Mini-van-coop-fire evacuation-mobile, PREDATOR BREAK IN!

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Bummer, need to do some re-engineering on the tractor. The small split in the front became a big split when I tried to move it this evening. I don't think it's a huge deal except that now I'll be trying to work on it with 35 5-week-old chickens in the way, and I'm going to have to separate the tractor from the coop to get to the part that needs reinforcing. It may have been wiser not to transfer the chicks into the tractor until I had all the bugs worked out, but they were so crowded in their old pens and I PROMISED them I'd give them a better space.

Now they're in their better space, but the camp site isn't going anywhere for another day or so.

I've also got some nifty wheel plans from a fellow BYCer which should help. I'll copy them here and make sure I get the name correct so credit is given where it is due.

 

[ONSTAD1]

Ugh.

 

[Stumpy]

Sorry about your difficulties. I hope it is mended easily.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Thinking back to most of the chicken tractor photos and plans I've seen, I should have realized that most of them were being moved across what was more or less lawn, rather than the rather rugged meadow I'm using. I need to build my tractor along the lines of a SUV, ATV or HumV rather than a family sedan. Maybe instead of "Meals on Wheels" I should call it my "Supper Utility Vehicle". I wonder if I could set up a temporary holding pen out of poultry netting so that I could work on the tractor without causing supreme panic in the flock. I think one of the things I like about chicken keeping is it requires me to constantly be creative and think outside the box...although a week or two of boring wouldn't be bad either.

 

[canesisters]

You said these were meat birds? How long till they .. um .. move out? Maybe you can patch it up JUST enough to get this batch through. By then you'll have a bit of practical use experience with it and can make adjustments without all the feather drama.

Still - it's a wonderful idea and I'm sure you're going to get it sorted out.

 

[JakeBremer]

Put wheels on the back of the tractor, then you wont have a problem with the wood slpitting or anything.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Put wheels on the back of the tractor, then you wont have a problem with the wood slpitting or anything.

Yes, that's my next project. I've purchased the parts for this wheel arrangement that was posted for my by BigWilly on the "Moveable Run" thread of this forum:


It will allow me to lower the wheels (thus raising the tractor) when I need to move it, but raise the wheels (thus lowering the tractor) when it is in place. I'll then have to do some repairs to the tractor where it was damaged, but should then be ready to go.

 

[TheJadeChicken]

I personally like "Hennebago".

I personally like the "Hennebago" as well! xD

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

You said these were meat birds? How long till they .. um .. move out? Maybe you can patch it up JUST enough to get this batch through. By then you'll have a bit of practical use experience with it and can make adjustments without all the feather drama.

Still - it's a wonderful idea and I'm sure you're going to get it sorted out.

They still have 4 or 5 weeks to go, and with the mess they've already made of the tractor space in a little over two days, I'll really need to move it soon. I'm not discouraged, just bummed that I got impatient and didn't think things out as well as I should have. I tend to have a "let's see if this will work" sort of attitude to building, using whatever I have at hand as much as possible and sometimes I jump the gun and move to step 4 before I'm really convinced that step 3 was a success. Or skipping step 4 all together because I don't have the materials on hand and then realizing after the fact that if I do step 5 before step 4, it makes step 4 twice as difficult...as a result I often have to back up to step 2...thus the comment about making life more difficult for myself.

 

[canesisters]

That is SOO like me!!! Name a project - I probably got halfway through before I realized that I was missing a vital piece and had to stop and backup.

I think that I'd be temped to go 'deep litter' on their little selves and just keep tossing shavings in there till they were ready to come out. Then just leave the bedding there once it's empty (ta-da! new compost pile).