Help please chicken tractor issue

[Becky89*]

I have a chicken tractor and originally I put wire on the bottom of it to keep racoons and other predators out. I've been noticing lately that there is a hole forming in the middle of the wired floor. Is there a tougher type of wire I can fix that one hole with or should I just redo the whole thing??

Please help me

Becky

 

[s6bee]

I don't use wire. I have put a heavier plywood down. Maybe you can tack down a heavier wire to the underside to prevent the coons coming in, but I just don't like wire. JMO. What type of wire are you using. Chicken wire won't hold the birds.

 

[Miltonchix]

I thought the purpose of a tractor was to have an open bottom for chickens to free range under cover

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[skennedy]

Quote:
Mine is open on the bottom too. If not how do they eat the grass?

 

[KrisRose]

You can remove the wire completely and then make a skirt for the tractor. Use hardware cloth. Tack it down with landscape staples and just pull them up when you need to move it.

 

[silkiechicken]

Maybe you can make wire flaps on the sides that you can pick up when you need to move the cage instead of wiring the floor. Wire can be hard on feet but does prevent them from digging up the ground you put them on.

 

[skennedy]

Becky89* :

I have a chicken tractor and originally I put wire on the bottom of it to keep racoons and other predators out. I've been noticing lately that there is a hole forming in the middle of the wired floor. Is there a tougher type of wire I can fix that one hole with or should I just redo the whole thing??

Please help me

Becky

Maybe you should lower your clearence on the bottom. I ony have about 1 inch of clearence on mine. Have never had any problems with coons getting in from the bottom.​

 

[peruvian_princess]

Mine doesnt have wire onthe bottom either.

 

[EllyMae]

Quote:
That is exactly what I'm doing to mine...a great concept. AND I wouldn't have come up with that idea without the great minds here on BYC!

 

[Becky89*]

The wire that I am using is a heavy fence wire my father brought home from his job at the forest service. I know it holds cause I've had both a 52 pound turkey and a 48 pound turkey test it out for me.