Quick chicken tractor question :D

[big brown horse]

Quick question, do I need a chicken wire floor or should I just leave it open so I don't trap any chicken toes/legs when I move it around? It is going to be pretty heavy when I'm done. (I have hardware cloth on the roof and sides.)

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Quick question, do I need a chicken wire floor or should I just leave it open so I don't trap any chicken toes/legs when I move it around? It is going to be pretty heavy when I'm done. (I have hardware cloth on the roof and sides.)

no floor needed.

 

[dipence71]

do you have a roof roof or a wire roof. I am looking into doing this in my garden. Is there an easy way to get them to and from the tractor back to the coop and run? I can't let em run as DD's dog will grab and eat them, so unless I physically carry them is there an easier answer??

 

[big brown horse]

Thank you BB!!

do you have a roof roof or a wire roof. I am looking into doing this in my garden. Is there an easy way to get them to and from the tractor back to the coop and run? I can't let em run as DD's dog will grab and eat them, so unless I physically carry them is there an easier answer??

On top of the wire roof, I added two plastic roof panels. (They were super cheap and were for another project that I never got started.)

Can you put the tractor right in front of the doorway to your coop to get them in and out, taunt them with treats? Then you can move it where you want it.

 

[big brown horse]

Dipence, this is for my meat birds. They are going to stay in the tractor until they are big enough (we have pesky ravens) to be free ranged in a grassy area.

 

[Beekissed]

I think it depends on if you are tractoring them without LGDs...if so or if this is where they will be staying night and day, I'd add a wire floor. Meaties are so dumb that you will run them over anyway when you move the tractor unless you just move it one tractor space over like Salatin. When they are little they will move with, when they are older they may just not move at all and continue to lie down as you try to move your tractor.

Plus you will have the added security of a wire floor in case something wants to dig into your pen.

When I tractored, I just added a small pop door to my tractor that matched up to the pop door on my coop and just backed up the tractor to the coop each morning and again in the evening. Eventually everyone comes outside and into the tractor... and out of the tractor to return to the coop and roost. To encourage egress from the coop in the morning you could throw some BOSS into your tractor and speed things up a little.

 

[big brown horse]

Good point.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I have 2 large tractors, 2 medium and one small and although I have no shortage of wildlife, I have gotten away without having wire beneath the tractors. You might want to have wire fixed as a skirt around the tractor, fanning outward. A lot of people suggest that for digging problems.

 

[lorihadams]

I put the food on the far side so they eat while I move the tractor over them and stand still. So if I am moving the tractor to the right I put the food all the way over to the right side before I move it so the food will end up on the left when I'm done, make sense? There is still a little strip of leftover grass from before but most of it is new grass and they don't get run over that way.

Meaties are just that stupid.

 

[freemotion]

Here's a picture of mine, BBH: