My eight chicks are now 4 - 5 days old, and my husband is today building them a little tractor so they can begin having supervised outings in our backyard. We also plan on using this for the chicks we'll be hatching in early August for their initial outings, to help safely acquaint them with the older flock, and it can also be used for quarantines. I'm going to try and share the details of our project as detailed as I can, so others can take what they can from this to use on their own projects. The tractor will be open on the bottom, netting on the other three long sides, and 26inx20in cuts of plywood on the two ends, with one of those being a latching door. We have a large scrap piece of heavy duty plywood to put on the top for shade when we move them to a non-shaded area of the yard. We realize poultry netting is not predator proof, but they will only be using this when supervised, and if that changes we will switch over to 1/2in galvanized wire (hardware cloth)on all sides including the bottom. The prices are from a Lowes in north Austin, Texas on July 11, 2010.
Dimensions: 48in long, 26in wide, 20in high
Materials:
-exterior paint (already had)
-4 pieces of 2x4, 48in long (already had)
-4 pieces of 2x4, 26in long ( " )
-4 pieces of 2x4, 20in long ( " )
-1 2x4 sheet of 5.2mm Lauan Plywood ($5.97)
-1 48in x 50ft roll of plastic poultry netting ($14.97)
-1lb pkg of 1-5/8" deck screws ($7.89)
-3/8" heavy duty staples ($2.06)
-2 pck of 1-1/2" narrow hinges ($1.96)
-2" window bolt ($2.96)
Tools:
-screw gun
-miter saw
-2 quarter horses
-powershot 5700 staple/nail gun ($19.91)
-trim paint tray ($1.28)
-3' chip brush for painting ($1.36)
-multi purpose snippers
I'll post pictures as we progress on this!
Dimensions: 48in long, 26in wide, 20in high
Materials:
-exterior paint (already had)
-4 pieces of 2x4, 48in long (already had)
-4 pieces of 2x4, 26in long ( " )
-4 pieces of 2x4, 20in long ( " )
-1 2x4 sheet of 5.2mm Lauan Plywood ($5.97)
-1 48in x 50ft roll of plastic poultry netting ($14.97)
-1lb pkg of 1-5/8" deck screws ($7.89)
-3/8" heavy duty staples ($2.06)
-2 pck of 1-1/2" narrow hinges ($1.96)
-2" window bolt ($2.96)
Tools:
-screw gun
-miter saw
-2 quarter horses
-powershot 5700 staple/nail gun ($19.91)
-trim paint tray ($1.28)
-3' chip brush for painting ($1.36)
-multi purpose snippers
I'll post pictures as we progress on this!
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