Question on chicken tractors-

[littlepatchofheaven]

Hi, for those of you that use chicken tractors for your meat birds do you not have problems with predators? around here we have weasels and fox and skunks plus others, what type of wire do you use, just regular chicken wire? i know weasels would get through that here, any ideas? thanks Shari*

 

[Snakeoil]

I do not use chicken wire, too light, I use 1" x 4" 12 guage woven wire.

 

[littlepatchofheaven]

Do you put them in an enclosed coop at night? or does your tractor have an enclosed area?
how big of a chicken tractor would i need for 25 meat chickens like cornish x ?
thanks! shari

 

[Snakeoil]

Yes, there is an encloser for them to go in, 25 birds will need a pretty big tractor, the recommended space is 4 sq feet per bird, that would equate to a 10' x 10' tractor

 

[jaku]

I keep mine in a tractor, and I live in the middle of the Michigan woods. Never any predator problems (as of yet.) They stay out all night. I have hardware cloth (1/2 x 1/2,) around the 2ft sides, then chicken wire over the top. I disagree with Snakeoil about the size of the tractor- I've kept 25 birds in a 10x6 tractor with no problem- in fact they had PLENTY of room left over to move around. I just upgraded to a 10x10 tractor, and I'm putting 50 in there next week- they will also have a ton of extra room. Meat birds don't need much space at all. The key is moving it as often as you can, so they stay out of their own filth.

 

[Snakeoil]

My bad the footage I gave is for laying birds not meat birds

 

[willheveland]

I put 25 in a 8x8 tractor. Will

 

[spook]

Hmmm, now I'm thinking, been wanting to do this for my cornish x this year....hmmmm...also, if you don't want to move such a dealie, then build 2. Simple thing to do. I would have to use hardware cloth all the way around and was thinking that I'll put it on runners or atleast legs to hold them up a couple inches off the ground so they don't destroy the lawn.
Its going to be fun fun fun!!! Thanks for the question and answers!
PS- thought about useing welded 2x4 wire for the support, and wire ties to secure the hardware cloth to the outside of it.
(Tractor supply sells all sorts of wheels)

 

[littlepatchofheaven]

thanks for the replies! i think i will try the tractor this year and see how it goes! Shari*

 

[jaku]

Quote:
I'm not sure if I read your post right, but my birds only HELP the lawn. It gets matted for a couple of days, but after that, it comes back greener than ever. Also, if you elevate them, remember that at the end, a pen of 25 birds will be supporting an extra 250 pounds of chicken.