Quick chicken tractor question :D

pinkfox

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thats exactly how i plan to do my meaty tractor Free...
i was wondering about adding wheels to the back to make it easier to move? is it nessicary or is it fairly light?
 

freemotion

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It is not light (ground contact pressure treated 2x4's) but I can move it by myself by running a cotton lead rope around my butt and leaning into it, and going back and forth between two corners where I've installed screw eyes. I'd considered wheels, but now that I've used it, I won't add them. The ground is not perfectly even and they will find any gaps to squeeze under and wheels would lift it up even more. They quickly learn that new ground is exciting and full of bugs and they dive for the gaps when you lift it and it is quite an adventure to move it without squishing anyone. After moving it, I have some bricks and rocks that I use to plug any gaps.

We started with just the top tarp, but the back wall tarp became necessary as I moved it out from under the shade of a large oak. Mid-afternoon there was no shade available for them, so I added the tarp on the south-facing (at the time) wall. I do have two roosts in two of the corners, not sure if you can see them or not.
 

lorihadams

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Here's ours....we framed it up with 2x4s on the bottom and 2x2s for the top with chicken wire around the top covered with a tarp. We added wagon wheels. It's heavy. We drilled 2 holes in the bottom frame and threaded a rope through it, knotted it in the inside and that gave me a handle to pull it.

100_3769.jpg
 

big brown horse

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TanksHill said:
Ahhhhh........ Flat land. I am so jealous.

:p
Haha! I know right?? I'm not complaining, however, living on a hill makes some things rather difficult! (Hence the reason why I finally decided to chicken wire the bottom of my tractor.)
 

aggieterpkatie

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I imagine it would be very hard to move the tractor if it had a floor on it....because you'd have to lift all the birds along with it.
 

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