Moveable Coops, i.e. Tractors

[MnCanary]

Those of you that move your coops often, or have tractor coops: how do you seal the bottom edge so predators don't slip under and into the bird's area?

 

[Sonya9]

Those of you that move your coops often, or have tractor coops: how do you seal the bottom edge so predators don't slip under and into the bird's area?

If no one answers post the title as a question.

 

[Big Doggie]

If no one answers post the title as a question.

I have a relatively predator safe area until dark so I’ll coral the girls in and secure the door. It doesn’t have a security apron and I put them back home before sunset. It weighs about 80 to 90 lbs so it’s hard to move and sits relatively flat. But I’d never leave them there at night when “they” come out of the darkness.

 

[MVchickens]

Electric poultry net surrounding the tractors. Gives the birds extra day space to range and protection from predators at night.

 

[Alaskan]

I have a strip of flexible wire fence that I encircle the bottom edge of the tractor with and weigh down with rocks, tent stakes, heavy wood bits.

But.... depends on what you are keeping out.

I only go to the bother of using the wire edging when I have chicks in the tractor.

 

[iwltfum]

I don't use anything around the pen, but we don't have much predator pressure where I am, also my tractors are too heavy for any predator to lift. If there is a big gap because of a depression in the ground, then I'll use some lengths of 2x4s that I keep on top of the pens to fill the gap.

I used to live in Colorado where we had some major predator pressure. We had a single strand of electric wire placed about 3 inches off the ground, and on long 4 inch insulators attached to the bottom rail of the pens attached to a very strong fence charger. Never had anything actually get into any of my pens in 7 years of raising meat birds. Only predators getting at the birds through the wire on the sides (and that was in tractors without the electric wire).

 

[springvalley123]

I had two tractors on quite level ground. Each time I moved them, I'd have a shovel handy and several larger rocks to fill in any gaps where the ground wasn't perfectly even with the bottom of the tractors. No losses but I didn't do that very long term and didn't have much predator pressure.

 

[JacksonChickies]

So reading this.....have I made a mistake decided to mesh in the floor of my tractor run??

 

[springvalley123]

I can't imagine safely putting mesh where the birds will walk, unless maybe you're putting a foot or so of various gravel, sand, dirt etc on top of that, in which case the mesh probably would become compromised without your being able to see it. Instead, I'd use an apron which attaches to the outside bottom of the tractor and goes out about 2 feet. But to make it portable?? Like I had written previously, I'd just have a shovel and/or rocks handy. Hopefully someone else can think of a way to predator proof it without sacrificing portability. best of luck!

 

[iwltfum]

So reading this.....have I made a mistake decided to mesh in the floor of my tractor run??

I just use an open bottom. No predator can lift the ones I have made (joel salatin style) - with a bear being the only possible exception, which we dont have where I live. I've also worked on a farm that had high predator pressure that used electric wire around the base of the pens with success. Meshing the bottom might still work as fertalizing machines, but the birds will not get the same amount of benefit from them being on the ground without the mesh. For me, the whole benefit of the birds being on grass is they will forage up to 15-20% of their food from the pasture. But they need to be able to scratch, which the wire prevents them from doing.