Stress-free Chicken Tractor Plans
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About this ebook
Inside these pages, you will find step-by-step instructions for a mobile broiler chicken shelter for pastured poultry that is used by farmers and homesteaders all over the country.
Raising chickens on grass provides them with a healthy lifestyle and a delicious flavor. You can raise just enough of them to feed your family or scale up to include pastured poultry as a profitable part of your farm business. John Suscovich has raised thousands of chickens using these mobile shelters, a main enterprise on his farm in Connecticut.
These chicken tractors were created using the best elements from other designs. They are easy to move and provide a good life for the chickens. With a little bit of creativity, they can also be modified for seasonal egg-layer housing, rabbits, ducks and forts for your kids.
Not only does this book contain the plans and supply list to build your first chicken tractor, but it gives you some insight into how to use it and what mindset you should have if you are to become a happy and successful farmer.
John also walks you through the light carpentry skills you need to build these chicken tractors and teaches you the most commonly used knots on a farm. You may learn these skills for this project, but you’ll be able to apply them on your farm for years to come.
John Suscovich
John Suscovich lives and works on a 52-acre farm in Western Connecticut. His main operation has always been pastured broilers, however, through the years he has expanded to pigs, sheep, hops, apples, herbs and vegetables. His farm, Camps Road Farm, is one part of a three-part business that includes Kent Falls Brewing Co., a farm brewery on property, and Neversink Spirits, a craft distillery off property.Since getting into farming, John has raised as few as 40 broilers and as many as 2,400 broilers in one season. No matter what else he ends up growing on his farm, chickens always seem to maintain a special place in his heart. They’re enjoyable to raise, his community loves them, and they’re a vital part of the success of his farm.His life has taken a lot of interesting turns. He grew up in Connecticut and went to college at the University of Connecticut as a technical theater major. After school, he moved to New York City where he worked for four years in scenic and lighting design, primarily for television.After getting sick of city life, John and his wife, Kate, decided to ride their bicycles 5,500 miles across the United States visiting farms and craft breweries along the way. After a year of purposeful homelessness, they landed back in CT to apprentice on a farm for a season and eventually start their own broiler operation.Somewhere along the way, John started Farm Marketing Solutions, his multimedia publishing company, with the goal of educating and inspiring the next generation of farmers. Drawing from his media background, he wanted to share his story with others in the hopes that more people will decide to homestead or choose farming as a career.John loves what he does every day. He has found pleasure and fulfillment in farming that he hadn’t thought possible to achieve in the working world. On a regular basis, he gets to create life and then share that experience with others. He grows food that is not only good for people, but good for the planet. And he thinks that’s friggin’ great!His hope with his book is that you come to find the same joy as he has in purposeful food. Chickens were meant to live on grass, not in barns. With every chicken tractor book sold, we’re one step closer to a society that appreciates chickens as much as he does.
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Reviews for Stress-free Chicken Tractor Plans
6 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Missing the most important pages. Cancelled Scribd and bought the book from his site
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Why is it missing important pages, like the shopping list?
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Missing important pages, not impressed with this glad it’s free.
Book preview
Stress-free Chicken Tractor Plans - John Suscovich
Stress-Free Chicken Tractor Plans
2nd Edition
Step-by-Step Instructions
By John Suscovich
Stress-Free Chicken Tractor Plans
Copyright © 2016 Farm Marketing Solutions, LLC
Cover design by Gerber Studio
gerberstudio.com
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
The information contained in this guide is for informational purposes only. Any advice that I give is my opinion based on my own experience. Users of this guide are advised to do their own due diligence when it comes to making decisions and all information that has been provided should be independently verified by your own qualified professionals.
By reading this guide, you agree that the author, publisher and their respective companies are not responsible for the success or failure of your decisions relating to any information presented in this guide.
Books published by Emerald Lake Books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:
Emerald Lake Books
emeraldlakebooks.com
860-946-0544
ISBN: 978-0-9965674-8-0 (pb)
978-0-9965674-9-7 (ePub)
978-0-9971207-0-7 (pdf)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016950975
Printed in the United States of America
Praise for Stress-Free Chicken Tractor Plans
Best chicken tractor design ever!
I can’t say enough good things about this chicken tractor design, John really did his homework. It’s well worth the price, read it twice and build it.
- Diane P., Amazon reviewer
Thorough and practical
This book has help make Chicken Pasturing enjoyable. The well thought-out process and clear instructions of building the tractor made this a leisurely weekend project. The helpful insights to using the tractor (feeder, waterer, moving, etc.) have all been implemented and have been real time savers! Great book!
- Jim Q., Amazon reviewer
Was a quick read with lots of great insight and information. Well written with helpful drawings and firsthand experience instruction.
- L. Lenox, Amazon reviewer
Super sturdy chicken tractor plans with great user instructions
I highly recommend John’s Stress-Free Chicken Tractor Plans if you want to build a sturdy, long-lasting chicken tractor. Mine has held up perfectly for over three years now and is outside full-time, winter through summer. We’ve raised Cornish Cross birds, Red Isa’s and even ducks in it.
- Joe S., Amazon reviewer
Best book for chickens!!
John is awesome. This book is simple, precise and easy to follow. I watch his YouTube videos and he has taught me a lot. It’s a great book and very useful if you have a lot of land or very little.
- Brandy, Amazon reviewer
Excellent
Quick and easy to follow read with great info and illustrations. The tractors are the best looking and most functional I have seen thus far. Watching John’s YouTube videos inspired me to purchase this and start raising our own chickens! Whether you are competent when it comes to construction or not, this book has easy step-by-step instructions and even a shopping list, so all the guesswork is taken out of the process. Thank you, John, and keep up the good work!
- Moe, Amazon reviewer
Don’t search any farther. This is the best tractor you will make.
The title says it all. I bought the plans about 14 months ago and have ran about 200 birds through our pastures with this chicken tractor. The plans are super-detailed, easy to read, and a fantastic finished product. Take the time and do the half-lap joints. It makes a ridged frame. Ours has gone through over a year in North Texas. Once during a winter storm (no chickens present), it was blown over and tumbled about 100 feet. All we had to do was turn it over and it was good to go. (Remove the tarp when not in use. It eliminates tractor crashes.) You will gain more than just a chicken tractor with this book. John’s keen insights as a holistic chicken farmer and animal lover comes through on every page.
- Daniel Brubaker, Amazon reviewer
A must-have book if you plan on pasture raising poultry!
I cannot recommend this book enough! I met John several years ago and fell in love with his chicken and the way he raised them. Fast forward a few years and I found myself owning a large farm and there was no question in my mind that I would build his tractors and follow his plan. We planned out our year and built three tractors in the spring. By mid-summer we had built three more. We had a very successful broiler year using these plans. My morning chores were so easy to do by myself. The tractors were also a big hit with our customers. When they see the attention to detail, it really shows how well the chickens are being cared for. These tractors quickly became a topic of conversations around town. Not only does this book lay out everything needed to build the tractors, it includes invaluable information regarding pasture rotation, feed, predators and all the other little questions that come with deciding to raise pastured poultry. If you are thinking of building a chicken tractor, this book is a must have!
- Heather Holland, Amazon reviewer
Great design, great book!
...Being a handyman/farmer/carpenter myself I was skeptical of how much I would really be getting out of [John’s] designs. However, I was extremely pleased with how detailed and easy-to-follow his instructions were, as well as his comprehensive discussion of all things related to successfully raising meat birds. I thoroughly enjoyed it, have no regrets and would buy it again! Can’t recommend it enough!
- Amazon customer review
Very well written with many extras and generally just a good solid plan!
- Ron McConnell, Amazon reviewer
No need to learn the hard way. John already did that for us!
As a wannabe, beginning farmer, these plans helped me get off on the right foot as I started raising poultry on pasture. After building three chicken tractors and having them perform great over a season, I am thrilled and see why it’s called the stress-free
plan. Through John’s own trial and error, I was able to benefit by not having to go through the same issues that he did as he figured things out.