Hey ya'll flat-landers, WV here. Fence advice?

[tommybee46]

I'm in the design phase of building a chicken tractor. The coop will be basically 4'x4' and the run will be on the "handle end" of this large wheelbarrow. It'll be "nice", as in easy on the eye, but relatively heavy I fear. I'll probably have to add an anchor!

I've gathered chicken wire is for chickens and not predators. Of course we have dogs, and I've seen fox, skunk, 'possum, blacksnakes, 'coons, hawks and owls. I've seen hardware cloth with 1/2" mesh recommended, but I'd like to get by with something lighter, say fence with 2" x 3" squares.

Any thoughts...sage advice?

TommyBee

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas, tommybee46, and

! Great to have you aboard! My advice is to at least use the hardware cloth from ground level and then up the sides of the tractor a foot or higher. The 2" or 3" wire you are talking about is indeed lighter (and less expensive) but raccoons have been known to stick their grubby little paws through the holes in the wire, hook a chicken, drag it to fence and eat it alive...what a way to go, huh? In the a.m. you find a pile of bones and feathers inside the fence and no sign of a predator ever having gotten in. A perimeter of HW cloth would prevent that. So, that's my 2 cents. Good luck to you!

 

[sumi]

Hello and welcome to BYC

I agree with Redsoxs. Hardware cloth really is the best way to keep racoons away from your chickens.

 

[thasista]

Hi from Kentucky

 

[drumstick diva]

If you line the bottom 18" inches or so of your fencing with 1/2 inch hardware cloth it helps prevent raccoons from nibbling on body parts, they drag thru the fence. REALLY don't like raccoons. Will you have a top on your run - lots of predators can climb or jump

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Welcome to BYC!!

Glad you joined us!!

 

[TravisE]

&

from a fellow west virginian

 

[missnu01]

We are going to try to use field fence to fence in a good bit of our 3.87 acres, and it seems like it will be no easy task...since we are in WNC, and our area is a bunch of hills and valleys...but we are going to give it a good shot...

 

[tommybee46]

Thank you chicken farmers and neighbors for sharing your knowledge and experience. I know lessons learned from one's own mistakes are not easily forgotten, but I'd rather avoid as many as possible. If you will permit me to impose...

The wheels for my "Chicken Wheelbarrow" arrived this week. I "won" them on Ebay--a pair of solid rubber 12" rigid casters. Figured to start from the ground up. I plan to attach these to a 4' 2x10 (or 2x12) with lag bolts. The final placement of the wheel assembly across the bottom of a 4' square coop will depend where the fulcrum ends up. The outside 2x4s of the coop foundation will extend to form the run and the handles of this big wheelbarrow; the top of these would be right at 20' high. I haven't yet determined the length--12' would leave less than 8' for a run (but I could get by with one 25' roll of 36" hardware cloth), and 16' may be too long, not allowing the front of the run clear the ground when handle is raised. A shorter/wider run seems to make sense...doesn't it? From a physics perspective? Duh. I may leave a higher area near the coop, say the first 3', to allow for a chicken door and ramp. And I do like the idea of the three panels I've seen on some Quaker styles...that get dropped and locked after moving. Any insights? Obvious stupid ideas or mistakes?

Thanks for the wire advice. Does it matter whether the hardware cloth is installed on the inside of the treated lumber forming the frame of the run (for street appeal), as opposed to the outside (to deter gnawing by pesky critters)? And would it make sense to design this thing so all ground-contact boards can be replaced relatively easily?

The slide-out floor panel for ease of coop cleaning seems like a good idea. I'd think this could also serve as a winter floor--if the summer floor was hardware cloth (this also seems like a good idea). However, a thick 4'x4' panel of plywood would make for a solid coop foundation. What about a one piece plywood floor that "frames" the floor of the coop, say 6" wide around the floor perimeter? The 3'x3' middle could be wire, and a panel slide in for the winter. Or is all this ridiculous, as the way to go is the "deep litter" route?

One last thing about nesting boxes, and I like the ones that protrude out the side...or the end in my case, the end, as I'm trying to put most of the weight at the "far" end. Should they be up off the floor of the coop? I've seen designs both ways, but read they feel safer up off the floor.

Again, any insights, criticisms, or random thoughts...even off-the-wall thoughts, would be appreciated.

TommyBee, aspiring chicken rancher.