Friend lost his chickens to animal attack. Can Tractors be made safe?

[daveshuck]

I got a call on Sunday morning from a friend that I had given 3 chickens to. They were all gone except for a few feathers. He had them in a tractor. The tractor was an the other side of the wall from his bedroom but he slept through it. The animal dug underneath and through the chicken wire. Very upsetting.

A few weeks ago I was watching a video about a winery in Arizona. At one point in the video, they walked past a good looking tractor (long triangular chicken wire box with an enclosure at one end). All they found of the chickens was one foot and a few feathers.

Can tractors be made safe from predators?

 

[Lucas148yy]

if you take fence/chicken wire and put it around the buttom on the out side and tie it too the buttom of the fence then wet the ground and step on it the push it in the mud let it dry,put rocks on corners and double the wire

tip:chain link fence covered in chicken wire is a good strong way too keep them safe

 

[ralleia]

Oh, how disheartening.

Regarding chicken wire, I've heard quite a few people remark that chicken wire is designed to keep chickens IN--it does nothing to keep a predator out.

Hardware cloth is the primary means to keep things out.

Could the tractor be equipped with at least a mesh floor like the ones here: http://www.thechickentractor.com.au/accessories.htm

It would keep out a large predator, though not necessarily smaller ones like a possum. Those are nocturnal though.

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Alternatively, maybe a "skirt" of chicken wire firmly attached to the base and then weighted down with concrete blocks/retaining wall block, etc. It would need to be overlapping at the corners and at least two layers to discourage the **** out of a digger.

Was it at night then? I'd suspect a coon--maybe even a fox.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

This is what I do to keep predators out of my tractors.

The apron wire should be eighteen inches to two feet in width and attached all the way around outside. If you've got weasels, mink, or other very small predators then the wire is going to need to be fairly tight. Otherwise one or two inch opening wire is OK. In the photo I'm using a double layer of one inch chicken wire. I'm not really happy with it as I have to replace it about every two years, but it's what I had on hand when I needed it.

To date the only predator kills I've ever had in my tractors was one winter when I had two tractors with wire that needed replacing (big holes) and one tractor that I used apron wire only twelve inches wide which turned out to be insufficient to give good coverage on uneven ground. When the wire is intact and between eighteen inches to two feet wide nothing has gotten in. The oldest of my tractors is going on five years old now and I have seven in use.

 

[ralleia]

A.T. Hagan :

This is what I do to keep predators out of my tractors.

To date the only predator kills I've ever had in my tractors was one winter when I had two tractors with wire that needed replacing (big holes) and one tractor that I used apron wire only twelve inches wide which turned out to be insufficient to give good coverage on uneven ground. When the wire is intact and between eighteen inches to two feet wide nothing has gotten in. The oldest of my tractors is going on five years old now and I have seven in use.

Wow! How do you move those, and how often? Do the chickens "mow" the grasses and weeds down?

We allow our 40 chickens to free-range in the afternoon, but they don't go very far, nor do they do a very effective job of in any one area.​

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I catch the front of the tractor with a hand truck right under the door, lift the front a few inches then pull. For someone other than a grown man I'd put wheel in the back.

They are moved every day. And, yes, the chickens more or less mow the grass inside.