50 CHICKEN chicken tractor!! Pics and Progress!

[perchie.girl]

On a side note, our cute little chicks became vicious little peckers. They had pecked on little guy to death while I was at work and my wife waas taking our oldest daughter to dance. They were working on pecking a second that we quickly isolated and within 10 minutes were pecking a third one that is now isolated as well. All of the ones getting pecked are Delawares, the only yellow chicks we have. The Delawares are not the littlest, or weakest(actually, none of them look or act weak), or the slowest. All we can figure is they're getting pecked because they're white. My wife is going to pick up some of the blue stuff from Tractor Supply and some Pine Tar. From what we've read, these two products will stop all pecking. We're just going to rub some on the tails of all 50 chicks unless someone here has a better idea.

Just the blue coat will work. Paint the little yellow ones blue.... its good to have on hand for bumps cuts and bruises on the adult chickens too. I dont know about the pine tar I use for hooves is pretty nasty stuff to get on your hands.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Hoop construction:
4 cattle panels laid side by side with a fifth panel perpendicular is just right. Basically turns a 16ft panel into a 19.5ft panel. I acutally need a total of 9 panels, but 5 is all I can lift at one time.


I put these panles in place noticed that they're actually springy enough to push out the 2x8's so a brace from one side to the other will be needed.
Where the fifth panel attaches to the other 4, I had overlapped them by about 1 foot.


This turned out to be a little overkill and stiffened up one side of the hoop way too much. Besides, now I get a little more height in the middle.
I cut the welds and only overlapped them by 6 inches. 6 inches aligns the panels in such a way that they can be easily welded.






I also decided to beef up the corners and where the two 16 footers are joined on the long side.



Next, attaching the chicken wire to the panels. Every little place that the wire got cut is a nice little razor waiting for an inopportune time to cut someone.

So, each peice get wrapped around the panel, pulled tight with pliers, then crmiped in place with, can't think of the actuall name, but it's on the right side of the next pic.




Now I'm ready to put this piece in place. Skip ahead a few steps and here's where I left it for the night.

I can already tell that the cross piece in the middle will have to stay permanenlty and I'll also add a door frame to it for stability of the panels. The corners also need gussets.

excellent use of materials.... and construction technique. putting the chicken wire on flat is brilliant. and efficent. Have you considered using cable or wire as cross bracing for the base..... similar to what you would do on a gate It shouldn't interfere with the chickens.

deb

 

[colburg]

It's looking great! Can't wait to see the progress. How big is it?

As for pecking issues, do the chicks have enough space wherever you are keeping them? This can cause issues.

It's 13' wide and 32' long.

 

[colburg]

Just the blue coat will work. Paint the little yellow ones blue.... its good to have on hand for bumps cuts and bruises on the adult chickens too. I dont know about the pine tar I use for hooves is pretty nasty stuff to get on your hands.

deb

My wife read about the pine tar and blue lotion online. We'll start with the blue lotion. Once the two injured chicks are painted, do they still have to be quarantined or should they be released back into genpop?

 

[colburg]

excellent use of materials.... and construction technique. putting the chicken wire on flat is brilliant. and efficent. Have you considered using cable or wire as cross bracing for the base..... similar to what you would do on a gate It shouldn't interfere with the chickens.

deb

I have considered cable, but the crossboards will allow me to build up a frame in the middle of the pen, similar to the one on the front, for extra support of the panels. I've also considered using it in other places but probably won't because I need something that works in both tension and compression.

GREAT IDEA though. It would cut down the weight quite a bit.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
That blue coat should do the trick immediately. Unless they are severly injured. I had a couple of fully feathered 4 week old cockerels loose their tails to bloody stumps from over crowding. I painted blue butts and put them back in their temporary enclosure. Picking stopped.

That stuff is not a lotion though its more of a dye with some antibacterial ingredients. It gets on EVERYTHING once you open the bottle. If those peeps are being picked upon because of their color Id go ahead and dye the whole peep. It wont effect the feathers as they grow in.

edited to add: It goes without saying Take care around eyes
deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Yep the board would provide compression points for the cattle panels and the wire bracing would add tension for the boards. I am thinking for the length of the whole construction. sort of like the cross wire bracing on Aircraft wings. Vertical posts with wire..... very very strong. Or in this case horizontal. I like your splice joints too.

My background is sheet metal and steel fabrication designs but working with wood has always been a mystery to me. LOL. Should be the same but its not. I still cant get over the fact that a two by four isnt really a two by four.... drives me nutzo.

deb

 

[colburg]

That blue coat should do the trick immediately. Unless they are severly injured. I had a couple of fully feathered 4 week old cockerels loose their tails to bloody stumps from over crowding. I painted blue butts and put them back in their temporary enclosure. Picking stopped.

That stuff is not a lotion though its more of a dye with some antibacterial ingredients. It gets on EVERYTHING once you open the bottle. If those peeps are being picked upon because of their color Id go ahead and dye the whole peep. It wont effect the feathers as they grow in.

edited to add: It goes without saying Take care around eyes
deb

The stuff I found is actually called "Blue Lotion." http://www.tractorsupply.com/farnam...ptic-wound-dressing-gall-lotion-4-oz--5023477



Is this the right stuff?

I don't think I should be overcrowded in my brooder yet. It's an 8' diameter water trough with the bottom cut out and plastic mesh on top. pi*4^2~=54sqft for 50 2wk old chicks.

There's some galvanized cross bracing welded in to support the boards for shade and keep drafts out and heat in at night. There's a red heat lamp for nights attached to the pipe under the boards. That's a 100# tractor weight on top so that the boards stay where they're supposed to.
We move it about every 3 days and the chicks love it. I don't know that I could ever do the closed bottom-wood shavings brooder. Even in the winter this should work if I tightened it up a little.

 

[colburg]

Yep the board would provide compression points for the cattle panels and the wire bracing would add tension for the boards. I am thinking for the length of the whole construction. sort of like the cross wire bracing on Aircraft wings. Vertical posts with wire..... very very strong. Or in this case horizontal. I like your splice joints too.

My background is sheet metal and steel fabrication designs but working with wood has always been a mystery to me. LOL. Should be the same but its not. I still cant get over the fact that a two by four isnt really a two by four.... drives me nutzo.

deb

I grew up working with metal. On a farm mind you so nothings ever professional looking, but it always(shouldn't say that), almost always holds. I've found that in a game of chicken with me my tractor and a plow vs a 22yr old pecan tree....the pecan tree wins.

I can't bring myself to trust my wood working 100% so everything I do with wood gets beefed up with a little metal.

And I competely agree on whole 2x4 thing. It should be called a 1-3/4 x 3-1/2. And the 2x8 is more like a 2x7.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
The ingredients are right. Farnham products are good. Blue Koat (I spelled it wrong before) has come to be a generic term like Kleenex.... It comes in spray and dauber versions. I recommend the Dauber version for chickens. That Farnham product has a dauber in it.

Your chick pen looks fine.... I was the one that was over crowding....

A note about using this stuff. I highly recommend a cup holder if you dont have help to apply this stuff. Knock it over and the whole bottle spills. I hung mine with a piece of Baling twine to the wall of the coop just tied under the cap. That way when I have to administer it it doesnt get away from me.

edited to remove stuff that was really OT.

deb