Good questions.

Chickens are birds and like to sleep on a limb, not on the ground and not in a box.

Give them some room to get a place and a perch.

In a tractor you can put 2x2s across the front and back a foot or so in and just above the ground to give them a place to roost and double as a "bumper" to keep them from getting caught when the coop moves.


When a girl decides to lay she wants a place dark and close but not necessarily near the roost.

Just my experience...

As much as I hate talking to myself, I figured I should at least do a follow up.

The bucket have indeed remained nearly poop free, and the hens do lay eggs in them. It will take a couple more weeks to know for sure but it seems that they are transitioning from laying in the straw under a lean-to/perch to the buckets. The eggs that come out of the buckets have been virtually spotless.

We've been down to -30 F without any real problem. That being said we do have a heavier breed and they are completely out of the wind and tend to huddle up on the floor when the nights get that cold. Just make sure there is plenty of water, a good ration and give some sympathy for the forstbitten combs and waddles.

I have (had) 3 chickens in a chicken tractor which covers 8' x 4' of ground. The 'upstairs' has two sections one where the ramp goes up, which is approx 5' x 2' and the nesting boxes which is 3'x2' split into three with three 1' x 1' boxes.

I used to pull up the ramp at night, but now leave it down unless it's particularly bad weather.

The tractor gets moved every week or so depending on the state of the ground, so the chickens get plenty of grass. I feed the on chicken corn and give them water from our external bath which I refill with tap water.

I let the chickens out when I go to work, and this tends to be about 2/3 times per week. They are checked every day for water and food.

They seemed quite happy, but I've had a lot of flak from the women who owns the neigbouring field saying we are being cruel, and the conditions are too cramped.

She's even started coming into my field and letting them out during the day, which has resulted in us losing one (probably to a fox). I'm not happy, but she's even been texting the owner of the land (we are renting), saying we are being cruel.

First - Are the conditions above cruel? If not, has anyone any links to any backup information I can use to demonstrate she's wrong?

Second - I've read books about chicken production that have much more densely populated areas than this, but they are not witten by animal welfare organisations. Anybody got other links?

I think the women is stirring it because she wants the land, but wouldn't mind some advice.

I agree with Shanny that is plenty of space for three hens, especially if the pen is moved every day or so.

Thanks very much for that. If it's alright with you 2 it's fine for me!.

She keeps ponies, - John Seymour doesn't give any tips on humane slaughter & butchering a pony. I've eaten horse meat before, but never pony. Advice on humane slaughter, butchering and recipes would be welcome






































Only joking.

I ordered what I thought was "Fowl" in Switzerland. My waiter knowing I was American, pointed out to me it was "Foal" not fowl. I changed my order.

The tractor should be fine, but you do need to move it at least every other day.

Due to some nasty weasels, I've given up on tractors. I'm in the proccess of building an open air, weasel proof, coop. It's more expensive than I'd hoped, but it looks cool. I'll post some pics when it is finished.

I've been moving it less recently because the grass I've moved it onto is so long it takes the chickens ages to scratch down to earth. I tend to move it about a foot when they are down to bare earth at the back end. This tends to work, as they tend to forage around the pen in a fairly even manner, so the new area takes longer to get down to bare earth.

If I moved them every couple of days, I'd still be leaving long grass behind them, where I though the poinw as to let them clear the ground.

It depends on what you're trying to get them to do for you. If you want to clear the ground, you'll need to leave them in one place long enough for that to happen. We move our pens daily because we're just using the birds to break up thatch and trim the grass a little, not clear - though they still tend to clear all the way to the dirt around the edges of the pen where I guess the crickets are trying to hide.

If you throw their grain on the ground inside the pen, instead of in a feeder, they'll have to scratch around to get at it, possibly clearing faster. Maybe you're already doing that.

No, using a feeder. I'll try scattering more, but the point is; Why move the tractor when there is loads of grass for them to scratch at?

You don't need to move it unless you want them to get fresh grass each day. If you're trying to clear the grass, then leave it in place.