Lightweight tractor w/ foxes about?

[hannalice]

Hey all,

I've been given permission to tractor meat birds on a friend's property (having no useable land of my own), but I'm wondering about construction of a (fairly) lightweight tractor when we know for a fact that they have foxes around? I'll need to be able to move this by hand, so I'm thinking wheels on the back, handles in front, but do you guys have any suggestions? Don't even bother, unless I'm building the Fort Knox of tractors?

 

[barrybro]

I have coyotes, foxes, racoons in abundance. I have not yet had a problem.

Barry

 

[hannalice]

Quote:
What's your set up? I'm pretty shy about this, I lost my entire flock of turkeys one year to a pack of coyotes that tore into a cedar privacy fence and broke into my permanent, chain-link, gravel bottomed turkey pen. I'm not looking forward to a repeat

 

[Mark & Nique]

Howdy,

Our backyard tractor is based on the following design: http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/better-homes-gardens/article/-/5829854/chicken-coop/

(It is from Australia, so you have to either measure in cm and mm or convert to inches.)

It is an A-frame and is easy to modify, such as making it longer or shorter. We have 1/2 inch steel mesh covering the sides and the bottom, held in place by U-nails. Overall, it is very sturdy and very heavy!

To move it takes 2 adults, or 1 with 'rolling logs' under the bottom edges. Good luck!

 

[One Acre Wonder Farm]

I have a 4'x10' tractor made of 2"x2"s and chicken wire with a tin roof. One night last year a fox (I think) bit a chunk of roosting chicken through the wire but did not break through the wire. The chicken (an oegb) recovered.

Are you thinking about PVC? Chicken wire or hardware cloth? You could try hardware cloth with an apron on the ground around the tractor secured with landscaping pins/stakes.

Sorry to hear about your turkeys. That was one hungry pack of coyotes; what a lot of work for a meal!

 

[hannalice]

Quote:
I was hoping for PVC, willing to do hardware cloth though my budget would prefer chicken wire. I'd be putting walls on one end for nighttime protection, and was considering using chicken or welded wire on the floor, just as a little added security.

And yeah, southern California tends to starve coyotes in the summer time, they were very, very determined. We found large white poofs of feathers 2 miles from the house. I'm *still* bitter about that, and it's been something like 7 years!

 

[Mark & Nique]

Chicken wire is good at keeping chickens in, but not too good at keeping critters out...

 

[scubaforlife]

There are many levels of security you can go through in order to ensure safety. I have lost an entire batch of 40 to critters (now dead critters) and I can assure you that the tractor will not keep a determined animal out unless built that way.

Foxes are smart enough to dig under to get to them. So are Opossums. If you put a bend of hardware cloth sticking out 6" or so, at the bottom of the tractor, you should be ok. If you want to make sure you don't have a problem you can set traps all around, or a simpler way is to put up a fence around the pen. Layered defense seems to be the best I have been able to come up with. My outer perimeter is Premiere - Poultry Net with an electrofier on the fence. Haven't had anything figure that out yet since any attempt to get to the tractor is met with pain.

 

[hannalice]

Thanks for the tips, guys!

I'm in no rush to build the tractor (logistically speaking, it would be hard to get over to her property often enough to move it anyway) but the input is appreciated!