Keeping Chickens Safe in Tractors or Arks

How do you keep chickens from being eaten?  

This is the question I am asked most often, especially by friends and family who have not had been able to keep chickens due to predators.  Most people, including me, don't invest the kind of money it takes to keep chickens safe to the highest degree.  In fact, my portable coops (tractors) may be the least safe of all methods of keeping chickens safe.  Having said that, I have four tractors of different sizes and shapes, and I have safely kept chickens in them since November, 2015 with no loses. 

My number one advice on how to keep chickens safe:  Buy an electric fencer, wire, and fiberglass step in posts (or metal posts and insulators).  Surround your chicken tractor and keep it plugged in at all times!  Same for stationary coop and run, except, cover your run with chicken wire and a tarp at the very least.

My number two advice on how to keep chickens safe:  Do number one!  And, use hardware cloth  if you can afford it or other welded wire.  It is much stronger than chicken wire and a worthy investment!

We built the various tractors without plans, and not being professional builders or engineers, we learned valuable lessons in doing so. Some very nice designs are included on this page with my comments added.

The tractors we have built and used:  (1 to r) A-frame, Chicken Tractor 1, Monster Tractor, Chicken Suite.  Electric fence and posts are attached to the frame of the tractors.  Digging predators are not so much an issue where I live, but, the electric has deterred any threats thus far, especially from stray dogs and coyotes!  

Here are some other designs I like!

I would add another set of wheels at the entrance door, and cover the top of the hoop with a tarp.
I would also have an outdoor roost.

This is smaller than the one above, but, a good shot of the nest box,

I would move the ventilation up closer to the roof.

A wide pop door below the nest boxes would give better access to hanging feeder and waterer from outside the tractor.

This is how you do it!

This is an interesting access door and use of pipe.  Good for a few chickens if you don't mind cleaning out the coop.
I would prefer roost bars to be over open ground so there is no cleaning out the coop!

A good look at the shape and bones of this build.

A pasture coop and run has many benefits, including security from night time predators.
Minimal height of the run is typical of pasture pens.  After all, there is no need for humans to be in the run!
I can see a larger run, separate from the coop, would be very easy to move if it had wheels of its own.