my cheap design. any ideas?

[elmo]

Quote:
Putting wire on the bottom of the tractor isn't the best thing. It interferes with the chickens' scratching, poop gets caught on it, and it can be rough on the chickens' feet. Instead, you can construct a wire apron attached to the baseboards, extending flat on the ground outward for about 2 feet or so. Hinge it so you can flip it up and out of the way when you move the tractor. When the tractor is "parked" you can weight down the four corners of the apron with bricks or something like that.

When a predator tries to dig in, they begin digging at the edge of the frame, hit the wire, and give up, not realizing that they just need to back up beyond the edge of the wire and start digging from there (or even if they did figure that out, they'd have to dig a tunnel more than 2 feet long before getting into the coop. Should be morning by then!)

 

[mendozer]

yeah the sogginess would suck, unless i put the food/water over the grate. then whatever spills goes onto grass and they can eat it up again and it waters the grass haha. I just have to watch for keeping it far enough from the roost. no poop in the food, that's not good

 

[elmo]

Quote:
Welded wire mesh is good, but you'll want a pretty decent gauge wire. I use 19 gauge because my runs are big and using thicker wire is cost prohibitive. 16 or even 14 gauge wire for a small area is worth considering for its additional strength.

The other issue is wire spacing. If the spaces between the wires are bigger than 1/2" by 1/2", there's a potential for "reach through" predation. The terrified chickens pile up in the corner of the pen and the raccoon reaches through the wire with its paws, grabs the chicken, and pulls it out piece by piece through the hole. It's ghastly. If you do use wire with larger openings, be sure to reinforce the areas at the bottom where chicken pile ups could occur with something solid or smaller mesh.

 

[elmo]

Quote:
You really don't want chicken feed spilling onto the grass and then getting wet. It can get mouldy, and if the chickens eat that, they can die. I use a plastic plant saucer under the feeder to contain what gets billed out, and keep it off the ground where it's very difficult to clean up.

 

[mendozer]

oh ok. saucer under the bowl, good idea. I'll probably build a fancier feeder one day, but this should work. I was planning on wheeling them onto fresh grass daily, but is that necessary or can they chill for a few days between moves?

also, i was going to get a fuzzy floormat/rug from goodwill for the nesting boxes. hay isn't necessary right? just something soft to catch the egg.

 

[elmo]

Quote:
Just use some kind of latch that a child would have trouble opening, not a simple hook and eye. I use spring loaded clips like these:

Another good bit of advice I've read on this forum for building raccoon resistant doors is to make sure the door fits closely in its frame so there is no way for the coon to get its paws in and start prying (they're very strong). And make sure the screws you use on the hinge are a good size and go into some good solid wood on the frame.

 

[mendozer]

ok. I'll use a latch like that for the run door. For the door to the "upstairs" I would slide in a piece of wood into a slot. No way to pry that open since I'll slide it in from the accessible door side.

 

[mendozer]

this is my new idea. I don't think i need the upper part to have mesh siding since the floor will provide ventilation. A plexiglass window will let it lots of light. i have the roost going across the top there. depending on my wood sizing, i may need to make it longitudinal instead.

I picked up my cabinet today. Honestly, it's freakin huge so i may need to cut the bottoms out and shorten it. it's 23" high. I know chickens don't need that much space. It's a total of 32x23x18 deep. I still would like 2 cubbies though, just shorter.

 

[elmo]

Quote:
How frequently you move the tractor depends on the stocking density, what kind of grass you have there, and how much you care about that grass not getting eaten right down to the roots and below. You'll have to wait and see how your set up is working, and figure out how frequently you need to move your tractor based on these factors.

I'm not really sure how well hens would like a fuzzy floormat in the nestbox. They can be pretty picky about where they lay, and you want to get them started off with a good routine laying where you want them to lay, and not someplace else. I'd just pick up a bag of pine shavings and use those for the bottom of the nestbox. The hens can adjust shavings with their beaks and feet to make their nest "just so."

And if a hen should poop in the nestbox, shavings make clean up easy (you pick out the dirty parts and put fresh shavings in). With a floormat, you'd have to hose it off and let it dry somewhere, and poo could easily get crusted in the fuzzy part of the mat. You don't want your eggs getting laid in poo crusted fuzz.

 

[elmo]

Quote:
By cabinet, do you mean what you're going to use for nestboxes? If so, you may want to rethink using that cabinet at all. The top of an A frame is so cramped, and your coop is not over sized as it is. How about picking up one or two plastic tubs to use for nestboxes? Something like these:

http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-12417/Plastic-Bins/11-x-11-x-5-Plastic-Stackable-Bins

Plastic is easy to clean and has no crevices where mites can hide. If you put a door in the end wall of your tractor, you could easily access these boxes to collect eggs, etc.