So despite "I don't buy grown birds" I seem to have bought a pair of Ridley strain bronze turkeys on Saturday, how do these things happen?
I was going to quarantine them in the horse barn but it just seems a bit damp and rodenty in there at the moment so yesterday I invested six hours, about twenty bucks of material, and a lot of bad language knocking together a tractor for them.
The boards are the better ones from the rotting back deck I took down on Labor Day; the chainlink gate used for a door was here when we bought the property; the tarp is ucky and old but not holey; I also used some baler twine off last winter's hay, and put an old piece of 3/4" plywood I use as a garage sale sign on top of the roof to maybe keep the tarp in place better.
I also used maybe $10 worth of 3" deck screws and 3/4" fence staples, and 42' of four-foot 2x4 wire mesh fencing that I bought for $10 at an auction a year or two ago against future need. So while I did not buy anything "for" this tractor, I figure it did cost me $20
(e.t.a. - or maybe less. The wood from the deck is pressure-treated and needs to go to the dump, so the am't I used in this tractor is that much less I have to *pay* to dispose of!)
The tractor is 8x8 and 4' high, modelled on the hog-panel hoop tractors that people make, except this is a version for those of us who lack either hog panels or a truck to transport 'em in
The diagonal sides and roost braces provide considerable rigidity (if you build one yourself, you should add horizontal diagonal braces at each corner of the base frame, I was just in too much of a hurry to bother). It is too heavy to "lift" but I can drag it pretty easily. It is really quite a sturdy yet fairly light tractor, I am fairly proud of it, especially by the standards of "things designed in your head at 2 a.m. the night before".
I need to put more small-mesh stuff along the bottom 2' and in locations where the roost would be reachable if the tarp were ripped away. Probably switch to a larger tarp too. Otherwise it is done, and the turkeys were in it last night and survived.
The only construction detail of note is that the angled corners, that do not have wood supporting them, are quite surprisingly sturdy and rigid. I folded the triangular excess from the end wire over against the side wire, pulled it tight, and used the long pokey ends to secure it by wrapping them around and around the side wire using pliers. Worked better than I expected!
Let's not critique my wardrobe here
The turkeys will be in it for a month, then it will sit untarped and empty over the winter, then I may use it (with a cover) to start some vegetables early in the garden, and then I figure it will make a great grow-out pen or possibly for some broilers.
Pat
The boards are the better ones from the rotting back deck I took down on Labor Day; the chainlink gate used for a door was here when we bought the property; the tarp is ucky and old but not holey; I also used some baler twine off last winter's hay, and put an old piece of 3/4" plywood I use as a garage sale sign on top of the roof to maybe keep the tarp in place better.
I also used maybe $10 worth of 3" deck screws and 3/4" fence staples, and 42' of four-foot 2x4 wire mesh fencing that I bought for $10 at an auction a year or two ago against future need. So while I did not buy anything "for" this tractor, I figure it did cost me $20
The tractor is 8x8 and 4' high, modelled on the hog-panel hoop tractors that people make, except this is a version for those of us who lack either hog panels or a truck to transport 'em in
I need to put more small-mesh stuff along the bottom 2' and in locations where the roost would be reachable if the tarp were ripped away. Probably switch to a larger tarp too. Otherwise it is done, and the turkeys were in it last night and survived.
The only construction detail of note is that the angled corners, that do not have wood supporting them, are quite surprisingly sturdy and rigid. I folded the triangular excess from the end wire over against the side wire, pulled it tight, and used the long pokey ends to secure it by wrapping them around and around the side wire using pliers. Worked better than I expected!
Let's not critique my wardrobe here
The turkeys will be in it for a month, then it will sit untarped and empty over the winter, then I may use it (with a cover) to start some vegetables early in the garden, and then I figure it will make a great grow-out pen or possibly for some broilers.
Pat
Last edited:
