Is our chicken tractor safe??

[juliemom25]

We are building a chicken tractor mainly for our meat chicks that will be butchered in a couple weeks. It is made out of 3/4" PVC piping and it will be entirely covered in galvanized metal hardware cloth. I am confident that what I am building is strong, but I worry about coons and stuff digging under the tractor at night. The designs I am using does not allow for the mesh on the bottom, but what about the critters?

Thanks! Julie

 

[Omran]

well I would rais it above the ground a couple feet and make the floor also from heavey welded wires, so you don't have to clean much and they are going to be eating like crazy anyway.

 

[applefalls]

Do you have an enclosed run around the tractor?

 

[patandchickens]

Mostly when people make meat-bird tractors like that, they put them inside some area where there is less chance of predators -- like protected by at least *some* sort of moderately predator-resistant fencing (often electric fencing for larger livestock).

Out by itself, it'd be a roll of the dice whether you get away with it.

I suppose you could make an apron around it, although that would make daily moves of a large tractor a bit more obnoxious.

Post on the meat bird section of the forum for more advice?

Good luck,

Pat, with 10-day old red broiler chicks in the basement right now that'll eventually end up in a tractor like yours, but inside electronet.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

You could always add an apron/flange of wire, around the bottom, to prevent digging. For a tractor, I'd have each side of the apron hinged at the bottom, so you could flip it up for moving. Attaching it with something like hog rings might work as a hinge at the bottom. You'd want the sections securely attached, but with enough play that they will still be able to move. Then have some way to tie the sections up or hook them up, while moving the tractor.