5 Best Chicken Tractors in Australia for 2024

1. Chicken Coop with Run on Wheel with Nesting Box Cage

While it’s from a fairly generic brand, this basic chicken tractor by QH offers everything you need to get started with a small brood of chickens, including a nesting box, laying box and plenty of room to dig around in the soil beneath.

The tight mesh keeps pests out but will need additional protection if you intend to keep them in one spot. Its treated timber frame and PVC roof are fantastically weatherproof, offering protection from the elements as well as easy cleaning.

2. Omlet Eglu Cube Chicken Coop on Wheels

Omlet sells two sizes of Eglu coops, one advertised for ten chickens, the other for four. Personally, I’d prefer to keep fewer chickens in each as neither is particularly spacious, but they are exceptionally well manufactured, and completely weatherproof.

The Eglu chicken tractor range is beautifully simple to assemble, and super easy to clean, with rain guard sheets included in the package. If you want to keep chickens but want to keep the work to a minimum, there is no lower-maintenance chicken tractor than the Eglu.

3. McCallum Made Jumbo Chicken Tractor

This is one of the biggest chicken tractors you can buy on a reasonable budget, and it’s really well-made. If you’re looking for a slightly larger brood, and want to give them plenty of space to live happily, this chicken tractor by McCallum Made is pretty much perfect.

The mesh is really secure, and well-fitted on all sides, with a simple coop that’s watertight, and raised above ground level, offering some protection from bad weather if your chickens decide to brave the rain.

4. Royal Rooster Chicken Roll with Large Extension

This is perhaps the simplest chicken tractor there is, but it looks good and does exactly what you need it to. If you’re trying to get your chickens out and about more, but worry about completely free-ranging them, this chicken tractor tunnel offers protection, but also plenty of space to stretch their legs and dig, with built-in perches for any unexpected daytime eggs.

It’s not really suitable as a permanent home, as there isn’t a secure coop attached, but if you’re prepared to put one together, it would make a good coop as well as a chicken tractor.

5. Holly Chicken Coop on Wheels

Part chicken tractor, part chicken coop. The Holly chicken coop is a really simple design, and goes a step or two above some of the more basic chicken tractors you’ll find on amazon.

However, like most small chicken tractors, and timber chicken tractors, it’s unnecessarily heavy and doesn’t offer much space. For a couple of happy chickens living a quiet life in a garden, this would make a beautiful home, but not if you’re thinking of adding any more than four as an absolute maximum.

On a budget but still want to give your chickens as much space as possible? Check out this cleverly designed chicken tractor, with rain shelter, and plenty of roaming space on Amazon. It’s simple, it’s easy to clean, and it’s really sturdy against pests and bad weather.

The most important thing too, which we’ve not really touched on much in this article, is that it actually looks nice too. You don’t need to compromise on garden aesthetics just because you’re keeping chickens. Let them inspire new styles, and bring in this budget-friendly chicken tractor to add a touch of cottage warmth to your garden.

Pull-out nest trays, and easy-access laying trays make this chicken tractor from Omlet a thing of beauty. It’s so easy to clean (literally about 5 minutes a week) and the pristine plastic finish is actively beneficial to chickens, by eliminating the risk of parasites and red mites.

There are two sizes to choose from, but both would be ideal for small broods depending on how much space you want to give them, and the larger coop offers enough room for up to ten chickens.

McCallum Made is a fabulously dedicated brand, making wonderful chicken coops and chicken tractors generally, as well as offering down-to-earth advice on chicken care and coop capacity.

This generously sized chicken tractor, with secure sides and simple added security options, makes it suitable for most homes, regardless of your location, and would be a great way to offer your chickens a bit more space.

What are Chicken Tractors?

Chicken tractors are just chicken coops on wheels. There’s nothing more complicated to it. They exist for one very simple reason – they allow you to move your brood around.

They have some limitations, as you can imagine. The main limitation being that, unlike traditional static coops, chicken tractors don’t have any underground or inlaid protection from pests or rodents.

For many chicken keepers, that’s not a problem. Well-kept suburbs with limited rodent problems tend to be fairly safe even for free ranging birds, but inner city coops, and some dense agricultural spaces do tend to harbour rats, so finding a chicken tractor with proper protection is important.

When are Chicken Tractors Useful?

In domestic gardens, chickens tend to make a bit of a mess, but they also have practical benefits when they do this. For new gardens in particular, chickens are the most effective weeders you will ever find.

Chicken tractors allow you to move your chickens around, with some protection for cats during the day. Partly, this helps them by keeping their brains engaged and active, but it’s also useful to you as they’ll dig over the first soil and eat any seeds and roots you might miss while weeding.

Another huge benefit of chicken tractors is that they are generally quite portable, offering an option to take chickens with you, either when you move home, or even if you just want to give them a day out at the allotment or bring them home for winter.

Chicken Tractor Buyers' Guide

Before getting into this, you’ll need to know how many chickens you have, or how many you plan on getting. Space is always a limiting factor because happy chickens lay better eggs. The more space chickens have, the more they play, the more they interact with each other, and the more varied they can make their own diet.

Obviously, you’ll need to keep feeding them grain and water, but if they can move around freely they’ll find worms, grubs and insects, as well as a wider range of seeds and roots.

As well as that, take protection into account. Chicken coops are designed to keep pests (particularly rats) out and away from food, your chickens, and their eggs. Chicken tractors are unavoidably raised above ground level, but a few have clever ways around the obvious problems.

What to Look for When Buying a Chicken Tractor

Size, protection and durability are key to finding the best chicken tractor. Let’s take a look at some simple guidance on setting up a good home for your chickens, and see how that translates to chicken tractors.

How big should your chicken tractor be?

The bare minimum of space for chickens is 2 square metres. That would suffice for two chickens, and you should always keep a minimum of two, but preferably four chickens together for company. 

So any coop, if it’s their permanent home, should offer 4 square metres of ground space, in addition to a nest box. Raised nest boxes offer space beneath them, so take up less space.

If your chicken tractor will be the permanent home of your chickens, the bigger, the better. If it’s just for brief stays, or as a winter home, they can have slightly less space and will be reasonably happy with about half their ideal space for a few weeks as they are less active in winter anyway.

Choosing the right mesh for a chicken tractor

25mm mesh is the base standard to keep rats out of chicken coops. It won’t protect them from mice, but mice don’t tend to cause much trouble. They feed mostly on grain, and chickens are pretty well adept at scaring them off.

Again, choosing the mesh depends on your setting. Wider mesh is cheaper and will save you money, so if you don’t have any rodents, or your chickens are just day visitors to their chicken tractor, you can get away with wider spacing.

Different Types of Chicken Tractors

There are a few different types of chicken tractors, but they all come on wheels, and all just as easy to construct. Choosing the right one is just about making sure it fits the desired purpose.

Basic chicken tractors

Basic chicken tractors are simple wire cages on wheels. They offer a run that can either be connected to chicken sheds, or the house, or placed on lawns and open ground as a temporary enclosure for chickens.

They are relatively inexpensive and often provide a permanent home for chickens if you can source an appropriate chicken shed and laying boxes to fit inside.

Chicken tractors with laying boxes

Chicken tractors with laying boxes are great for a small clutch of chickens and are usually about the same price as their static counterparts. 

If you’re looking at a semi-permanent solution that can have some additional seasonal protection, they are a brilliant choice that offers living and sleeping space, as well as roaming space for chickens. 

Chicken tractors with laying boxes come in all shapes and sizes, and with raised boxes, they can help to maximise your space. One or two even have loose mesh floors to stop larger predators from getting in.

Chicken Tractors Safety Guide

Chicken tractors don’t have many safety concerns for humans, but there are a couple of things to keep in mind for your flock. 

Pest-proofing your chicken tractor

If your chickens are going to be staying in a chicken tractor for a long time, place them on ground that pests can’t dig under, or dig a channel for wire mesh around the base of the coop. 

They’re temporary solutions but can make a huge difference to the safety and welfare of your chickens.

Weatherproofing chicken tractors

As well as pest-proofing, keeping your chickens healthy means keeping them dry. Chickens don’t like to be out in the rain and will often hide away in their coop for whole weeks without coming out, other than to quickly peck at accessible food.

Covering chicken tractors with a simple sheet of plywood, or a tarpaulin will allow them to forage even in wet weather.

Chicken Tractor Frequently Asked Questions

Why are they called chicken tractors?

Whether you use them traditionally or not, the name ‘chicken tractor’s origin will become clear pretty quickly. They are called chicken tractors because chickens are a great way to cultivate the top two inches of soil, and by rolling these wheeled coops around the garden, they prepare plots for planting.

What are the drawbacks of chicken tractors?

Chicken tractors have several drawbacks as a result of their flexibility. What makes them great also opens them up to problems, such as pest access, overexposure to the elements, and generally being quite lightweight. 

Can chickens live in a chicken tractor permanently?

As long as pest protection is considered and your chickens have adequate space to roam, they can live in a chicken tractor permanently.

Does a chicken tractor need a floor?

Chicken tractors don’t need a floor. The whole point of them is that chickens are offered access to open ground to dig, as well as poop to feed the soil. 

Do chickens prefer grass or dirt?

Chickens will always be happiest on grass, but the result is that they will dig it up nearly completely. Chicken tractors let you move your clutch of chickens around the garden, which will keep them happy, and protect your grass.

How often should you clean a chicken tractor?

You should clean a chicken tractor every week. The base layer beneath the coop doesn’t need cleaning, the coop itself, including lay boxes and bedding, should be changed at least weekly to prevent parasites.

How long do you have to wait before using chicken manure in the garden?

If you’re collecting chicken manure from the base of your chicken tractor, it's best to pile it up and let it mature for around three months before using it as fertiliser. If you’re moving the tractor around regularly, you can simply leave chicken manure to feed the grass and soil beneath the coop.