Dogproof tractor? & here's our coop photo

[suburbanhomesteader]

Gorgeous coop!

Can we see shots of the inside?

 

[Judymae]

Will your dogs dig past paving stones? We have unlevel ground around our duck pen and we put landscape paving stones around the fencing. It's been almost 2 years with nothing getting them that way--but the other nite something busted through the gate and plucked my poor aflac duck! We found him in the front yard under a trailer. My trusty basset hound right beside him. She was growling at anything that got near him(besides us). When we put him back in the pen he ran to his mate and the rejoiced before she had to get back to sitting on her eggs. Poor thing probably thought she was gonna be a single mother!

 

[WoodlandWoman]

lolozigzag, why are you thinking about moving your chickens from your main coop and run, to a tractor? Have they stripped the vegetation in their run and you want them to get fresh lawn? Do you want them closer to your house, to enjoy watching them more? I was just wondering.

When I was talking about a more open wire for the bottom of a tractor, I was thinking of welded wire. I agree that hardware cloth would be very hard on their feet. I don't think they would get much grass that way, either.

 

[kingsdaughter]

Im thinking of using tent stakes or some other stakes, maybe swingset stakes to secure my meat bird tractor this summer. For wind and predator purposes. I know there is a stake puller thing to make the removing and replacing easier.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

That's a great idea. I had no idea there was such a thing as a stake puller!

 

[lolozigzag]

Thanks everyone for your replies. We decided to make a new large permanent pen instead of a chicken tractor to ensure their safety, plus we will be able to provide them with more shade. Our soil is all sand and I think some of our dogs would tenaciously try everything to get to the chickens, so we'll just go with buried fence, zap wire, and land mines
Woodland Woman, you are right! We want the chickens to have more vegetation, more room to roam, and I want to be able to see them better from the house. They have already eaten almost all the grass and they've only been in there a month.
Here are some photos of the inside of the coop.
Feeder and nest boxes:

Door to the outside on pulleys (although I saw a link to the automatic door here in the forum and might have to change ours to that one!):

Roosts and poop chute. Four chickens sleep on this top roost, however the buff orpington pictured here, and her bud, the barred rock pictured above, like to roost on the window sill. (The buff orpington was just posing for the camera.)

Outdoor roost:

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Oh, your chickens are adorable! They look like they're enjoying that coop. Good models, too.

I've seen some ideas for keeping a bit of grass in a run. You can add grass protectors, low profile cages that the grass grows through. The chickens can eat what grows above the cage, but can't eat it down to the ground or scratch up the roots. I've seen shallow crates used, like you sometimes see at garden centers, or some people have covered a wooden frame with wire.

At least one person fills a flat with dirt and plants grass in it. I think they rotate flats. I'd be tempted to try a foraging seed blend, that improves the omegas in the eggs, for that. Even if it's not a huge area of greenery, it's still very tasty and appreciated by the chickens.

Maybe you need to put a seating area next to your run.

 

[lolozigzag]

Thanks for all of the great ideas!

 

[suburbanhomesteader]

I got my T-post puller from Northern:

http://www2.northerntool.com/product-1/13224.htm

 

[lolozigzag]

Awesome! Thanks for the link. We'll have to get one of those and unstick all those stuck posts!