Introduction: Building a Chicken Tractor, the LONG and DIFFICULT Way! (UPDATED!)

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About: Well, I am a Fire B.A.T. - A Breathing Air Technician for firefighting equipment. I repair and test Survivair Breathing Apparatus and air compressors. My wife and I recently moved to her parents' farm, which …

For my first Instructable, I'll show you how NOT to build a Chicken Tractor, which is a portable, enclosed pen for chickens. Each day you can move it to a new part of the lawn, so the chickens inside can get fresh grass. This design turned out to be pretty cheap, not too ugly, and easy to move around. The way I assembled it was NOT. I tend to come up with pretty good final products, but my methods to get there are ... bad.
I will show ALL the steps I took to make this project, unlike most Instructables that only show the good steps. Bear with me, enjoy the chaos, and please, if you decide to build one of these, READ ALL THE STEPS FIRST! It will save you the problems that I bestowed upon myself.

Step 1: Materials Needed

10 sections of 1/2" conduit, 10 ft in length
8 ft wide plastic mesh, 1" grid, 30 feet or so left over from winterizing the fishpond
pile of 1-1/2" ABS pipe scavenged from a fire company's old carnival booth
pile of 1-1/2" ABS pipe fittings you bought to make something with that pipe, but then couldn't remember where you put them and had to buy more, only to find the first ones as soon as you got home
14-ga galvanised electric fence wire- the stuff you bought 3/4 mile of to make chainmail, until you discovered that it was too soft
1/4" grid galvanised hardware cloth you bought to keep the rabbit from chewing the porch railing, but never put up
ABS cement (see above regarding pipe fittings, do same with this cement)
2" galvanised wood screws, squaredrive head because they were $1/ box
3/8" drill
reciprocating saw
Sharpie Marker
pliers
drill bits


Step 2: Finding Your Assembly Area

You're going to build this thing in the front yard of the house. Most of the materials and tools are in the barn, WAYyyy over there. No electricity in the barn, which you need to run the drill and saw. Lug all materials and tools from the barn to the house. Take the mountain bike, too. You'll need it later.

Step 3: Assembling the Base

The base of the frame is made out of the 1 1/2" ABS pipe, and is 10' long by 5' wide. Start by squaring off all the poorly cut ends of the pipe.Measure and start gluing sections together using the connectors. Mark the pipe pieces with the Sharpie marker, so you can cut them with the recip saw.
The Sharpie is still in the house. Go get it.
Make the first long section 10 feet, 2 inches long.
Cut off the extra 2 inches, because you measured it wrong the first time.
Notice that one piece of pipe says 2", not 1 1/2".
What?
Duh, you glued a fitting over the "1 1/ " part!
make the second section 9 feet, 10 inches long, because you cut those 2 extra inches off the other piece, so now the last piece for this one is too short. cut a second piece the right length to make both sections 10 feet. Measure carefully, mark with Sharpie while holding its cap in your mouth.
Poke yourself in the lip while trying to put the cap back on the Sharpie, leaving a black stripe on your face.
Glue together enough pieces to make the two 5 foot end sections... if you had enough... but you don't. Wait, this was and entire 10' by 10' carnival booth you got the pipe from, where did the rest...go?
Find the rest of the pipe under the hedges by the fishpond, where you were going to use it to make the winter leaf cover's frame, but made the frame out of wood instead. (THAT'S what all those fittings were for!)
Remember to NOT glue all the elbows on until after you test-fit everything, that way the base will lay flat... except you've already put glue on one elbow. Pull it off, quick!
The frame base is assembled!

Step 4: Bending the Conduit

You'll need 6 hoops for the top of the frame. Bend the conduit by putting it in the gap between the tree and the power outlet post, then bending it around the tree.
Discover that what you thought was rain falling on you was actually ants falling out of the tree.
Carefully bend 6 matching hoops. Make joke about playing Giant Croquet.
To nobody. No one else is home.
Break for Egg Salad Sandwiches on whole wheat bread!
Discover that the only beverage in the fridge is apple juice boxes that expired over a month ago.
Drink one anyway.

Step 5: Drilling the Holes in the Base

You need to drill 3/4" holes into the top of the pipe, so you can push the ends of the conduit hoops into them and secure with a screw.
Since you are using a drill that has a removable chuck, make sure to put the chuck somewhere other than on the drill.
Go to the barn to find the chuck.
Discover that the biggest bit that will fit in the drill is 3/8".
Go to the barn for a 3/4" bit.
Come back 20 minutes later, without one. You have 9 toolboxes, but can't find one drill bit in any of them.
Drill one hole in the elbow of the base, then mill it bigger with the 3/8" bit by wiggling it around.
Drill second hole same way on next elbow.
!
Go to the barn for a 3/4" bit.
Find it immediately in the first box you looked in before.
Measure and mark every 2 1/2 feet for the other 4 hoops (3 along the pipe, one in the elbows on the other end.)
Drill 8 holes with 3/4" bit in less time than it took to drill the first one with the 3/8" bit.

Step 6: Attaching the Hoops

Using a 1/8" bit, drill a hole sideways through both plastic and metal pipes for first hoop, so you can run a screw into it.
Break bit.
Remove chuck to expose 1/4" drive socket for screwdriver bit. Put squaredrive bit in holder.
Discover bit is too short.
Pull bit out with pliers and put in longer holder.
Push end of hoop into hole, and run galvanised screw into the side hole using the drill.
Break the head off the screw, leaving the stump jammed into the conduit and preventing you from pulling the hoop back out of the hole.
Fix it.
Push end of hoop into hole, and run galvanised screw into the side hole using the drill.
Repeat at other end of hoop.
Push end of second hoop into hole, and run galvanised screw into the side hole using the drill.
Break second bit.
Push end of third hoop into hole, and run galvanised screw into the side hole using the drill.
Repeat until all 5 hoops are secured.
Didn't you bend SIX hoops?
!
Drill holes through ends of unbent section of conduit, and , using wire, attach the straight piece to the tops of all the hoops, to keep them from wobbling.
Remember how you made the base sections 10 feet long to match the top conduit, which is also 10 feet? You also added elbows to that length, making the base about 10 feet, 5 inches long, and the end hoops more than 10 feet apart.
Cheat. Angle the ends in so the top pipe will fit.
Go to the barn to get a roll of electrical tape, to add some security to the wired connections on the hoops.
Discover that you knocked the glue over, and since you didn't screw the lid on tight, half the can is now a sticky puddle in the grass.
Frame is DONE!
Drink second expired Apple Juice Box.

Step 7: Adding the Mesh

Measure and cut two 11-foot sections of the 8-foot mesh. These will be long enough to fit crosswise over the hoops, with 6 inches on each ends to wrap around the base. Wire the mesh to the base by threading the 14-gauge wire through the mesh.
This would work better with thinner wire, or nylon string.
Go to the barn to get some string.
Come back 20 minutes later, no string.
Continue to wire mesh to frame.
At end, curl mesh around and wire together to close end off.
The Tractor is done!
Except for the door end, because you haven't figured out how to make the door yet.
Try out the Tractor by putting two rabbits inside. Push the tractor against the bunny pen while you get that piece of wood right over there to act as a door.
5 seconds later, both rabbits squeeze through the 3-inch gap and escape. Go catch them and put them back in their pen.

Step 8: A Door!

Remember that 6th hoop? THAT'S what it is for! You subconsciously knew you needed 6! You won't need the other 3 unbent pieces, though. Put them in the barn for some other project.
Using a section of pipe slightly shorter than the base end, drill holes for the hoop and screw it together. Cut a piece of mesh 6 inches larger than the doorframe, then lash the mesh to the frame using the nylon STRING you couldn't find earlier, but then found under the porch swing. Use the white string, not the PINK stuff!
Fit the bottom pipe into the Tractor frame so it sits on top of the base pipe. Using wire, tie the two pipes together. make a latch at the top with more wire.
NOW it is DONE!
Add chickens!
The chickens need food, water, and shelter from sun and rain. Inside the tractor are a feeder, a waterer, and a big storage tub made into a coop. The non-door end has a shower curtain wired over it to act as a sun shade/ umbrella.
Move the Tractor, with the chickens inside, (but take the feeders and coop out), by holding the end hoop and SLOWLY sliding it across the grass while your wife calls, "Come here, Chickies!" They will waddle along inside, frequently stopping to sit down, and thinking that the 15 feet you made them walk is the most strenuous exercise they have ever had.
4 to 6 weeks later, enjoy another Egg Salad Sandwich. It will be the best one ever, because YOUR grass-fed chickens laid the eggs!
Except you accidentally bought Broiler (for eating) Chickens.
And they're all Roosters.
And you can't eat them, because they have names. You don't eat pets that have names.

Step 9: All Done!

Wasn't that a fun way to spend a beautiful Saturday afternoon, which also happened to be your BIRTHDAY? Go get cleaned up, you're going out for dinner!

Step 10: One Year Later...

Well, it has been a year since I bought my first four chickens. Yes, it turns out they WERE all Roosters. When I wrote this instructable, I wasn't sure, but soon there was an awful noise coming from four competing crowers at 4:30 AM, and the truth was out. Those four have since moved to a different farm, where they are waddling, crowing, and mating as much as they want. (As far as I want to know...)
I purchased 6 more chicks at a Tractor Supply store while on a work trip in Western New York State, resulting in an overnight motel stay in Bradford, PA, with six peeping chicks.
At least these ones are egg-layers, and 4 of the 6 are hens.
These chickens outgrew their tractor after a few months, so now they just roam around the yard during the day, and sleep in a modified childrens' cedar playhouse at night. Of course, they have food names. The 3 Australian Orpingtons are Cinnamon, Rosemary, and Basil (a Rooster.) The 3 Rhode Island Reds are Ginger, Olive, and Pepper (the other Rooster.) We get 2-4 beautiful brown eggs every day, and enjoy watching the chickens run around, scratch for food, and dig in the compost bin. Pepper thinks he is in the Circus- he found a red kick ball, and he will jump on top of it, then paddle his feet and roll the ball across the yard!
If you have the room, don't mind a bit of crowing, and can eat a LOT of eggs, I certainly recommend getting chickens. They're worth the effort!