chicken tractor floor -- do you need one?

[Delia]

We built ours without a floor -- we put the wooden hen house over a strong mesh panel so that nothing can dig into it. I did wonder about whether it would be dry enough in heavy rains though. The whole hen house part is on the ground.

We don't have any chickens yet -- wanted to finish the tractor and run before we got any.
Delia

 

[NancyP]

From my research I would say no floor. It seems the point is to let them graze the area then move on to a new spot before they kill off all the grass. Hopefully someone with more experience can clarify this better than I can.
Nancy

 

[StupidBird]

I was getting paranoid about our chicken tractor not having a floor - although the chickens (3 months old) love tearing up the grass and soil, there are loose dogs and other potential disasters. I like the idea of just parking the tractor over the (on back-order) piece of hardware cloth instead of trying to attach yet another something to the frame. Thanks for that idea, and I'll be watching for more input.
- Stupid Bird

 

[patandchickens]

The main problem with a wire floor is that it makes it suddenly real difficult to move the tractor. Normally, in a floor-less tractor, they just walk along inside as you move it; but they can't do that with wire, and indeed risk getting squooshed feet when you put it down. So you have to either lock them in the floored part for the move, which makes a rather bumpy and insecure and stressful move for them, or you need to remove them from the tractor completely. Also a wire floor prevents scratching (which is a really important part of chickenhood)

In my opinion, the best solution to keep predators from digging in is a) shut the chickens into a floored house portion of the tractor at night; and have an apron of wire mesh (preferably like 12" or more wide, but, anything is better than nothing) all around the bottom edges of the tractor to discourage digging.

(e.t.a. - I'd be real leery of just parking the tractor on a piece of mesh. It still prevents scratching which is kind of tough on the chickens, but as many predators are quite a lot stronger than you might imagine, it may well NOT be preventing a predator from getting in - all they have to do is tip the tractor up enough to get under the frame, or push it enough that it slides partly off the mesh. Everybody underestimates the strength of dogs and mature raccoons. Don't. Especially when they have a chicken dinner in sight.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat