DIY Chicken Tractor and Run Area

This spring, we are getting an early start on our chickens.. and nothing makes me more excited than to see them grow so fast and get closer to moving outdoors. My 4 adult hens are ready to explore and peck at some new grass that is trying to grow. My wonderful husband has worked on and off the past week on a chicken tractor that will allow us to move them to fresh grass every day and still be safe from predators. Here are some pictures of our progress and a little inspiration for those seeking ideas on how to build a chicken tractor. I will also link most of the supplies we used so you can easily order them off of Amazon and be ready to build. Ordering things through the link in an easy way to help you get what you need while also benefiting me for directing you there.

We used a lot of old barn wood and stuff we had laying around the barn for the support and upper floor.



The base of this chicken tractor is two 4x4x8 pieces with one of them cut in half to put on each end of the rectangle. Just two pieces of 4’ by 8’ cattle panel were used to stretch across the board and create a hoop that would support the tarp and chicken wire. It is nailed in with heavy duty staples.


He fastened the tarp and chicken wire to the cattle panel with zip ties. They are so easy and work great!! We got some hard wire that is a little sturdier than the chicken wire to put on the outside end. Then he used old boards from the barn to build up an end for them to have a nest box, food, water, and dry place to stay. He built all of this off the base boards using some 2x4 pieces. He bought these hinges and this latch and used these wood screws that he had on hand.

 
Using a wider board, he made a lip on the end of the step up so they can roost on it and hold shaving in to keep things dry. We used a 5 gallon bucket/ cat litter bucket as a nesting box and are starting with one for now since they only used one in their previous home. If they don’t like the buckets we will go back to a simple box design like these, with spacers between boxes.

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