It Moves ITSELF Daily! The Ultimate Meat Chicken Tractor!
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- Опубликовано: 5 авг 2024
- I'm starting a new project. I'm making a fully automated meat chicken tractor. It's modeled after the Joel Salatin tractor but motorized. It will go one week without any maintenance or input. This is my first video of a series to come. I hope to start building it very soon. This video just goes over my design process and model.
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You should perhaps harvest rainwater from the roof into gutters that fill the water tanks. With a minimal, inline sand or charcoal filter using a cheap irrigation filter and cloth. Place water tanks below the lowest point of the roof for gravity fed water. Rainwater is often healthier than municipal tap water.
If I lived in a different climate I would do that. I live in the desert where it might rain twice the whole summer. Even when it rains it’s is about 1/4” at most.
I have been thinking of a winch chicken tractor concept for months. I would love to see your designs as you come along!
I’d love to hear any ideas you have.
@@thehomesteadengineer-1 what are your thoughts on once the tractor reaches the winch? Also, it would not be a difficult weld to attach several tractors together to be pulled simultaneously. The winch could easily pull several tractors, and the weld job would certainly be easier than the CAD drawings you made, as you stated you did not know how to weld.
@ryancarrigan6410 if this works I would consider linking several together. I just don’t have the tools for welding. But I could easily hook them together with wood.
I was actually also just thinking about that, and what I quickly discovered is that you need a lot of cable length. In his example of 10ft*7days, a 70ft (30ish meters) winch cable would be required, and at least here in Germany, that's getting relatively expensive
This is going to be expensive. More expensive than I would want, but the time savings will hopefully make up for it quickly. Yes, 70ft at least. The bigger issue is getting a winch with a drum big enough to hold that much wire.
I am so interested in this. I have thought about this for years but haven’t built it. I can follow along
Thank you!
For any wheel, don't go with a hard rubber. Either aired tire or a soft core flexible tire would be best to follow the contours.
Skidloader tirees may work too, they are wide and have heavy tread patterns.
I’m thinking bike tires are cheap, soft, and replaceable. Wouldn’t skid loader tires sort of break the bank?
I can see some big weight here. The H2O by itself (2 -17 gal totes)...when first loaded...270+lbs. Plus materials for a beefier build, winch, feed, solar panels, batteries and motors. Hmmm. I'm thinking close to 450+lbs when all is said and done. You'll definitely NEED a winch to move this beast...lol.
Not sure if the feed dropper can close properly if it's dumping feed (gravity fed).
The winch is designed to pull. Absolutely. However, it's not designed to pull straight. Even staked out might give you headaches. But I guess it's worth a shot. Just remember that they only have about 50ft of cable on a 2000lb winch. I'm now think you are going to need more than 4 tires...I say 6.
Reinforce the structural area holding up the two H2O "tanks". Let's just rename this thing the Chicken "Tank" Tractor! 🤣 Good luck! I'll be watching. 🙂
Oh The TANK! I love it! I plan on doing several experiments before building the final thing. I’m going to replace the cable with slightly smaller cable so I can get more than 50ft. It will reduce my capacity but I think I’ll be fine. More fires might be a good idea so I don’t get sunk in the mud.
I am interested in seeing the power requirements of the winch compared to the capacity of the battery and an overlay with the weather... It seems like a cloudy week could leave you stuck. I don't have a good picture in my head of how the electric fence does or doesn't interfere with field grass. In 8 weeks the grass will grow to a reasonable proportion of the height of your tractor.
I have both of those concerns as well, which is why I ordered the winch right away. I’ll be doing some load tests with an energizer I already have. Fortunately I live in a desert region that is mostly sunny in the summer and fall.
@@thehomesteadengineer-1 It looks like their smallest winch wants a 12 Amp hour battery. manuals.harborfreight.com/manuals/57000-57999/57365-193175494900.pdf
A winch sounded like a good idea. I noticed that you put the water tanks in the back, not sure if that was by design or by "accident", but I guess that would be useful as well (to avoid the front wheels digging into the ground). Two things I would worry about: 1) How will you move the tractor with the predator protection (i.e hardware cloth), i.e will the tractor lift itself of the ground just a smidge? 2) Will the dumb chickens realize that they have to move when the dump winch pulls the tractor regardless of any possible stuck chickens? (the winch does move the tractor very slow, so that should help I guess/hope)
Great questions. Thank you for asking. I did put the water in the back to distribute the weight. 1) I will have the wheels 1-2 inches lower than the frame. It will likely bottom out on mounds and slopes, but I expect the winch to overcome that. It’s a 2,000lb winch. I figure 1-2 inches is low enough to keep non-snake predators out. 2) I was discussing that with my friend yesterday. I’m going to time the food door opening just before the winch starts to move so they will all go to the front for food and then chase the food as it rolls forward.
@@thehomesteadengineer-1 No prob :) 1) I guess that depends on which predators your friend has (the digging ones might be a challenge - you could have a stiff skirt of some sort poking outwards from the tractor, but a risk of it becoming stuck or entangled in grass), 2) That could be a solution
Thats great, ill give it a try and let you now. +1 subscriber
Btw im an engineer myself, which sowtware do you use
Most my programming has been using an arduino so I just use their open source software. It’s fairly easy. I’m not a programmer by any stretch, but I get by for simple projects like this.
@@thehomesteadengineer-1 yeah I use that, I was talking about 3d modeling. I usually use tinkercad for my 3d printing and laser cutting. Thanks
@MirzAli lol, I’m sorry. That question makes way more sense. For my personal use I use Autodesk Fusion 360. It’s free for personal use and super powerful.
@@thehomesteadengineer-1 thanks ill try it
Don't like the winch idea. A cable across the field? Look into power window motors at a sqlvage yard. With the solar and actuators you can lift , the window motor will move it and i would recommend riding lawnmower wheels . Had a friend few years back fed his cattle automatically. It was a fascinating machine.
I’ve debated the drive mechanism with myself a lot. What is your concern about a cable across the field? I guess an elk or deer could trip over it and cause problems. My concern with powered wheels is if it falls in a big gopher hole it will get stuck or drive in a circle.
With a cable your committed to moving the cable. With window motors you can use servos, R/C in emergency and realign depending on automatic speed, With the automatic speed I'd use gear reduction to get desired creep and a chain mesh wall inside to create a buffer s from run overs.
I think it would be good to mock up the feeder open and close mechanism if you haven't already. It looks like it would leave some food out or able to be trapped between where the feeder was attempting to close and the base. Likewise an actuator would likely be able to crush a low IQ chicken's head. I think your design has that covered because of how far back the pinch point is, but little kid fingers etc need consideration.
Yeah, I’ll mock it up before building the final thing. I’m not worried about kids fingers because it will completely enclosed and I can cut power when kids go inside for any reason. Electric fence will keep them out. I don’t think the opening will be big enough to get the chickens head inside.
that's the exact tractor type I'd love to use. lol. i don't think i totally understand yours linear motors opening and closing the feed from the chickens. i mean, once you've opened them by maybe a hinge, don't they just stay hard against the moving board? closing it sounds like it would attempt to compress the feed, which doesn't sound very compressible. i was thinking what if your had some type of paddle wheel that turned and let feed out but chickens would gradually need more and more feed as they grow bigger and bigger and i don't see how that can be done without programming. actually.. maybe the feed motor doesn't move the feed at all? it just blocks access to the feed boxes on a timer just like those automatic chicken door openers?
my area would have rat, armadillo, and snake problems that all of those might get under the gap. a hard skirt of wire i see most people having problems with if it was being moved unattended. i wonder if one was to make something more like chainmail it could close those gaps and make slipping under or digging more problematic but would really only work if there was a way to encourage it to be splayed outward and not fold in. but every thing i think that might do that introduces surfaces easy to snag on. my best idea on that would be some type of spring steel rods that can easily bend but encourage the skirt to stay outward.
I’ve considered the paddle idea. The trouble is with getting it into a trough big enough for 50 birds. It would either need multiple doors or a long shoot, but that all gets very complicated quickly. I think it feed will just move up in the bin when the door closes but il honestly not sure yet. I’ll build a mockup or prototype before I build the final thing.
I don’t think any kind of flexible skirt will keep rats or snakes out. I’m still brainstorming that idea but I like some of the thoughts you threw out there.
Has there been any updates on this?
I very sorry to everyone for the lack of progress on this. I started remodeling my kitchen and had to set this aside for now. I’m hoping to restart this project in about a month. My wife needed a new kitchen, so the chickens will have to wait.
anything moving and that you are not checking daily and living beings depend on it, needs to be doubled. window openers fopr greenhouses, solar converters - especially the ones made in china and also winches. your birds will be dead in 2 days, if the system fails. i still have nightmares from childhood going into the turkey pen when electricity was out for a couple of days.
That’s a really good point. Maybe I should put two actuators and two doors on the feeder. While I’m not going to do anything as far as maintenance goes, I’ll have my little kids check it every day. It won’t be completely neglected.
@@thehomesteadengineer-1 if you want success, build it like you would be a ship engineer - everything is minimum doubled, critical systems tripled and use stupid solutions that dont have complicated methods of breaking down. ive lost several crops from greenhouses that i built automatic door and window openers that malfunctioned until i started using gas piston openers that work on expansion of gas, not electronics. kids checking on it is a good, but unreliable system. it rains some days and some days they have a flu and some days life happens, some days they become asshole teenagers that dont know better. i love the concept, i think its brilliant, that is why i am so critical, to make sure you succeed. there is only one me, there is only so many hours in a day.
@ullo-ragnartelliskivi4639 lol, teenagers! I appreciate the redundancy comments. I’ll definitely keep that in mind as I continue. Simple but redundant.
If there is wifi in the area of your friends place, maybe add a security camera inside the coop. Watch them from a phone or computer. 🤷🏼♂️
As someone with 2 chicken tractors who raises 80 birds a year....this is a bad idea. You need to have eyes on your chickens daily. THis allows you to watch for things like illness and other issues. WHile you are there, move the tractor. I have designed a tractor that is an A frame, with a brooder built in. Once they are big enough to leave the brooder, they occupy the run area and the brooder acts like a coop.
I’ll check them pretty often, but I don’t want to have to do it on a schedule. I’ll send the kids out regularly and go when I have some time during the day. But hauling water and feed is too much work. This is an experiment and it might fail, but I won’t know if I don’t try. I’ve never seen it done so we don’t know.
@@thehomesteadengineer-1 How far are your birds from water that it is a problem to haul water? I'm a mechanical engineer, so I understand the desire to engineer solutions, but sometimes, just carrying a little water is a much simpler solution. I have 2 sons and honestly, its good for them to do some chores. To move my coops, I have straps on the front. I back the diesel tractor up to the chicken tractor, put the straps on the grader blade, and pull the whole chicken tractor forward a full length. It takes about 15 minutes of work daily to care manually for two chicken tractors. Also, make one trip to your local feed store and buy in bulk if you aren't already. Don't buy grain from Rural King, Tractor supply or wherever. Your local grain mill will save you half on feed costs. That $21 50lb bag of feed at Rural King costs $12 to $14 at your local grain mill.
@raycecil4643 the closest local grain mill is three hours away. Not sure if it’s worth it, but I’ll crunch the numbers.
@@thehomesteadengineer-1 Dang bro, I thought my 40 minute one way trip was a big deal. Where you at, middle of Montana or something? Combine your trips to town, pull a trailer and load up. I do 600-1000lbs usually.
I’m in CA. Grain mills are rare. If you need fresh fruit or veggies those are everywhere. We don’t grow a lot of grain here.
Can you have is slaughter them for me too please? Also I'm going to need another machine w/ AI to sell the processed chickens... Also another one to hatch the eggs. I need a 100% hands free chicken farm. Thanks --- I'll give you a like an subscribe if you do this for me.
Is that all? I’ll get right on it. Give me a real challenge.
@@thehomesteadengineer-1 thx. I'll check back next monday to see if you have it all ready for my like and subscribe payment.