IGNORE The Hype - These Chicken Tractor's Don't Work!
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- Опубліковано 24 бер 2023
- IGNORE The Hype - These Chicken Tractor's Don't Work!
We are comparing the Salatin Broiler Shelter with the Suscovich Chicken Tractor today. Let's talk about the numbers, the pros and the cons!
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![How to Make a Chicken Tractor on Steroids [FULL VIDEO]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hi5eDdGzLK8/mqdefault.jpg)
I have been running a boiler operation using Joel’s chicken tractors for three years now. Very successful operation. Regarding the matter of getting to the chickens on butchering day, as most of you know, it is necessary to cut their feed about 24 hours before butchering. Because of this, they are quite hungry when it comes time to extract them from the pens. We discovered that putting an empty feeder in the front of the pen entices them all out of the crawlspace. Once they are in the front of the pen, we use screens to block off the back. At this point they are all extremely accessible.
My husband and I discussed modifying ours because if this EXACT issue! I have a smaller version of a similar style that I built that I learned from Living Traditions as I only planned to raise about 25 or so meat birds at a time. Now following those things you mentioned, I did NOT have something to block them off and after grabbing some, others scattered to the back where I couldn't reach them and even attempting to put a little corn on the ground for them to come wasnt successful either and ultimately I had to climb in and get in the ground to try and grab more, find ways to block the pen off on the last few etc. A real pita! Now ours is about half open on top so we do have a little more room for them to all come forward and figure out a way to put a barrier behind them, and then problem solved. I hope. We have differing opinions on how to accomplish that. Lol but even with the size of mine and I'm 5'3, that thing can be a bear to move and it's smaller! I typically am the one to move mine twice a day too! I am pretty sure that's what initially caused my left shoulder pain I experience stilll today! I don't have an expensive dolly to manipulate but with the size I wasn't supposed to need one. So I fastened a strap on the front of mine to pull my tractor. If I'm on flatter ground and grass is shorter, it's not too bad but I have a couple times caught a chicken partially get caught under it then I'm panicked to figure out how to move it to get it free! It's not a good feeling either. I don't really have issues with feeding and watering mine though. So the older I get I find I am in need of change so I don't stress my body as much. Last year right before butchering time nearly did me in as I got the worse flu I ever had and trying to move that thing exhausted to the point I didn't know if I would make it back to the house! I'm definitely looking to modify my existing one for further use!
modified to our size about 50 birds used pvc instead of wood tied the lids to the pipes also turned the pens half turn instead of pulling easier and can see the bottom of the pen
I agree. I run 3 of these tractors during the summer. Mine are 8’ by 8’. No dolly needed. I have never crawled around inside it. I feed twice a day. Egg birds, broilers, and turkeys is what i have raised in them. When harvest day comes I grab the easy ones first. When I get down to the last couple birds I just let them out. Not like they are going to fly away. If I end up with a bird I can’t catch I just sprinkle a little feed on the ground.
This video is just all massive kinds of dumb.
I made a small back door that is on the back side. Chickens will run right out if they’re hungry!
The reason Joel uses corrugated aluminum for the roof (or the galvanized steel roof) is because it dissipates the heat from the summer sun. That plastic roofing will make the chickens more thirsty as the day heats up.
The silver adhesive backed mats used for sound deadening in autos works great for heat too. Not sure how long they would last in wet/very cold weather conditions though- But can go on top of those panels to help.
Good video, we have run pastured birds for several years. We started with the poly face design but our biggest problem was bird losses due to heat in summer in our area of NC. We changed to an A-frame design and it made all the difference.
If you read Joel Salatin's book Pastured Poultry Profits, he talks about determining the time of year that you should be raising chickens. For those that live in warmer climates, he suggested that you shouldn't raise them in the summer for that exact reason. He also suggested that you could remove the back piece of tin to allow air flow during warmer months...obviously you will need to have chicken wire or hardware cloth to prevent escaping.
Good comparison. Some folks are mentioning cooking the birds. The aluminum is used not just for weight saving but it will not hold and radiate the amount of heat steel/tin/vinyl will. (that's what the design book says).
In Nebraska those tarps would last all of about 2 days, lol. I've seen a few videos like this and it's always interesting to see how different people value different things and and how much location affects everything.
Yep, if they don't get ripped off immediately, the wind will roll those tractors across the prairie. LOL
@@philyoung1066 We've lost lots of tarps over the years. We got two small car ports for our four wheelers, destroyed within in a year. We tried to save space and stack our hay bales, tarps blew off in a week. Put a tarp for shade over a head gate that we use during calving, got ripped off in 24 hours.
We even had a Morton style shed that didn't have walls and the whole roof got flipped upside down and landed 50 yards away.
Yeah, I'm doing pastured birds this year and went with Joel's design because of how windy it gets in the upper peninsula of Michigan. I lost 3 layers last year due to my hoop coop getting blown around and crushing them.
@Levi are you grazing on FLAT ground? I'm in SW NE. Lots of hills. What style do you run...a frame or flat top?...wind?😂😂😂😂😂
@@karynellinger769 I'm in Northeast Nebraska. It's definitely not flat like in the SE by the Platte, and it's definitely not hilly like the Sandhills. I don't run broilers but I have raised layer chicks in a homemade contraption similar to the Salatin tractor. Mine was 6x6 and 3ish feet tall.
I also used upside down trampoline legs to form a hoop, covered it in wire and attached some 2x6's to the bottom as runners. That thing is something like 16x4 ft (I made it when I was 14)
I made another one with the frame of an old child's bed (2x5?) It works perfect for a hen with a bunch of babies.
LOVE your bloopers!!! LOL!!
Since I am 70 years old and do everything on my own, I was very glad you discussed the difficulty of moving the tractors, the ability to retrieve birds and the fact that old farts like me cannot crawl around inside a 2 foot high cage!!!! I will be using the A frame tractors!!
That’s what my kids are for, haha!
I will be 75 in a couple of days, I have to have access to anything I use. I have to go small, or go high and move it with a tractor. I use small cages I can use nets to catch pullets etc, and a big spoon on a pole to get eggs when they lay before I move them. Got to plan it out, and know what you can and cant do in the pen.
I must admit I am a do-nothing farmer and loves to sit on my rear and watch you work. I am also a big fan of Joel Salatin. Glad to see a very honest design comparison of two chicken tractors. Thanks for the objectivity.
Get off your rear and raise your dinner, Mr. Farmer. ;-)
I was an intern at Polyface in 2017. We did chore the broilers twice a day with very large feeders (5-6 ft long held about 5 gallons of feed). I Appreciate a lot of the idea of the Polyface tractor however I believe the prairie schooner or even nets are a superior product in terms of user friendliness. I have never used John's design but it essentially gives you the pros of a schooner with man portability.
Thanks for the input. We figured they had to be fed 2x per day with only one feeder going in.
Totally agree there are some pros to the Polyface design but for our operation the schooner style works better.
I think it’s all context (land profile, operational labor, time, etc.) and that’s how folks should decide on which to go with.
Again, thanks for the input.
As an apples-to-apples comparison, adding the dolly to the initial cost of the Salatin tractor is significant. You didn't give the cost, but I'd speculate it likely cost at least $75-100 in materials and labor to get it fabricated. That adds ~25% to the cost of that first unit.
Great video. Thumbs up.
Just put my third batch of meat birds into my Salatin- style (though modified to be smaller at 8x10) tractor. For what it is, I think it works pretty well. We used an old kids three wheel scooter to break the plane and I (a smaller moderately strong somewhat mechanically challenged lady) can move the tractor with no difficulty on my own. We ran two batches last summer at peak temps in central GA last year with no losses in the tractor, so no concerns about heat. We moved the tractor twice daily- just found that the ground underneath was getting torn up/fertilized enough that we felt the need to do it.
While it was a relatively good experience, I would like to try suskovich style next because of the versatility. You can really only put meat birds in the Salatin style, but I want the option to run multiple species (though not at the same time) with one tractor. Good comparison- thanks for taking the time!
I use the cattle panel hop house works great easy to move I put small wheels on on end , I get about 40 meat chickens in it
My friend uses the Suscovich (never knew they had a name) style but I think hers are larger. She runs a batch of 200 birds in 3 chicken tractors. She puts used billboard tarps over them which hold up for years. They are heavy but that keeps them on the ground when it's windy. She runs hoses out to the tractors so they never run out of water. It's a little cumbersome but far easier than packing water twice a day. The tractors head out away from the barns to the end of the property, make a 180 degree turn and come back, always on fresh grass every day. This takes exactly the amount of time needed to grow them to butcher weight. It's a very elegant system, in my opinion, although it's a lot of work but so is all farming!
My tractors are 8' x 8' version of Salatin. No dolly needed. Having a rope handle on all 4 sides easy to move in any direction. I can move 2 8x8 tractors in the same time I move 1 10x12. On processing day I surround the tractor with fencing and lift the tractor out of the way. I pick material up from the Habitat for humanity store. Cost less than $100 per tractor. By placing come feed on the ground to where I am moving the tractor on eliminates birds getting run over. 2 tractors = about 80 birds.
Nice. Sounds like a good plan to work the birds.
This sounds like a great adaptation for a pasture that is less than ideal. UA-cam says your comment is ten months old...are these tractors still working well for you? Did I do my math right when I figure you keep about 40 birds per tractor?
I need to make a suscovich style. I have 2 poly style but made them 1/4th the size but I am also only raising 10-15 chickens. Scaled down it is easy to move and cheaper to build.
We have both, and I am SO glad I don’t have to deal with the Salatin style tractor anymore. Every reason you listed is dead on…if I had an army of interns, was in my 30’s, and had some flat land I may feel differently, but we are operating in Tn, and well, it’s just WORLDS easier with the Suscovich tractors! I think the biggest frustration (and the deal killer) for me was not being able to see the birds when I move the Salatin tractor, and not IF but WHEN you drag a bird and hurt it or kill it, trying to get in there to retrieve the bird is a nightmare. Thank you for the GREAT video…and love the bloopers at the end!
Thanks for the comment. Validates that I’m not imagining it or doing it totally wrong. And the thumbnail is accurate, I really DID want to like them but don’t care for them at all. Appreciate y’all watching!
Same here Chuck. We built 8x8 Salatin style tractors but left the front half open with just chicken wire covering it so we could see the birds better when moving it. I still wound up dragging 2 of them to their deaths last season, and it would have been more if we had put the roofing panel on the front of it. Had to coax the birds to the feed trough on butchering day to get them out.
You are exactly right, voice of experience
This is because your salatin coop is being moved in the wrong direction. Birds always want to move towards the sun.
@@ryan198486your moving the birds away from the sun that’s why you’re running them over.
I am an old women, Mine are much smaller holds about 15 chickens. I got ahold of some scrap angle iron and welded instead of lumber, much lighter. I got the roofing from a recycling center at .40cents a lbs. I can move them myself. no wheels. mine are about 3 ft tall. (I'm short) so i can reach the feeder and waters. The only thing I really paid for was the wire. They have a wire door on top. I built 10. Mine work great. No draw backs.
A very good fair and objective review. Appreciated your consideration between the two. Everything doesn't work for everyone. I love both those fellers and appreciate what they do and use things they have taught. Appreciate your channel brother. Great job. Take care
thanks for putting the effort into reviewing these. i run john's tractor design (with some mod's) and love them. i've used a few different builds and processes in the past, but i also go back to them.
I have built 3 of the Salatin style, first one by the book, minus the aluminum roof panels and the last 2 I slightly modified so I could use 1x6x16 deck boards and save alot of ripping lumber on my table saw. Also, the last one I built was 36" tall because the Broad breasted bronze turkeys I had decided to use the wife's new car to roost at night. I live in North Alabama, and 60% of the hills in the pasture needs to be carefully navigated in both the truck and tractor to avoid tipping over or causing any damage. I never built the dolly or even used anything to assist with moving them, unless its empty and I'm dragging farther than 15 feet, then I will hook it to the tractor 3pt. The thing I like about the Salatin style is I got it to be able to flex with the ground and still be rigid enough to drag with the tractor across the pasture. During the summer I remove all the side panels except for one side and take the center panels off the roof to provide better air flow. I don't know if its just been dumb luck or if I actually was able to train the birds, but pulling them by hand with nothing to assist I noticed during the first week if you only move it a little at a time, they will get the idea that it's moving time and walk right along with you. The only time I have ran one over is when I tried using the tractor to move it due to the noise and I got cocky thinking I could go over a terrace instead of heading back the other way. However, when it comes to butcher day. It is an absolute nightmare for me because it's all me, from catching the birds all the way through the processing, I have nobody to help. I have tried to pay people to come help and I have just given up, I'm going to try the other style and see if they are compatible with the terrain and hopefully they will make catching them much easier, that reason alone kinda makes me want to throw in the towel.
Use feed or treats to lure them to where you can grab them easily.
These videos are my therapy from nurse management, land-lording, and single daddy-ing.Miss my backyard nuggets.
Thank you for this video. I'm huge on coming up with my own designs for things, and this gave me a few things to think about.
Best video I’ve seen on comparing the two styles of tractors. Thank you!
I’ve been raising broilers over the past 4 years now, I started with the John Suscovich style and still use. I found over the past few years a major con that no one else seems to talk about, and maybe it’s because of my location but when the wind whips up hard enough the tarp will just turn the tractor into a sail. I recently just had one break way beyond repair due to high wind and constantly had to do small repairs in years past to fix them because they were flipped or rolled by the wind. Thank you for shining light on the cons of the Salatin style as I wouldn’t have thought about a few of them you had mentioned.
Great video! I have been watching you grow for a very long time. Keep it up !!
I built a Salatin tractor. It was easy to gather the birds when it was dark. The birds would nest in an attached box that had a lid that lifted up. Mine was smaller, roughly 7x7. It was great for raising young birds from 6 to 13 weeks of age.
Salatin style worked great for
Me with 80-100 birds. You need to have that rear dolly built! I used 31 gauge steel instead of aluminum. I built it exactly as the poly face design.
To catch birds, I just use a 1x4x8 to push them around.
I used a 10 gallon white bucket for water. We used 2 48” feeders.
How did you set up your bucket waterer?
The Salatin-style tractors do work! They are a hassle when emptying them on processing day, but other than that, no problem.
Good fairly unbiased pros and cons! Well done!
Thank you for your input. As first time chicken parents, we need all the help we can get. The taller ones are cuter too.😊
I built a Suscovich last spring and I am very happy with it. I modified it to use for my laying hens. One huge con was having to remove the wheels every time I was done moving the tractor. It is very time consuming and heavy to lift the back end to get the wheels on and off. I ended up buying and installing a Chick Lift and it made it 100 percent easier.
Very good video. I really enjoyed how you broke down the pros and cons of both styles. I agree with pretty much everything that you talked about here. I have also built just about every design that I've seen but my final evolution was more along the Salatin lines. Just goes to show that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to this.
Thank you for your comparrison of the two different style chicken tractors. I have two modified polyface tractors. I experienced some of the problems you pointed out in your video with my first tractor, so I made some modifications to my second one which I like alot better. I also have some hoop coops (similar to Living Traditions) which are too heavy to move. I came back to the polyface with modifications; reduce size to 8' x 10' with a two foot screen door across the front and one two foot covered removable door (2x8) 2' from the back, a drop down gate which I use to coral my birds in the front two feet which makes catching the birds relatively easy at proessing time. I never run more than 50 birds and fine it is relatively easy to catch my birds (and yes I'm a senior ). I feed once a day with starting with (1-4' feeder) and finishing with (2) 4" feeders and two waters. I can easy drag the tractor by hand and remove the doors so I can see all my birds as i move it. I raise cornish cross birds and process at 8 to 10 weeks dressing out in the 6 to 8 pound range. One other question do you have high winds? We have a lot of wind which has never moved the polyface tractors but have sent the hoops airbore tore them up.
Have you tried canvas tarps on them yet. Or maybe a shade cloth they use on greenhouses. It's heavy duty if you buy 50 percent shade or more
Thank You for the input.
A lot to digest before building
Oh man great video I built 2 of the PolyFace Tractors and can't agree more. The only advantage they have is the square footage they cover and the low profile
I’ve used both styles. The schooner design is more secure from determined dogs because it opens from the top and dogs can’t force the door open like the Suscovich, which I lost a whole batch of birds to the neighbor’s dogs and almost lost a second batch even after reinforcing the door. Personally I made the schooner style about half that size and as a woman I can move it easily since it has the wheels on the back. Plus being smaller it doesn’t need to be moved as far each time. I can always make a second one to raise more. I fitted a reflective tarp over the back half of the schooner and corrugated fiberglass on the front half. I attached feeder troughs on chains to the lid which is hinged and when the lid is lifted it lifts out the feeder troughs for easy reach in filling. Mine works well for me and I may be altering it to use as a brooder so I can raise them from chick to butcher in the same tractor. I like my schooner. I just adapted it make it easy to work with and be really secure at the same time. Get a poultry hook to grab chickens in the back or entice them out when they need to be fed. I don’t like getting down on my knees either in chicken poop!
Great video. Thanks for the comparison between the two.
I Live in Australia. I built a Sucovich chicken tractor with a tarp roof - the sulfur crested cockatoos landed on the ridge and after destroying 5 different tarps, I put a corrugated metal roof on it which made it too heavy to move. I had been previously been using the Salatin style chicken tractor for broilers & it still works extremely well. The Salatin style does work & it works well. It just din't work for you .
Excellent point! What about adding the aluminum V shaped topper over the tarp.
@@karenhaack3918 yes l could but it doesn't stop the ripping.
The Cockatoos will (did) still destroy the main roof area @@karenhaack3918
Just found your channel and I love it!!
Excellent comparison. I was getting ready to throw together a Salatin one and now I'm starting to lean towards those Suscovich tractors.
This was a great comparison video. I love sheraton Park farms and his vids. He did downplay the biggest con if the suskovich tractor tho which is salatins biggest point, and that is price point.
He said salatins cost $305 for 75 birds and suskovich tractor costs $388 for 35 birds. That means that apples to apples suskovich tractor REALLY costs $780 for the same 70 birds.
That's a BIG difference.
Now the dolly and moving it are an additional cost He didn't mention so there's also that. But the con of butchering day and catching chickens isn't that bad. U just get a board and herd them towards you. No need for crawling around.
And with some mods you could just add the wheels to salatins the same as the suskovich tractor for easier moving.
Either way tho enjoy growing your own food and good luck!
A good analysis. We are looking to do smaller batches of meat birds (Freedom Rangers) and also use the Suscovich for some small breeding groups to establish a nice American Bresse chicken flock. It seems the Suscovich is more versatile for our needs. The fact you even kept some weaned piglets in one is something.
I agree with what you said about the Joel tractor. We run one as we are just providing chicken for just our house. What I like about it is we can do one batch and cover our chicken needs for the year. We added hinges to the door to prop it open when feeding/watering. When they grow some you got to uses 2 feeders and fill a 5gal water 2x a day. Ours is run in our yard so it not that big of a deal to water more often. Butcher day a pain and I am working on making it easier. Thinking of some way to use plywood on rods to make the pen smaller as you take them out. Also we use 2 people to move it one on a normal dolly and one picking up and pulling it. Thanks for the video
Yea!!! Thank you for the evaluation of tractors!!! I’m struggling with the short tractor for many more reasons!!!!
Thank you! We just found you as we are looking at different chicken tractors. We are not far from y’all in Burnsville. We are a bit worried about how the Suscovitch will do in the mountainous terrain. Appreciate the comparison.
I'm going with the cattle panel (3) hoop house... w/ doors on both ends. LOVE IT
LIVING TRADITIONS HOMESTEAD HAS VIDEOS FOR THAT!
@@brendahoffer5534 the American pasture poultry producers association has write ups of most of the designs.
Thank you for the honest reviews.
showing the bloopers was great, thank you
Excellent video!!! Keep up the great work!!!!
I appreciate your respectful review, Chuck. My Bresse ship tomorrow, I’m excited to get going. I built a mobile hoop coop (3 panels) for the roosters. I was going to build a hen house a with covered run but I’m pretty sure I’m going to build another mobile hoop coop and add laying boxes and perches. I feel like the chickens might do better on fresh grass each day,
Sounds like a good plan!
Thank you so much for this video! We have been leaning toward the Suscovitch tractors but I love Polyface so much that I was torn! 😂
I’ve switched over to Peterson chicken tractor style. It is only 36inch tall and has survived 60+mph winds. 8x8 made with 2x3 lumber has a tarp roof that when locked in position the tarp is tight. I added wiggle wire so I can remove the tarp to gather the birds for harvest.
Thanks for the honest comparison. The accessibility is what i always questioned myself.
i had always leaned towards the suskovich design for the same reason, i got bad knees and im a bigger guy
@@swannee69 my first time seeing the suskovich design. I like it and im in the same boat size wise. Just looks more practical for my needs and can use it for other things.
Haha, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has to do redos. Great comparison. Reasons why we didn't go with the Joel Salatin tractor and built 7, soon to be 8, John Suscovich tractors.
Thanks for sharing your experiences, it will help in my decision making when the time comes, first I need to convince my better half.
Very good video very good information loved it one of the best videos I've watched on chicken tractors because there's a lot of them are way too heavy to move you're right on that one
Stretch some fence panels over a old trampoline frame lol my friend has used that for years
Great information, thank you
Been running 8x10 versions of the Salatin-style pen for over 25 years. 30 birds per pen...50 is too many. No problem with them. We withdraw the feed the night before, in the morning create a confined space with the chicken crates (4) with the pen being one of the side walls, place the empty feeder in the space you need the broilers to in, prop the pen up and walk a away for a few minutes and most (if not all) your birds will have crawled under the pen and into the catch space looking for breakfast. Just lower the pen and voila! Did I mention that they're easy to move, but just heavy enough to keep predators out. The taller pens are too heavy and prone to windthrow. Bad combination in my experience.
I built several similar to joels but went smaller , 8x8 because my ground is kinda unlevel. They work great so far. I run 40 per pen
I skipped Starbucks for a month and was able to purchase the Arizona Coyotes NHL franchise. It really does work!
Made our first suscovich tractor last year, ran 8 turkeys and then did a batch of 25 freedom rangers. I’ll be building 2 more tractors soon, love being able to stand up in them for chores! Excellent review, fair and honest!
Love the outtakes!
Useful information - we have a few egg-laying hens, and I've been pondering how best to keep them safely enclosed in some portion of a fallow garden area, where (based on what they promptly did to their permanent run) they'd eat the weeds, dig up the soil, and add fertilizer before being moved to the next area. I'm having some new thoughts based on this vid.
Built a Suscovich style here in Central Texas. Winds are bad here. That style becomes a sail. I’m switching to a Salatin because they are low profile from a wind perspective. Instead of 24” high, I may go 30 or 36”.
I just want to thank you for your videos . They are very helpful. I'm waiting to start a pasture poultry business using, 12x16 schooner type pens. Good lord willing it will be profitable. Again Thanks.
Aluminum roof I think maybe helps with heat? It's like a giant heat sink! Great video!
Thanks for making this comparison video. I have run both cc and rangers in 4 suscovich tractors for 5 years now. Looking to expand our chicken operation soon, and was thinking about going to the polyface design for the larger capacity. Now I think I will just build more suscovich style I am used to. I appreciate your honest review.
My only 2 bits is to remember that when scaling the suskovich tractor is A LOT more expensive. Salatins is $305 for 75 birds and suskovich is $388 for 35. That really apples to apples suskovich is 780 for the sake 70 birds.
I dont mean to dissuade you, either way I'm excited for you and jealous. (I've only run 10 at a time in a 6x3 salatin style in my suburban back yard) I'm only pointing out that sheratin Park farms guy, who I love, did seem to downplay suskovichs biggest con.
i loved the bloopers. i think we can all agree that we need more lol
We use a 6x8 version of the Polyface shelter for 25 birds. Corrugated steel roofing due to availability. We keep a middle cection in the back wall chicken wire for ventilation. Using a 2x2 bottom rail with the edge rounded over allows dragging easily without a dolly. Works well, even in South MS heat. We are not commercial but raise 100% of our own.
We use a cattle panel style design. It’s like an improved suscovich. We based it off the plans for the Simpson tractor from grass fed life.
Thank you for this info!
Thank you. That really helps.
We use Suscovich tractors with light sensor automatic doors, they are contained within electric fence. We make the area to handle multiple moves. Using this method we only have to move tractors every couple days. We get pretty windy in western Arkansas and the hold up. We use old advertising billboards (have to get white ones) and they hold up great. We ratchet strap them on. We have wheels on one end with a bracket that raises them up, use a large refrigerator dolly when moving them. Use them for layers and meat birds. We feel this works great on our farm.
I'm building a salatin tractor right now actually so I find these videos really helpful. Of course like everyone else I think it'll be different for me 😂 I am quite literally banking on them working
Also if anyone in Canada in particular Ontario is looking for corrugated aluminum, talk to a metal fab shop because I just got a quote for the 48-in 14 ft long sheets. They are $350 per sheet so $700 per tractor. I need to go through my couch cushions again before I pull the plug 🤢
We appreciate this video so much! Great reviews on both - very much agree with you on many pros and cons.
While the Salatin style tractor works well for young men and flat land, it is not the easiest to move for even a fit woman like myself (former Crossfitter). My husband created smaller tractors inspired by Salatin's design that works much better for our terrain and for my back LOL. Even though we have to move more tractors, it works for our hilly terrain without leaving huge gaps for predators to enter. We are using Suscovich style for our layers and turkeys this year. I am on the fence about this one, but right now it will do. My husband will probably create something else inspired by Suscovich's design that works better for us too.
Thanks so much for this! I have 2 Suskovich tractors and they’re getting old. So I was gonna build a Salatin model (but out of PVC) this year. Your pros vs cons definitely helped me to decide!
PVC is a waste of time.
Why is that your opinion?
We use a heavy duty custom made white vinyl tarp for our roof. we added rivets for water drainage. We also use the suskovich wheel system on our salatin tractor and not the dolly. It works fine for us. We also have a suskovich tractor which we do like better, but the salatin tractor works fine.
Built mine out of old pallet racking. I made a 9x7 frame to drag on our new drive way. Took scrap cattle panels and bent over at the top. Cost was 2 rolls of hardware cloth. Had wheels which were added with removal bolts. Tongue so I move with a garden tractor. Think outside the box (pun) and create your own!
Love the bloopers at the end
Thankyou! I'm going to try the A frame style
Good video. Love the bloopers 😂
Great video love the blooper segment lol
We have a Salatin style one for the meat birds and have a hybrid type between the two styles you show for our rabbits and sometimes for the laying birds.
Thanks for posting this. The low design of Salatin tractor is a deal breaker for me with a tricky back. I’ll build the other one.
Great video thank you .
Thanks for a great comparison of tractors. I have used other tractors in the past but I really like the A frame design of the Suscovich unit. I like your avatar also.. Yggdrasil, the tree of life.
We tried the Salatin first, but it collapsed in a rain storm, luckily none of the chickens were hurt. Hard to move, lost birds to predators when I missed a dip in the earth, and it gets HOT in there. We converted it to a low peaked roof, but it needs rebuilding again, so we are going to a modified Suscovich this time (taller, with hardware cloth along the bottom). I'm tired of bending over with heavy loads and my back doesn't like it. We also live on a hill, so hanging feeders & water are better than building level platforms every time we have to move the tractor.
Have you looked at 8’x 10’ hoop house built from two cattle panels? They’re light weight and easy to build. They also require a tarp
Excellent!!! thanks!
Thinking you could cut some pvc pipe in half and screw to the bottom of the wood to act as a sled. Would be way easier to move and would make them last longer by removing wood contact with the ground.
The bloopers was my favorite part.
Unless you have completely flat land don’t build the chickshaw from Justin Rhode either. It’s impossible to pull on any slope when your chickens are grown.
Really really good info. I’m not sure how much money you had to pay to have you to suggest your video for us, but your two cents we’re just what we were looking for. Now what I need to figure out is how can I get the Suschovich Tractor to handle our terrible Oklahoma wind…
Thanks for watching. We just try to put out good content that folks want to watch. Good luck with that wind!!!
That's pretty awesome thank you so much and I love your bloopers at the end I'm new on here and I subscribed so that I can get more videos. My brother has 10 and a half acres and I bought almost 7 and we are wanting our land to work for us so that we can enjoy life a lot more and know what we are eating. I've been diagnosed with stage four bladder kidney cancer so I'm doing my best to do good and the food that I eat and know where it comes from
Built 2 suskovich pens. Loved them. Built 2 more. Worked awesome. 3rd year was very windy. When very windy I moved them next to our house. In a bad wind storm one of them climbed our house and ended up on our roof. My milage Joel Salatin is right. His design is perfected over 50 years etc. Still the suskovich style is very useful for selling chick's turkeys goats etc as a staging pen.
I find the main reason for aluminum Roofing is because of heat metal roofing gets extremely warm underneath it
I have terrible news for you. Aluminum is a metal.
Instead of tarps why not try attaching vinyl siding and a ridge cap ? It will last for years and is more durable. No more tarps blowing away or ripping. 💖💖🙏🙏💖💖
Quick question what style waterer and feeder have you had good luck with in your John Suscovich style tractors?
I built an A-frame tractor similar to that tractor it cost me roughly 250 bucks I easily put 25 birds and definitely do more then I liked the style it gives the birds more room for better wings yum yum
I used two hinged lids. So I can get right in. Herd the birds with a pole with a cross piece on it. Like a bird squeegee. Also two large diameter pvc pipes that hung straight up with a stop plate on the bottom for feeder. Don't even have to open it to feed them. One waterer. None modified solid wheel dolly. Large wire to pull it manually. Ran the wire through old hose. I like it. I am able to move it even though I used crap 2x4 laying around and steel roof ... It is heavy. Easy to use. Used polyface as a general guide.