougar.
I was shocked at how heavy our meat chicken tractor was after building it, but we ended up springing for a chicklift wheel system that made it a lot easier to move. Not the cheapest little doodad but a good investment in the end. I'm excited to see if you end up building a PVC tractor next. We've been thinking about doing that as well for when we get more broilers. They seem to relish producing as much poop as they can, so I'm hoping to split our next batch between two tractors to spread the love a bit. Really pumped to see this chicken content, by the way (as well as the symmetrical shots).
Exactly how I felt after making a coop for our quail.
“What did we learn?”
“I don’t know sir”
“Guess we’ll never do that again”
😂
😅🤣
Possum and raccoons can rip chicken wire to shreds. Use 1/4 inch hardware cloth instead. Make sure every inch is covered and secured. Possum can squeeze through the smallest weak spot.
Lol,the couple over at Living Traditions commented on how heavy their chicken hoop houses when they moved them,but they were not built as a chicken tractor,he had to move theirs with his tractor!
Have you thought about using a old dog cage. They make a kennel thing that is about the same size as your chicken tractor. Mark over on "self seficiant me" made his duck tractor out of one and it didn't seem to be so heavy.
Thank you for the video. Keep up the good work. 👍🏻
David, train the chickens to drag the tractor for you! Make that rooster earn his keep!
David, you crack me up! I love it!
I have a cattle panel green house that they’re in now making me compost for use in the spring
Good work.
around 10:45 min. that magnolia tree in the background makes great anti-cancer tea. The leaves- make healing tea.
I did not know that.
I built one of those for a small greenhouse. So, when I saw you were building one for a chicken tractor I knew it would be heavy! Good work around!
Thank you. You have a beautiful family. I hope to have chickens in the spring.
Thank you!
We built 2 PVC chicken tractors. We also have a solar powered electric fence surrounding them. Hardware cloth is pricey but a must.
Predator proofing pasture poultry is a challenge.
Have a plan for what happens is the solar charger dies on you. Mine quit before it was out of warranty, but it wasn't worth the hassle of trying to get it fixed.
Fortunately, I had a box of step-in plastic poles + a roll of hot wire + a powerful A/C charger.
So I ran that roll around and around and around using every spot on the step-in poles. Anything that touches that wire plugged into a 20 mile charger is going to get the shock they've never had. (I use it to keep horses where I want them.)
You either need a house to lock them in or another charger if you only use electric poultry netting and it fails.
Would you share info how to do the solar electric fence?
@@angie_hutchings
We invested in a Premier 1 fence. Since we're not comfortable with running electric from ac or dc from scratch, we went with an all-in-one solar/dc electric fence system. Basic charge, connect, ground (and step away) system. Very reputable company, however, keep in mind that there are many options and systems available to the homestead.
LMAO! We built a shorter version and it is also "robust" and too dang heavy. Your sense of humor is hysterical because it is so true HAHAHA Thank you for the good laugh today. It is much needed these days.
I only use small chicken tractors to raise chicks for composting in place with the chicks for several months at the time as they grow out. As I’ve mentioned before, I free range 24/7 in a high predator environment with little loss. Game chickens, Junglefowl hybrids, and old landrace breeds are the key. Not the sissified hatchery stock chickens so many people use. Hatchery chickens are the chicken versions of GMO, Miracle-grow, 10-10-10, hydroponic plants. ;-).
Serious? Another reason for me to get Swedish Flower Hens!!
You need to cover the entire structure with hardware cloth as opposed to chicken wire. Raccoons are very adept at getting through chicken wire.
1/4” is best… also keeps snakes out
@@OfftoShambala Well, 1/4" has pros and cons. I put it over cage wire in the duck house. But it fills up with bedding and manure stuck to it and is really hard to clean. Snakes that can get through 1/2" hardware cloth = chicken snacks. That's why I used it, but I kind of regret it and am thinking of going 1/2" in the future.
The one unknown is what else can squeeze through 1/2" hardware cloth. What worries me is some claim that minks or some similar varmint can and will go in and kill everything. But 1/2" is used far more commonly than 1/4".
I've been racking my brain trying to figure out how to completely exclude snakes and whatever those little varmints are but not have what I use to cover it cave in under a snow or heavy hail. I'd like to use 2x4 weld wire covered with hardware cloth, but I'm not sure what might happen if we get a foot of snow. (Rare, but possible - we got it last year.)
My other concern is whether something industrious enough might dig under the skirts some people call aprons and tunnel all the way in?
Im glad we have neither in New Zealand
David rocking the MIgardener merch, very cool
David it’s time get a suppressor on a 17 hmr with night vision scope. 😃
I'm impressed with the door you made. I love the wheels! Way to work smarter not harder. My niece said pvc is light and strong. That'll work better for you.
LOL! Love your humor!
Thanks, Ginger.
David, where your roost rests against the wire, place some hardware cloth. I missed that move and a raccoon grabbed the chicken roosting there and tore it up horribly. It's not a scene you want to see first thing in the morning.
Thanks.
I had that happen too, to a young turkey. Horrible sight.
Here I am trying to keep TWO chickens alive! Already had the fox visit and leave a nasty scar. Hoping the hardware cloth does keep it out.
I have never had anything get through hardware cloth. Good luck, Joy.
Your humor just cracks me up & makes a bad day better. I have 4 of your books & absolutely enjoyed reading them will definitely be referencing them often. Keep up the great work cuz this ex trucker with a brown thumb needs all the help she can get. 😂
Thank you.
LOVE your ideas for keeping out predators, and movability with wheels! Sharing on MeWe!
My your thumbs always be green! Love you guys!
I made one of those YEARS ago, but not for portable use lol the plans i found were on a website that donated time and materials to build these in third world countries.
According to my brother, that's me and my farm, so i figured it would work.
It's held up surprisingly well, but the only times I've moved it was when we literally moved to another property.... and the one time i moved it to a better location after people just dumped it in the middle of the backyard.
For all the work involved, it's easier and faster to just pick greens and bring them to the birds.
Since 2010 that hoop coop has held chickens, rabbits, piglets, ducks, pigeons, geese and puppies.
My door isn't fancy either. It's nothing but a hole cut in the wire, with a bigger piece of wire covering it.... because i am cheap, lazy and bad at geometry.
Probably why my brother thinks my homestead is third world 🙄
Gray electrical PVC is UV stabilized. It'll last longer than the white plumbing type.
Good idea.
I didn't know that. Thank you!
@@oneperson5760 your most welcome. To verify it should be stamped on the pvc itself. At least in my area it is.
Try hanging the feeder and waterer from the cattle panels. You don't have to take them out to move the tractor, and the chickens won't tip them over.
I probably will.
Need the set up like (sow the land) some kind of roller wheels in the back. Your weird like the rest of us farmers lol love the show Nice shirt!
I really like your skirting idea! Think I'll add that around my chicken yard and rabbit pen area.
I made the mistake of using 2x4s for my first mobile coop. I found 1x2s and pvc pipe works much better. If pvc is too light you can put gravel in the pipe.
Yes, I like the chicken tractor okay, but I am mostly interested in more yam videos. I am especially interested in the sporting aspects of yams, as demonstrated in a previous video. Although I am not very athletic. But I think I could do Yamaoke.
Everytime you say "Chicken Gulag" I disintegrate in to a fit of laughter. Love it.
"I'm not an engineer. I just want chickens" That is just too funny🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Lol, that last bit was great. Thanks. Sums up my gardening experience.
We got half way done a chicken tractor made of PVC tubes and fizzled out...really makes we wonder why someone hasn't developed a decent LOW priced one for the market. Because with the time it takes to do these things and the cost for materials, I would buy a good one if it wasn't a million dollars. Having done extensive research, haven't found a decently priced and decently designed one anywhere.
foxes and racoons are the worst breaking into the coup, they pull on the wire mesh until it weakens better to use fencing wire rather than zip ties
I like the skirting on your tractor. I'm planning to build one and protecting from predators is definitely a priority.
Thanks for the entertaining and educational video. Good ending, really good. I had a good chuckle.
Thanks, Stephen!
Yes, it's a great idea! Glad to here I'm not the only one to build one! I have a cattle panel chicken tractor on 10" wheels with wooden made handles to flip over to bracket to engage wheels in the up position! If you have an email I can send a vid or pics on it! I pull it around with a rope and old garden hose piece for the handle!
They work very well. We built ours 5 years ago and it's still working just fine.
Also, try Spring Creek Acres- maybe start with “Chick Log Day 30”; also “Creating Chicken Tractor, Day 1”. This guy shows the monotony of any job, even the one you love. He has several videos showing his chicken tractor, how he moves it, and improves it, revising the feeder and waterer, etc. His interesting sense of humor comes through occasionally, which is good-wish it was more.
Yes. I may be biased as I now have ten of these hoop coops, but yes, I still think they are a good idea. Depending on their application. I use solar/battery electric poultry netting for predators so I am able to make mine less heavy and more mobile. Mine are only designed to keep the chickens in, not keep all predators out. I only put chicken wire 4ft up the side, not all the way over the top. Flimsier door. No hardware cloth. No metal plate support thingies. Yours is much better built than any of mine. I can put mine on bicycle wheels but I rarely have to do that because they are light enough for me to drag in level conditions. Just built 3 more, they cost about $220 each. Solar/battery poultry netting about $400. Relatively cheap and easy way to start a chicken breeding enterprise :)
Ohmygawd, you're so funny 😁 I love your show. Thank you for all that you do to teach us👍
I noticed a lot of areas a predator could squeeze through. I think if u used hardware cloth instead of chickenwire. And leave no holes. Minks can squeeze thru tiny areas. I LOVE the skirt and the stakes!
As you spiral into depression and realize you’ve learned the wrong things all along… 🤣😂 been there. I’m glad you learned this first! I’m going to try not to reinvent that wheel.
That was great! Especially the end.
Hi David I think it's going to work out just fine it looks good to me 👍
I have an "Omlet Eglu go up" made in Germany, I finally invested in it five years ago after many wooden structures, over 40 years of keeping a few domestic hens purely for eggs, plus a few cockerels for the pot.
I buy fertilised eggs of strong breeds for heavy clay and wet British weather, I have also had retired factory birds who went on for a good few years of happy pecking n scratching n laying nice brown eggs.
As Dr Berg says eat at least three eggs a day for your omega 3's, not overcooked.
Easy to move, easy to clean, no mite problems, and keeps the girls warm in winter and cool in summer. In the uk I can also place it inside an electric fence run to free range them in the paddock, then move them lock stock n barrel to new clean pasture, I would not go back to any other run.
Love your videos, humour, and family.,
Oh by the way they are moulded with recycled plastic, will last many years.
I also feed them soaked cleaned grains morning and evening to train the to come where I want them, layers mash as much as they need then free range in 1 acre paddock for all the greens n grubs.
How many birds can you keep in your Omelet Eglu?
Anything to keep those ravenous monsters away from the plants!!! (Chickens are monsters, I mean)
Wow, we moved ours every second day, and that's a lot of work! We added a solar light, $25, for night time, but we have our dogs in and out, the neighbor plays a country serenade in his back yard until 10 at night, so, our yard is pretty safe from predators, thankfully. a few years ago, we had dog food on the back porch, had a few raccoons, but not seen since...
lol, my suggestions on your website, way off, now that I see!
Always love seeing Rachel in her 'commercial', thanks!
I love your positivity at the end lol. I think its because i agree wholeheartedly with you ! I know the "Ive learned enough about what NOT to do already" feeling .....But the learning never stops ,it never ...ever stops !!. Hahaha ,Thanks for another great video and i do like the idea of the chicken tractor . better a little heavy than a mess of bloody feathers.I have had that happen twice over the years because i tried to shave weight off the build too .Ive seen these cheap bicycle alarms on wish or amazon that operate on vibration i wondered if they might be useful in that situation. keep up the great work David. take care
Thanks for good info and great humour
I built a hoop house a couple years ago for my plant starts just like that but with plastic. After I thought about it I figured it would also work for chickens or other poultry. I built another one for some meat birds that I was raising and it worked good. They are heavy but they hold up good. It’s a multi purpose pen.
@David The Good. Landscape staples come in very handy. I've got a roll of galvanized fence wire, so I make my own staples & fasteners using a pair of fence pliers.
Zip ties for EVERYTHING!! I used them on my cattle panels too.
You bring a smile to my face.
Your hat brim compliments the symmetry! David, Good!
"Nature will murder all of your chickens" makes environmentalists go into anaphylactic shock.
😂
ROFLMAO!!!
I made a smaller one with very long metal rails, pvc for hoops, dog kennel door, chicken wire over the hoops. Worked very well. Wish I still had it
Lol, we just found you, and are so grateful! Your hilarious and we learned a ton! Thanks for that! Currently looking for our piece of land to hide away, and figure this shiz out! BE well! - Erin + Brian
Thanks Erin and Brian. Welcome.
@@davidthegood where “in the tropics” are you homesteading?
' I just want chicken ' lol
Ahhh removable wheels, good job.
Make sure your movable Chicken Coop door is secured at the bottom .I just had a friend who's dog next door destroyed 20 chickens by scratching and getting into the bottom of the door
I laughed so hard at this! So what’s the next chicken coop plans?
I am working on some ideas. We shall see.
I gave you a thumbs up just for the rant about the Fed Reserve.
1st.chicken cook I built was out of 3/4inch plywood and so heavy it broke my axel. 2nd one I made out of 1/4 inch plywood and Farrington straps in the corners. The base was 2x3s instead of 2x4s. It was much easier to move. This year with the cost of wood, the kits made more sense. They are well constructed but thin so light but a bit fragile. In the end build what you can as you said and make the best of it.
Damn spelling. Chicken coop and farring strips
End the Fed!
Oh that's brilliant with the Wheels!!!!
We have barn owls, hawks, raccoons, possums, neighbor dogs, coyotes, foxes, and I'm sure I'm missing some predators that like chickens. I built my shelter out of PVC with hardware cloth around it, a tarp for the roof, and a door. I use an electric poultry net to keep most predators out. For the winter I'll wrap the shelter in clear plastic and put it in a sunny spot, plus have a mulch pile inside for heat (zone 5a). Gotta have some ventilation with a mulch pile. I may also surround a few sides of the coop with straw bales for insulation.
My worst predator is a Great Horned Owl. That is especially true after I watched videos of one repeatedly landing with two livestock guardian dogs going after it every time. And then diving through the netting that covered the poultry pen there. Apparently, no fear of getting hurt or not being able to get back out.
I lost a duck from inside an electric poultry net with the entire area covered with a grid of fishing line. And I had 4 Nite-Guard flashing lights at ground predator height and 4 at owl height. The downside to those is that they stop flashing before the sun is fully up so I suspect that is when it happened.
No prints or damage to anything, so I'm thinking the owl got her and flew off with her (youngish duck - not a duckling but not full grown).
That owl would have had to either fly in between the fishing line and the electric poultry netting (not much room, but enough) or dive between the fishing lines.
I wouldn't have thought that was possible until I saw a video of a Great Horned Owl trying to take a little dog from under the owner's legs when they were standing at their back door. The owl miscalculated and bounced off the door and missed the dog, thankfully.
They can swoop in silently and grab a baby bird out of a bird's nest and try to take a dog off a porch so... Now my ducks go in before sundown and are not out until well after sun-up. That's why I'm trying to figure out how to build a 100% predator-proof yard and house for them.
Love the wheels!
I am so glad my chicken coop is inside of the garage, but I have had predator problems
Yes, we have one and I love it
A good Guardian Dog is the best protection system.
i do my cornish cross broilers in a hoop house that's a mini version of what you build. I have 2 big ones like in this video to but they have way to much gravity in them to be worth it. get 1 cattle panel and cut in half for a 4x8 area. its shorter but Cornish cross don't care and my wife can drag it with 1 hand.
"If I had bought 2 by 4s, I could have beaten the stock market." If it makes you feel any better, lately I've been saying things like, "If I'd put more energy into building up my garden and improving my soil the way David the Good has, we wouldn't be spending half a grand every time we go to the grocery store because we'd have food in the backyard." So, the way I look at it, you HAVE beaten the stock market.
We have hawks, falcons, Mexican eagles, and bald eagles. I gave up, built an 8'x40' cattle panel hoop house (we never move) for the chickens, and suspended rabbit cages on tposts along one wall inside and we haven't lost a hen since.
And yes, my 6' tall son constantly smacks his head when he steps through the door.
The zip ties last 1 year and then break. We've started wrapping them together with bits of electric fence line. We also lined the bottom edge with cattle panel so nothing digs in.
That sounds great. Could you email me pics?
Hey David! thanks for sharing your experience. You sound exactly like every homesteader--we all go thru a big learning curve. And FYI a mink loves to behead chickens and usually kills every single one. it can squeeze through anything larger than a DIME sided hole....(it's why I have a Maremma LGD)...I say the SAME thing to people about nature--nature does not want my food forest, nor chickens or ducks, no food crops, but a slew of poisonous mountain laurel and pine trees here--can't eat that, not even goats can eat mt. laurel. Hell yes, I have to fight nature. I work with the seasons and such and nature is beautiful, but so is a full belly.....don't get discouraged. We love your videos!
P.S. Everyone I know with chickens has spent way more $$ than they planned to...chickens become addictive--those fresh eggs everyday or home raised meat. It becomes a bit of an "arms race" with the predators. I considered sleeping out there next to the chicken coop with my 22 until I got my dogs, now it's just the darn squirrels and my fruit and nut trees to protect....maybe I'll get a rat terrier for that.....
Can mink get through 1/2" hardware cloth? Do you think the Maremma just being there keeps them away? Dogs do have to sleep and mink are small and stealthy.
@@Growmap you should be safe with 1/2 hardware! Just "chicken wire" that has holes too big for mink. I've sold a lot of hens over the years to people that lost their entire flock in one night. so disappointing. We all get attached to our birds. Yes, my dogs live with our birds. have not lost one chicken in 6 years--except lost one duck that decided to sneak off to lay eggs in the woods. she got taken in one day by a fox.
Thanks David for being "The Good". I hear a lot of as Christians how we are worms..dirt etc, I love that you say that you are The Good. We should all try to be Good and then own it a little!
love the ending.,, nailed it.
There just HAS to be a better solution! I’ll keep watching as you figure it out. Then, I’ll build mine. 😏 Thanks for another great video!
I am thinking that moving to a planet with lower gravity would help.
If you have predators I will not mess with cattle panels. I will just use them as trellises for my vegetables
I have had numerous occasions of creatures reaching through the chicken wire and murdering my birds. I use 1/2" welded wire fencing in certain spots to alleviate the problem these days.
I see you did that too.
You must live in my neighborhood! My neighbor swears we have panthers wondering around here too
You may want to check out the chicken tractor on Lazy Dog Farm’s recent video on fall pumpkins-about halfway through the video. It may be smaller than what you want, but the basic design looks good, and he says it’s easy to move.
I made a cattle panel coop for my quail and later moved it and used it for my chickens. Let me tell you we made the base with 2x6 because we did deep litter. That was heavy as all get out and it was horrible to move. Two grown adults, a wagon and a heavy duty dolly were all needed and it was a tricky thing for sure.
Wow! 2x6!!
Yes the lie of easy to move. LOL. Im on a randomly high eind area so the extra weight helps me.love the skirting idea. Roger that on losing pullets. Lost a group very similar. Appreciate your content.
Another great video from Mr The Good! Good luck trying to make a predator proof chicken tractor that is easy to move. If you succeed I will buy plans from you👍🏻
I’m just now watching this video. Sorry if I’m repeating someone else. Solar powered electric fence charger. Works amazing on dogs. I have a giant dog that I need to keep in my yard. Excellent
cracks me up. honestly, weight and predator resistance are so important here. And cost. Weight is the biggest issue. If you can take care of the weight issue, the cost will take care of itself.