Hydraulic Lift for Chicken Tractor

[M5farms]

Simplest idea (other than skids)...

Permanently mount the wheels behind the coop and firmly touching the ground (but not enough to lift the coop). Then, when you lift the front with the 3pt, it will tilt back and be riding on the wheels.

View attachment 607509

Chickens escape out the front , Must be a myth but there are people that actually let their chickens run around on their own and forage all day long then around dark they all magically return to the coop to roost . some have even gone as far as having automatic doors the open and close with sunrise / sunset .

 

[snymat68]

Chickens escape out the front , Must be a myth but there are people that actually let their chickens run around on their own and forage all day long then around dark they all magically return to the coop to roost . some have even gone as far as having automatic doors the open and close with sunrise / sunset .

I was assuming (I know, I know) that the chickens would not be present in the coop while it's being moved. If they remained inside, what would keep them from getting run over by the back of the coop?

 

[Diggin It]

These options were all discussed in the previous thread linked above.

 

[snymat68]

These options were all discussed in the previous thread linked above.

Except for the tractor sled idea.

 

[Tractorable]

It’s going to be a rear swing arm design with trailer wheels. Right now I’m really digging this linear actuator idea to press down on the rear swing arm and raise the rear of the coop. Keeps it simple and 12V electric gives the option for a 12V LED lights on the inside.

Didn’t know linear actuators existed until today thanks to you guys. Specs say under no load it moves 0.66/sec and under max load it moves 0.56/sec which should raise it relatively even rate.

 

[snymat68]

It’s going to be a rear swing arm design with trailer wheels. Right now I’m really digging this linear actuator idea to press down on the rear swing arm and raise the rear of the coop. Keeps it simple and 12V electric gives the option for a 12V LED lights on the inside.

Didn’t know linear actuators existed until today thanks to you guys. Specs say under no load it moves 0.55in/sec and under max load it moves 0.66in/sec which should raise it relatively even rate.

Progressive Automations

 

[ericm979]

surpluscenter has a bunch of linear actuators.

 

[Tractorable]

This is what I’m going for if you can envision it. Will have a bar going between the swingarms that two linear actuators will push down on, one on each side.

 

[M5farms]

I realize this takes a little manual labor but it is the simplest design for what you have.
weld a peg on axle



a pull pin in white holes or make a quick latch . then your pry bar to raise the rear would only take about 5 seconds .


your peg location could change to make it easy to lift .

 

[EddieWalker]

I was assuming (I know, I know) that the chickens would not be present in the coop while it's being moved. If they remained inside, what would keep them from getting run over by the back of the coop?

All the chickens will go to bed when it gets dark outside. Most will roost on a branch of some kind in the coop, a few will sleep in the nesting box and a few might sleep on the floor. Once they are asleep, you can walk right up to them and pick them up. They are totally defenseless and clueless of what's going on around them. If somebody wanted to move a coop around, or put their chickens inside an enclosed area, doing it at night would make it easy.

When I first got started, I was clueless. As we increased our number of chickens for more eggs, we realized that keeping them in the coop wasn't the best thing for them. Everyone we talked to told us that if you let them out during the day, they would come back at night. Eventually we listened and it turned out to be the best advice we received. We went from 20 chickens to about 150, with plans of building a super coop that will allow us to triple our numbers.

We thought about a chicken tractor, but realized that it just wasn't something that we would put the time into moving around once a week. I struggle to mow the grass every two weeks. So much easier to just let the chickens wonder around where they want to and eat as many bugs as possible!!!