quail tractor

[pascopol]

I am not telling you where you need to keep your birds, so you don't tell me where I should keep mine.

You can keep them where you please.

Fact is that hawks can cut the heads off quail through the chicken wire and cons can easily dig under.

Anybody who kept quail for a while knows that.


If you believe your birds are safe, that's great, but somebody less experienced may listen to your stupid and arrogant rants and believe that birds are "safe" protected by chicken wire.

LOL

 

[95yj]

are you completely ignoring me, i never said chicken wire protected them. they aren't left out at night, coons won't go after them during the day, and a hawk has a 5" leg the tractor is 4' across, i'v seen the way the quail react to hawks, they hunker down away from it, meaning either in the house or in the center of the pen. Seriously what do you want me to do, sit outside 24 hours a day with a gun or just move my birds to fort knox?

 

[95yj]

also, why is this set up so safe but mine isn't?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=315861
This whole thing is just because nobody keeps quail outside. I really don't see why its any different from the bantams i had in there for 2 months...

 

[JJMR794]

Quote:
What makes it only marginally safer ( This means its not much safer than yours...) is the hardware cloth total wrap--- follow me here for just a moment. I have coturnix and many other speces of quail. I have lost big numbers to hawks specifically--- you are wrong in your prediction about the hawks just as i was earlier in my experience... chicken wire does not protect quail from hawks--- hawk lands near the cage and simply walks up slowly and the window licker in the pen walks over and sticks his head thru the wire to look at the big pretty birdy outside and you end up with a headless quail--- the number totally some 20 something quail and around a dozen pheasant chicks before we got everything wrapped in 1/2 in hardware cloth and dealt with the predator problem--- this was a period of 3 to 4 consecutive days total. Coons can chew through your chicken wire! plastic coating only makes it less abrassive to them. As pascopol deftly points out a raccoon can chew through 1x 1/2 wire that is no less than 10x's stronger and heavier than any chicken wire known to mankind.--- the box idea at night is super! but make no mistake while the tractor is very lovely--- I wouldnt bet about it being perfectly safe. thruth is very few of our designs --- any designs are 100% fool proof and there's always something lurking out there waiting to humble us. I for 1, wish you the best of luck. But keep an eye toward that pen and an open mind. And if you can think of any improvements to turn it into fort knox I recommend making them.

Also lemme go ahead and tackle the next rebuttle for this post as-- What makes the hardware cloth more deterrant than 1x1/2? its not as heavy either.... You are correct, it's not as heavy! but it is more tennacious to get through than either the heavy 1x1/2 or chicken wire in that it has great tenstile strength because of its design and as something chews through it it offers many more sharp snags sticking out in all directions to poke something in the mouth/ teeth/ or gums--- there fore it is not so much stronger, but meaner to get through effectly. Hardware colth over chicken wire= a bonus! hardware cloth over 1x1/2 = a major bonus. cinderblock wall? Now we're talkin!

 

[95yj]

I'm not saying its 100% predator proof, almost nothing is. I am well aware that hardware cloth is stronger, unfortunately i did not have a spare 50' roll of it lying around in my backyard. Coons probably, definitely, could get in if they really, really wanted to, but we have our trash and compost right next to the tractor and thats alot of work with a bunch of digging and two layers of wire to get through, never mind catching the quail. I'd been thinking about the design for a few months, going off stuff i'd seen online before building, and i'm pretty satisfied. whether or not i'm correct, only time will tell. thanks.

 

[pascopol]

Quote:
Hey 95yj

JJMR794 has much more experience with quail than I do.
I am sure he lost more birds to predators than I ever did.

He is very pollite, patient and friendly to explain to all smart asses around here that chicken wire is absolutely no protection against predators under any circumstanes.

I had my share of losing quail to predators in the past and I just wanted to warn other quail enthusiasts especially new quail "enthusiasts" about potential danger.

Thats all it is to it.

No matter wheater you keep your birds in basement or under chicken wire.

By the way in your basement, rats can eat your quail.

I do do not have a rat infested basements as most houses in NE do, since most Florida homes do not have a basement.

 

[95yj]

i kinda thought this post was dead, but, i do respect jjmr, and i almost always agree with his advice, i definitely agree with you that the tractor thing has its weak points, and i understand how your feeling cause I hate it when someone gets birds and has no idea how to take care of them and won't take advice from the more experienced members, maybe i was being a little stupid but i was just expressing my opinions. I'v been thinking for the last couple days and thought that if i put a 1 or 2' plywood perimeter around the wire portion it would give them some protection from hawks, their main aggressor during the day. as for the hutch i was thinking about putting in a raised wire floor 3-4" above the first one, or putting down linoleum, what do you think?