Apron for chicken tractor - ideas?

[elmo]

I'm in the process of building a new chicken tractor for my small flock of bantams. The old one had some design flaws that I'm attempting to address with the new design.

My new tractor has an 8' by 8' footprint, and is an A frame style. My question is: does anyone use any material other than hardware cloth/welded wire for an apron around the outside of the tractor?

I had a wire apron around my old tractor, and there were some problems with it. The wire crumpled sometimes when I was dragging the tractor around. There were sharp edges. The chickens sometimes got their little toesies caught in the wire mesh as I was herding them inside the tractor.

I only use my tractor in the daytime and only when we're home, so I'm not really needing heavy predator protection. We have a fenced yard, so it's highly unlikely any strange dogs will be getting into our yard. Our yard is mostly level, but there can be gaps under the edge of the tractor of 1 to 2 inches in places, and that concerns me because my bantams could be small enough to squeeze out a space like that...certainly the chicks that we're hoping will hatch in about two weeks could slip through.

So, any ideas? Ideally, the apron would be something light, too, since I want to be able to move the tractor around the yard myself.

 

[MissJenny]

Am I understanding that the wire, at the bottom, was not attached to a board, like a 1"x4" -- it was just bare wire. Is that right? Do you have a photo?

Jenny

 

[elmo]

I have a photo of my old tractor on my BYC page. Yes, the apron was attached to the frame. In the case of my old tractor, I just continued the wire sides downward and bent it out to form the apron.

This time, though, the apron is going to be a separate piece attached to the frame, perhaps with clips or hinges.