Raising backyard chickens isn’t quite as simple as just introducing a few chicks to your backyard and putting out a food bowl. Like any other outdoor pet, it’s important to provide your animals with adequate shelter from the elements. Fido may have his doghouse, but your chicken has a couple of choices to roost in. In this blog post, we’ll be discussing the differences between a chicken tractor and chicken coop.
Chicken Tractors
A chicken tractor typically combines a roosting area with run and can be easily moved throughout your yard or acreage. The run section allows your hens access to fresh grass, weeds, bugs and vegetation while maintaining their safety via a wire perimeter.
This type of setup is especially beneficial if your yard isn’t as secure as you would like. While chickens aren’t migratory birds, that doesn’t mean that they can’t get airborne enough to clear your fence and roost in the neighbor’s pear tree. Plus, if the dog sneaks out unsupervised, there’s a strong chance that the temptation for sneaking a taste of chicken will be too strong for him or her to resist.
Chicken are not only more secure for your flock, but they also have the benefit of being moveable. Hens that scavenge in one place will quickly clear the land as if a tractor had plowed up all the vegetation. But don’t worry, because the chicken poop that’s left behind is an excellent fertilizer and the spot will regenerate once the chickens are moved. Portable pens let you redirect your chickens’ attention to a new track of land, rotating throughout your yard so every patch of green gets its own turn to be pruned and fertilized.
HOMEFIELD offers a chicken tractor that is the perfect size for a small backyard brood of for a starter flock. Our Bantam Chicken Tractor is perfect for up to six hens.
Chicken Coops
Chickens are social creatures. They are happiest with a large flock of hens with their own established “pecking order.” Yes, that’s where that saying comes from. For large flocks, a tiny chicken tractor may not provide enough free-range room.
Provided that your yard is secure from neighborhood dogs and is large enough that your birds aren’t likely to roam into enemy territory, a stationary coop may be a better solution for housing your chickens.
HOMEFIELD has two large coop styles to choose from. Our Brahma Chicken Coop comes with six nesting boxes, while our Plymouth Chicken Coop has eight. Don’t worry, not every chicken needs its own nesting box. The Plymouth comfortably houses up to 24 chickens.
Since no chicken run is attached to the chicken coop, you’ll need to open and close it daily to provide your birds with access to the great outdoors. For the high tech farmer of the future, we have an optional upgrade of a solar powered access panel that will open and close automatically, giving your girls hands-free routine access to the yard.
Chicken coops and chicken tractors are now available at HOMEFIELD in Corpus Christi, TX and New Braunfels, TX. Learn more.
