50 CHICKEN chicken tractor!! Pics and Progress!

[colburg]

Holy Moly debir, it's not supposed to be that cold yet. I haven't even gotten my coat out of the closet yet, but I did put on a long sleeve shirt for one day a week or two ago.

A hoop run is still a viable option on uneven terrain. You just need some sort of a skirting material. A few options I came up with were belting, naugahyde, and expanded metal.

The belting is from a conveyor belt system from the mine I work in. It's pretty heavy, nothing could get through it, but it's tough to work with. It's just like a tire, only thicker and flat. That's probably not a very good option unless you have acces to something like that.

I actually got some naugahyde just in case when I was building this tractor. Can raccoons, fox, etc. claw through it? I don't know, but for $3 for the entire roll at a garage sale, it might have been worth it if I needed it. I've never been in a fabric store, but there may be better options which are flexible enough to contour the terrain that your hoophouse can't.

Here's how I was thinking of attaching the various materials.



I like the top one the most. It's installed so that it wants to be vertical, but pulled horizontal by some wire. This makes it spring loaded when it's on the ground. The belting could be one long continuous piece, but the metal could only be 1-2 feet long so that it would better contour the ground around it. If your tractor lifts up to be moved like mine, you need the wire to keep the belting or metal in a position such that when it's lowered, you don't have to mess with getting the material into the correct position.

We can keep working with one of these ideas or come up with something new if you're interested in trying a hoop house.

 

[debir1966]

Thank you colburg! I really appreciate the ideas and the time you have taken to help me. I want to build a hoop coop to grow our meaties in a couple times a year and as an extra grow-out pen seperate from the main coop.

We free range our birds and I would continue to do so in the winter but from what everyone has said, they do not like the deeper snow much LOL.

So I am trying to figure out a quick & easy (my husband just spent most of his weekends since June building me a new chicken house), inexpensive (afore mentioned chicken house has topped $1500.00 so far and we still have to add siding!), and I did I already say easy? way to put up a covered run for the winter so the chickens have more room.

(yes, chicken math at work here - honest, I had good intentions when I started - only 10 or 15 hens.. or maybe 20... well, we need some "unusual" breeds for the kids... for 4H, yeah, for the kids!, so ok 35??? fine, shall we settle at 42 chickens and 5 turkeys?!? In my defence, the 5 turkeys are for eating, not keeping... at least until I get some heritage turkeys next year....)

<----- my husband

me ----->

I thought that maybe a hoop run would be 1) quick(er), and 2) easy(er) to build than a regular covered run... a few boards at the bottom, bend some chicken-wire-covered fence panels, clip... clamp... tie? (how do you get the roofing metal stuck on the panels anyway?) on some roofing metal or cover with a tarp, and voila! covered chicken run!!! - hopefully just in time for the next snowstorm (the next one might stick!)

edit: I already posted this pic for you LOL - I will catch up with myself one of these days!

 

[colburg]

Hey debir, I had a new thought on this. How about a 3-6 inch skirt of metal strap, maybe 1/16th" thick, attached to the frame that sits on the ground such that it slices into the ground when you let it down. Of course this won't work if you have rocky/caliche terrain.

Anyway, it was a random thought.

 

[colburg]

Well, they've been in the tractor for about 4 weeks, and roosting in the upper part for about 3 weeks. This has been plenty of time for plenty of poo to accumulate if it were going to. The expanded metal floor is working great.

I have done absolutely no poop work in the roosting area and this is what it looks like.




Here's the aftermath after 4-5 days in each place.

 

[debir1966]

Nice! That is awesome that it is falling through the metal and not causing a build-up.

We have not built the hoop run - yet... I have a terrible feeling we may be doing it in the snow (something to get my husband motivated in building it LOL). We will be processing our 5 BBW turkeys this coming weekend, which is going to make a considerable difference in the cleaning of the coop... turkeys poo alot!

Next year we will be using the hoop "run" as a hoop coop for growing out our meat chickens. It does not need to be mobile as I am hoping to free-range them the last few weeks. With that in mind, we are going to build the hoop run where we want it to remain, thus we will not be building it down the hill where we will eventually build the permanent run.

I am still going to be stealing some of your ideas on construction

How is your hoop coop holding up with time?

 

[colburg]

I keep meaning to get a few new pics, but keep forgetting. It's holding up really well, though it's not getting moved as much as I originally thought it would. Still need to add a couple things and the nest boxes. Probably after harvest is done.

OBTW, Have I mentioned how much we like the floor of the roost? 4 weeks of use and I haven't had to do anything but feed and water the girls. No turning compost, sweeping, cleaning, adding hay or leaves...nuttin.

If anyone's interested, the expanded metal I used is 3/4" #13 flat expanded metal. The holes are .688" x 1.782". My chicks were 8 weeks old when they started using it and their feet were plenty big enough that none of them had any trouble.

 

[lajollachickens]

Where about in San Diego are you from because we are in La Jolla and are trying to find a place that sells good cchicken supplies.
Where do you buy yours?

 

[perchie.girl]

Where about in San Diego are you from because we are in La Jolla and are trying to find a place that sells good cchicken supplies.
Where do you buy yours?

I divide my time between Santee and Jacumba which is sixty miles east. So Suffice it to say I live in East County.... LOL. Oh and

from Jacumba.....

The closest feed store that I know of for you would be at Marys Tack room in Del Mar. http://www.marystack.com

They have everything there but can be a little pricy for some things. If you can get out to Santee and Lakeside there are about four feed stores to choose from. In a pinch you can buy supplies at some WalMarts The one in Lakeside has Crumbles and scratch.

Check out the San Diego Meetup and Chat Thread there are several people in your area who might have a better idea for locations.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/384942/san-diego-chicken-meetup-and-chat-thread/7430#post_9970589

deb "I sent you a PM"

 

[colburg]

So, she's holding up pretty well. Something I never considered was the snow because we only get it once every few years. Though last year we had a really good 1' snow.

This one was only 3-4 inches.








You can see in this last pic that I've added some clear plastic paneling to help keep them warmer on the cold nights. I only shut the inner door when it gets below 20 degrees.

The tractor oughta hold up under a foot or two of snow no problem. But, it's something to consider when you're building your own.

 

[maryhysong]

Back on Topic...

It rained yesterday

so I didn't get anything done except for spending too much time surfing BYC. I found that lots of people are having problems with only using chicken wire and the predators get free midnight snacks. Since my cage is cattle panels overlaid with chicken wire, the larger redators won't be a problem, but fox, skunks and coons can get through the panels and chicken wire.

One question is, are the predators actually tearing the wires in two, or do they simply work the wraps apart so they can spread them apart? I've tried to break them by hand and it's not easy, but unraveling them was. Could anyone with experience in this please let me know? Pics would also be great.

My first solution is cage clips. They're really cheap and light. If I clip every third or fourth wrap of the chicken wire so that it can't unravel, would that suffice?


If not, I have some spare 3/4 expanded metal pieces that I can put up, but would rather not due to weight.

I hope to get more done on the tractor before the rains come in this evening, but I won't complain if I get rained out.

chicken wire keeps nothing out. I had a rabbit cage with a chicken wire panel. The RABBITS chewed holes in it. I had a rabbit cage with half inch hardware cloth; DOGS ate the wire and killed the rabbit. They didn't pull the staples out that held the wire to the wood; they bit holes in the wire!