50 CHICKEN chicken tractor!! Pics and Progress!

[colburg]

Awesome job. Love the expanded mesh. You dont have to worry about welds breaking and it makes a smooth flat surface if its a rolled mesh. (mechanically flattened). And if you do find it a problem with feet and toes you can always cover it with Canvas. Canvas or even shade cloth will allow the poo to dry and it can be hosed off periodically. Some people make Poop hammocks out of it.

deb

Haha, poop hammock

. It made me laugh out loud, then I thought, anything's possible with chicken people so I looked it up and it's real. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/534564/poop-hammock-rocks It actually looks like a pretty good idea, but I really hope the mesh works so there's even less clean-up.

Still makes me laugh though.

The expanded metal is the "FLAT" kind, so there aren't any raised edges.

 

[colburg]

The bottom part of the coop is done. I was originally going to leave it open underneath the coop and roosts, but since the chicks are quickly outgrowing their brooder, this will work in a pinch. It's completely secure with the expanded metal and since they're little feet are too small for the mesh, they can chill in here till they're a bit bigger. This area could also function as an isolation area, but it's directly under the line of fire of 49 other pooping chickens when they're roosting



Very simple door. Just need to attach a simple latch.








For now the plan is to leave the door open once they're resting upstairs. It's where most of the shade is and they can still scratch and peck in there.






If anyone sees any flaws or has suggestions, let me know ASAP.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Hee hee.... They work great for regular coops. cost savings on bedding yata yata. In my case I have to have every thing modular and portable.... Not a tractor but My set up is going to get moved eventually to a more convenient location.

deb

 

[colburg]

Chickens don't care if their roost is crooked right? HAHA, jk. I know they don't care. This was another good chance to use up some of the cheaper lumber I picked up.





Here's the basic layout of the roosts. I know it doesn't look like much room on the pics, but they're a bit deceiving. There are 4 roosts, 2 uppers and 2 lowers alternating. The lower ones are 18" from the floor and the front one is 18 " from the wall. The uppers are 12" taller than the lowers and spaced 12" horizontally from them.

OT: Saw a fox leaving one of my trapping areas yesterday. Turns out there was a skunk in a Duke Dog Proof trap. Shot it with the .22 and left it. Everytime I shoot one...it sprays. I figured it could just stay there for a few days and some of the smell would wear off, but I came home to see this.


Buzzards on the game fence. YEEESSSSSS. I went out just after dark and all that was left was skin and bones. Still smelt bad, but woulda been much worse without the buzzards. Removed carcass, reset trap, baited with marshmallows. Nothing in there this mornin, but with all the reviews of using marshmallows for bait, I have high hopes. Though, I might be better off sticking with pecans for bait. This is a pecan orchard after all and that's what they come to steal.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Haha. That's a scene...they will line up for dead snakes too, handy. nice job on the coop, I am wanting to do something like that for garden/greenhouse/run, but it prob won't look as good. It's a good thing chickens don't care if their roosts are straight, all I use is tree limbs.

 

[colburg]

PIC HEAVY!!

Why does every step take more time and work than I thought it should have?

I started, and almost finished, putting the expanded metal on the ends.


This stuff doesn't wrap around the cattle panels as easy as the chicken wire. Sometimes it breaks instead bends.


Here's the door from the coop to the run.


I used some spring hinges so that if anything does happen, the default position is closed. Latches for the doors will be installed soon.

I gave a little tug from the front with just my hands and it's obvious it's going to need extra bracing for towing. Started with some 2x6's. But even with those, when I pulled at the front door, the forces actually transferred through the braces and bent every board they were attached to. What to do??? Perchie's idea of cable???

It starts at the door, where the pull toungue will be, criss-crosses and attaches to the angle iron at the back.


If this doesn't work, I'm gonna cry.


The beginning of a simple pull tounge. Very, Very, beginning. The cables are wrapped around the angle iron here too.


That's about 1 days worht of work. I woulda got done more last weekend, but someone ordered 4" of rain. 4" Really? That's more than we got the entire previous YEAR!! Almost DOUBLE what we got the previous year.

I worked on installing a tire last night. That'll be in the next post coming soon.


.

 

[colburg]

What has two thumbs, ordered amazing tires for their coop, and came up with a crappy, over-torqued design for installing them? This guy.

Tires...http://flatfreeusa.com/18x8.50-8-Flat-Free-Tire.html
Actually cheaper than TSC and Lowe's AND much larger 17.5" tall, 8" wide, 1" bearings. AND, it's the most expensive part of this whole thing.

That's my size 13H boot for comparison.


Some of the parts made to install the wheel. Simple frame, homemade 1" spindle, spacers.


Close-up of the spindle. 3/4" washer welded to a 1" round bar with 1.5" of 3/4" all-thread welded to the other end.


Tire assembly with lever for lifting.


Did I say lever? I meant LEEEEEEVVVVVVER. I didn't want to short change myself and I have several of thes sprinkler pipes I picked up at the metal recycling place. They're about 8' long and I used all of it. I can cut it shorter later if I want.


10" I-beam cut to 7" tall. Matching flat strap to go on the back-side so the bolts don't pull through. These bolt to the 2x8 frame and a round pivot point will be welded to the top of the I-beam.



Pivot arm and I-beam bolted and welded into place. If it looks crooked to you, that's because it is. Oops. Oh well, I was this far done and wanted to try it out before cutting anything up. Besides, it won't hurt for a quick lift test.


All bolted together and ready for test.


What? Somethings not right. I started lifting er up, the pipe went up and the tire went out... OUT?? Why not down??? Because there's too much weight being lifted for a tire that's that far out being held by a 20 yr old peice of 1/4" channel iron that bends toward the cattle panel when lifting up. TOOOOO MUUUUCH TORQUE.


SOLUTION: A brace that goes from the threads on the spindle to the bottom bolt of the strap iron.

Woohoo!!!

It actually fit the first time I tried it. Not bad for eyeballing it. BTW, this whole thing was built mostly by "eyeballing" it. Which is why I now have what I have.


It was at this point, seeing it in position in the above picture that I realized to fatal flaw. Not fatal to me, just fatal to the brace idea.

Oh well, just to prove that It can be lifted and that the brace idea would've worked if it weren't fatally flawed, I installed it anyway.

See the flaw now? As the lever to the left goes up, the tire goes swings underneath the brace, except it can't go underneath. It can only go a little way then it HITS the brace.

OK, proof of idiotic concept. AAAAAAANNND Lift.



It's a heavy one-handed lift for me, but I can keep it up, lean over, and get this pic. Proof that everything works...except for the part that doesn't.


That was my 1st moment of truth. It lifts without whole dang thang falling apart.

Now it needs to be redesigned so that it'll lift high enough to get over the borders in the orchard.

2nd moment of truth, called the wife out and had her try to lift it. She won't be able to get it all the way up, but she can lift it 2-3" for the smaller 30' moves.

I lifted it as high as the brace would let me and got it about 10" off the ground.

REDESIGN: I have images in my head of how to do this. Better, Stronger, no torque on the tire assembly. The wheel goes inside the pen, the lifting arm is outside. Since I can't draw to save my life, we all have to wait until it's built to see what the finished product will look like. Even ME!!

 

[debir1966]

You are awesome and a good writer!

 

[suki'smom]

Wow! Looking great! As far as your question regarding how foxes and coon get through chicken wire: If they can't rip it off they chew through it. Even welded wire if it's not a heavy enough guage. I made the mistake of going with a cheaper welded wire on my brand new fox pen and my one female had grasped the wired between her teeth and set back until the welds popped. She was out within minutes. I quickly upgraded to some heavier wire.

 

[perchie.girl]

Excellent.... Job. I take it the part of the tractor where the perches are set is lockable so you can shoo the chooks in and lock them in for moving the whole thing. Brilliant that way you aren't limited to the speed of the chickens walking for moving it. That was always puzzling for me with the concept of "Chicken Tractors"

Hey Its all a learning curve when you have never built something before. I dont care how "been there done that" a person is.

This is a very heavy construction. The cables will definately even out the force of pull and take up some of the lifting stress in the light end. But you may still have to reinforce along the bottom edge. Either with steel plate in shear or angle iron. you wont have to go the whole length but just bridging across the points of flexing along the length of the base boards.

deb "whos going through another heat wave.... only 102 this time last time it was 110"

PIC HEAVY!!

Why does every step take more time and work than I thought it should have?
I started, and almost finished, putting the expanded metal on the ends.


This stuff doesn't wrap around the cattle panels as easy as the chicken wire. Sometimes it breaks instead bends.


Here's the door from the coop to the run.


I used some spring hinges so that if anything does happen, the default position is closed. Latches for the doors will be installed soon.

I gave a little tug from the front with just my hands and it's obvious it's going to need extra bracing for towing. Started with some 2x6's. But even with those, when I pulled at the front door, the forces actually transferred through the braces and bent every board they were attached to. What to do??? Perchie's idea of cable???

It starts at the door, where the pull toungue will be, criss-crosses and attaches to the angle iron at the back.


If this doesn't work, I'm gonna cry.


The beginning of a simple pull tounge. Very, Very, beginning. The cables are wrapped around the angle iron here too.


That's about 1 days worht of work. I woulda got done more last weekend, but someone ordered 4" of rain. 4" Really? That's more than we got the entire previous YEAR!! Almost DOUBLE what we got the previous year.

I worked on installing a tire last night. That'll be in the next post coming soon.


.