Revisiting these videos. Lumber costs too much, so I’m trying to fashion one out of pallets. It will be about 4’ x 80” wide. Wish I had tools. Air nailer, clamps, stapler, wrenches...but I’ll get there. I also scrounged fiberglass mobile home skirting to use for the roof and siding. Should be quite a sight.
Let me know how it turns out bro! I think it would be way more interesting to see one built out of those materials than things bought right off the shelf.
I also ran the threaded rod through the 2 x 4. I put a 3/4" pvc pipe through first to act as a bushing then the rod slips right through. I extended the front handle support in a level position and added the stabling feet to the extention arms up near the hand pole. Works perfect.
Yeah, chicken tractor was used at least I saw them 30 years ago made of thin Wood piece with Bird net to protect hen with Little chikens with stone on the roof against wind. Nowadays we have great amount of tools and materials to make tractor with inflated lifted wheels in the middle of tractor with handle it is easy. Just make holes with center Wood piece with grinder or saw just enough to wheel to lift up and down with lock pin then make ordinary regular tractor even heavy and lift it a bit lock pin The same operation on the other side grab The handle and go wherever you want. Just think for a moment and all of you will know how to do it :-) good luck
Loving this........on to #2 Love to watch you guys build things and it really sparks the imagination for how diff landscapes work and how you have to move things. Awesome! Thank you for your talent of education ant thank you for sharing it freely! Blessings
Awesome design and nice big wheels … the only thing I’d suggest to get through narrower places, is to put the wheels across the 4’ width rather than the wider. It would balance well as the laying boxes are weighing it down lengthways.
I will build one like yours ASAP. What I really like is your idea with the angle iron to ‘pin’ it in-place. My land isn’t flat (not as severely sloping as yours) so these are a perfect enhancement. Also, should I slip while moving it, it won’t run me over. I hope I can remove the bedding easily by myself, to take to the compost piles. I noticed that usually two of you carry out the tarp with used bedding. If I can’t manage that alone, I have an idea to add a rear ‘dump door’ to tip up the tractor and let the bedding slide out the back, perhaps with rake to assist emptying it. The rear door would have the nesting boxes attached so they could be swung up all in one piece with the door. In that way I’d leave my compost piles behind the tractor. Hmmm? Any suggestions or provisos? Seems doable.
Your gussets are so very important for longevity. Your axels are a huge improvement. Rhodes has so much trouble with his axels bending and slipping out. Will the threads eat into your wheel bearings? Why did you not choose to mount your nesting boxes externally? There must be some reason I do not understand. Wouldn't that free up more roosting space and allow you to clean better without straw plugging the wire mesh inside?
So far we haven’t had any problems with the threads eating into the wheelbearings. Situating the nesting boxes externally is a great idea. In fact, we did that very thing on all of our previous models. We chose to put them on the inside because the smaller birds roost underneath them.
Thank you for this! Will watch the entire two parts with my family. Is there a way to get a hold only Justin's setup list of the tractor etc? I can't seem to find where
Did you use 2x2’s from the store for the 2x2’s in the build? Justin calls for the 2x4’s to be sawed into 1.5x 1.75” boards. I don’t have anything but a circular saw. Do you think i can get away with using 2x2’s from the store?
Hi Billy. I have been thinking about building a bigger tractor about 20' x 20'. I want to pull it with a side by side. So I am asking with your experience do you think it would work?
Benjamin B This one cost right around $300. It would have been half that price if I had used the scrap lumber we had laying around… but we were in a rush this time.
