Well yesterday I installed my gutter feeder and employed my daughter, who has said she hates chickens to climb in the brooder and help me move them 10 at a time.
We moved 121 chicks and they seem happy.
Last night I had mercy and drug the extension cord and the heat lamp, but tonight, they are on their own.
I am a little ticked at myself right now because my engineering skills or lack thereof. I thought I was pretty smart with the PVC thing but...
I killed 3 chicks this morning moving the pen. It about killed me that they died due to my own stupidity. To me, that's unacceptable. I moved it by hand but because it was heading downhill it still picked up a little speed. Perhaps if they were older it wouldn't have happened this way. Anyhow, I put the pvc pipe under the front of the pen raising it 3 inches. However, Einstein here forgot to figure when the roller hits the center of the pen and the weight shifted, instead of 3 inches, it was more like 6. So.... I was already mad because I was going to have to chase down 3, 4 or more chicks before the dog did, and as the pvc roller moved toward the rear, the chicks had to get over it. Most did but 3 were crushed by the roller or the tractor edge.
So... I need to learn the understanding of the engineering of the wheel and axle, or the secret of Salatin's Dolly. In other words, I consider myself a bright person, but have thought for months about how to attach wheels/skids/slippery surface etc... to my tractor and have been stymied.
How do I make a wheeled something that allows space enough to roll the pen over an uneven surface, yet doesn't allow the chicks or predators to get underneath?
It has been my thought process that if I take 2 single wheels, how will I attach them to the edges so that they don't bend the independent axle, and what type of levered contraption do I need to raise it/lower it so that it is effective, or how do I make a Salatin type dolly that only lifts it an inch or so.
Please help me.
