chix tractor gap at ground

[florida lee]

the bottom rail of my chicken tractor is 3" above the ground. Can my chickens (when I get them) get thru this space? I'm not worried about varmints, because they will be secured at night, and during the day my dogs will keep varmints away. Not worried about chicks because they will not have access to this area until they are larger.
thanks

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
A chicken would not have to do much scratching/digging at all to squinch itself thru that size opening if it wanted to, e.g. if the grass inside the tractor was getting eaten down and the pastures outside looked greener.

Personally I'd also be inclined to worry about varmints that the dogs miss, or the dogs themselves -- no matter how much you trust your dogs, people lose chickens to their own very-trustworthy-for-years dogs *quite a lot*. But, that's an individual choice about risk.

Anyhow you would be a lot safer by either raising the wheels so there is less clearance, or making some kind of skirt that can be flipped down and secured to the ground with tentpegs when the tractor is stationary.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Go with pats idea about a skirt. Our portable run has a skirt that comes out 3 feet and I clip it up to move it and unclip and weight it down when I get it placed. Our tractor is on wheels and we have a floating skirt that we butt up against the tractor and attach to the run. Our ground is so uneven and hilly that this has worked out the best. Chickens can be great escape artists (i have one) so the skirt should help keep them in and critters out. Make sure you weight it down so dogs can nose it up.

 

[bburn]

I have two living in a tractor for now....and I have bricks and cinder blocks all around it...even where it meets the ground.

 

[plucker]

My coop has a bottom so the gap doesn't matter. I made the run light enough to drag around so it has no wheels and so no gap. if your set-up must have wheels, a skirt is the easiest fix (and pretty much mandatory IMHO.

 

[florida lee]

Thank you all for the info and insight. This is just what I needed. My ground is very uneven, so my tractor has wheels. But as suggested I can put flaps that will meet the ground all the way around when parked.
Hope to get my chicks this week or next.