About $700 and some salvage for the materials. Too many hours.
I don’t get it. How does the chicken drive that?
this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2026
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From the inside.
A chicken tractor: For poultry in motion.
She turned her tender eyes to me.
TIL chicken tractor, a mobile chicken coop. Nicely done!
Out of curiosity, how heavy is this, and is it meant to be moved by a single person?
I'm not sure how much it weighs, I can barely get it off the ground if I get my leverage just right on the coop side so probably 250+ pounds. Lifting the other end is easy. Even in grass this thing rolls real nice with just one person pushing or pulling that front bar. You get ready to heave-ho and discover it takes no effort at all to roll it.
That’s really nice!
Good job.
Assuming this is going to be sitting in a direct sunlight, I'd personally do a double take on the ventilation. That single vent isn't going to be doing much and it's going to get hot in there - especially with the dark paint.
There are two vents, both high enough above chicken heads to vent out without creating a problem.
Don't underestimate the insulative power of wood.
I have to go back in a few days. I'll be bringing an IR thermometer with me to check the inside temp at different heights.
R value for 3/4" plywood sheathing is 0.94 according to this. Sorry for PDF and Google link my phone is stupid
So, although green houses technically do the thing where infrared light can make it in and is then emitted at a wavelength that doesn't make it out, much more of the 'greenhouse effect' is simply trapping the air that gets heated from escaping through convection. Even though the inside of that box will be shaded, without enough ventilation the air inside will just keep getting hotter and hotter as the sun shines on it.
Correct. Which is why I installed vents.
The plans I based this on had a considerably smaller vent. One. Making matters worse it had windows. Glass windows. An absolute nightmare of cleaning and heating waiting to happen. I quickly nixed the windows and instead of just one vent on one side I put in two larger vents, one on each side. I also reduced the depth of the roost by about 40% to save on materials. This also means that the larger vents I installed are way more effective than they need to be. In fact I might have to build vent covers for extreme winter night lowes but that is for another day.
The only time hens will be in there are
- overnight (temps are never over 86 overnight in this area) or when laying eggs.
- If they are laying eggs they won't be in there long.
- they are broody. Any heat might help break them of that.
Bonus: the original plans had insulated walls with foam board. The combination of tiny vent, two windows and insulation would have cooked everything inside.
TL:DR The hotter (less dense) air will rise. It will leave via the vents or get tapped up much higher than the birds or the vents. I'm not worried at all. Adding more vents would be trivial but are ultimately unnecessary.
Seriously not trying to cast any shade as it looks very cool, but it definitely reminds me of a contraption I build in TOTK to farm eggs from chickens.
Baba Yaga has gotten with the times and gone mechanized.
Those legs require calories. Wheels are way less upkeep. If you don't feed the house the house will feed itself. And it is very indiscriminate about what/who it considers food.
kinda scary dyi is $700.
You should see the retail prices.
Very much this. After calculating up how much I spent making my chicken coop, I was feeling quite foolish until I looked up what equivalent coops would have cost and..yeah, I feel much better knowing mine will likely outlast anything I could have afforded to buy.
I have repeatedly said my first egg cost me $650. These days they cost me about 3¢ per egg. But if I had to keep replacing Tractor Supply coops every 5 years that cost would be dramatically higher. We were donated one of those coops. Occasionally I do an inspection and have to replace parts of it with scrap lumber. Coop of Theseus. I have replaced exactly one piece on the 7 other coops I've made over the last 9 years. Not one part each. One part total.
I advise every first time chicken tenders to make the best coop they can instead of buying off the shelf. Even if that coop is literally pallets and hardware cloth held together with rachet straps and door hinges they pulled off a door of the local dump. It will last longer than a Tractor Supply coop.
Damn dude, you are building those things to LAST. 7 coops though? I'm assuming not all for yourself? Or have you been expanding your chicken empire slowly but surely?
This is the first coupe I've made for someone else. Between ducks, geese and chickens and some of those needing to be separated even within their own species, you end up with a lot of coops.
We have basically two flocks of geese because the boys can't get along.
Rose has their own kennel because she can't get along with other ducks. Chickens like to have choices so they have two different coops they can pick form each day.
Welp, didn't know chickens like to have coop options. I just got done (well, almost done) building, according to my neighbor, a chicken Taj Mahal. Figured that'd be good enough for years but maybe not lol.
You've got quite the flock though!
Sometimes it's too crowded and one coop. Sometimes they want to stay where their nest is even if we destroy the nest everyday.
We are one coop designed for five birds and sometimes we find 14 in it.
If your Taj Mahal is made out of wood, you should post it here.
My Taj Mahal is indeed made out of wood. And hopes. And dreams. And terror that it'll blow over in a strong wind even though it's done a great job withstanding some very strong winds already. I will strongly consider making a post.
Do it.
For me diy isn't about price (at least bit always) but quality and individual needs.
I built my first chicken tractor in 2017. Even then it cost $600. But it was built to last. I replaced the roost floor at one point but other than that it's survived and I doubt any commercial model would have. After inflation that comes to $830. This one is bigger and yet cost less.
$700?? What did you build it out of lol
Looks great fwiw, nicely done. Obviously wood isnt cheap rn but id have thought you could build one for way less than that
Paint is not cheap either. And those are some nice wheels too.
And a whole lot of deck screws. And hardware cloth. And OSB. And plywood. And metal roof. And steel pole. The wheels were only $10 each at Harbor Freight. The bolts, nuts and washers from Home Depot to mount the wheel were also about $10 per wheel. $124 in total wheel relate costs. So worth it.
Paint was only $22. I went to the hardware store looking for discounted returns. Home Depot has $10 red brick colored exterior paint but it was oil based and would have dramatically complicated transportation when I moved this in my Hyundai hatchback. This blue gray exterior latex was found was at Ace for $22 but was definitely the better choice. Dry in 30 minutes, cures in a day or two instead of weeks.
It does not look like much in the way of materials, but it all adds up fast!
You probably could have gone down to tractor supply and picked a kit for $400 or so, but it is made of wood only slightly thicker than cardboard and would not have the open floor.
I need to do something like this for my cat who wants to be an outdoor cat.
TS ones, in addition to being made of cardboard, at that price point aren't built to be moved.
There is a lever mechanism you can get for the tires so it can make ground contact. Otherwise a cat would escape through the gap in this in 30 seconds.
I traded my new iPad pro for it.
Constantly moving on its own?
That sounds dangerous without some extensive hardware and software. Best to just let a human move it each day.
Damn this internet. Obligatory /s forgotten ;)
My neighbors are working on their similar mecha-poultryfication.
I worry for the chickens because it backs up against a wildlife area with foxes, cats, red tails, norwegian tree rats, kestrals, squivverls, eagles, coyotes, raccoons (one of them growled at me while sitting in my garage last night ... little fucker).
But even though they send me hate pics I wish their thing well. Some great advice an old timer gave me once was, "Make your home grow food."
Lots of definite predator concerns when you have chickens. Though a full grow hen has zero to worry about from domestic cats.
The only predator we had problems with were hawks. They were taking 1-3 a year. We got geese. They instantly fixed that problem. Hawks hate geese and won't go anywhere near them. Free grass mowing, guard dogs, giant eggs. Geese are the best investment.
I'm another chicken guy. That'll be handy to let them footage different stuff. You must not have too many chickens though. 4?
This is for a client. I have my own coops. So many coops. 14 hens, three ducks, 6 geese. 6 coops between them.
This was built for 5 hens with the idea that it can move each day for new forage. I know from experience that this could easily fit 12 hens before any started complaining.
That is THE FANCIEST chicken tractor I've ever seen! Well done!
Better suited to people who have issues bending.
Fancy! As a kid we used to have essentially this prism framed with 2x4s and wrapped in chicken wire that we rolled around. This looks much nicer, for you and the birds!