- May 15, 2011
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Hi, I am just starting out - I have six 5 week old chicks in my basement and am ready to get them OUT and they are ready too. The weather is still pretty cold at night but I am prepared to keep a heatlamp out there for them to adjust gently to the out-of-doors. I live in the Seattle area in an urban area and there is an undeveloped lot next to us that is all overgrown and we are having a spring-fling of young rats and big rats zooming in on our yard since we got the chicks - the pine shavings in the compost are evidently heaven for the rats. We've seen rats before so I know they are not new since the chicks - just spring time and the chicken duff is a bonus. So I am reading all the posts on battling the rats. Plus, we have racoons. Some people in the neighborhood like to feed them, I know.
So we have plans to build a coop/henhouse combo to house them but it is not yet built. But we just finished a tractor for them in the meantime. It is 1/2 inch hardware cloth on about a 4x4 foot frame (chicken-crib as is built partly out of my daughter's old crib). We think it will be ok size-wise for the next month (we hope!) while we build the chicken-palace.
With rats and racoons - I know the racoons will eat chickens and I get the impression rats may also - so I want to protect them. I think the whole frame of the tractor is quite solid - not 2x4's but still solid. The two doors have top and bottom safety latches - hook closures that have springs - I am hoping those are racoon-proof. Right now the tractor is under our deck so it is protected from the elements better (still raining and windy here - I tarped the sides on one end of the tractor and part of the top so there is shelter around the roost and the heat lamp can be hung from the deck above to shine just above the roost on one end so that sheltered end gets heat at night.
My question is this: I would like to think I can avoid digging chicken wire or hardware cloth into the ground 12 inches as that completely ruins the mobility of the tractor and will make it challenging to clean, given it's design (or lack thereof). Do you think it is an option with racoons to lay bricks or paver stones (10-12") all around the outside perimeter of the tractor to prevent digging under or otherwise moving the tractor? At least with bricking it in at night then during the day I can move the whole thing into the sun while I clean it or I'm at work. Or should I give up the whole mobility issue in favor of a Fort Knox approach?
Thank you in advance - any advice is much appreciated!
So we have plans to build a coop/henhouse combo to house them but it is not yet built. But we just finished a tractor for them in the meantime. It is 1/2 inch hardware cloth on about a 4x4 foot frame (chicken-crib as is built partly out of my daughter's old crib). We think it will be ok size-wise for the next month (we hope!) while we build the chicken-palace.
With rats and racoons - I know the racoons will eat chickens and I get the impression rats may also - so I want to protect them. I think the whole frame of the tractor is quite solid - not 2x4's but still solid. The two doors have top and bottom safety latches - hook closures that have springs - I am hoping those are racoon-proof. Right now the tractor is under our deck so it is protected from the elements better (still raining and windy here - I tarped the sides on one end of the tractor and part of the top so there is shelter around the roost and the heat lamp can be hung from the deck above to shine just above the roost on one end so that sheltered end gets heat at night.
My question is this: I would like to think I can avoid digging chicken wire or hardware cloth into the ground 12 inches as that completely ruins the mobility of the tractor and will make it challenging to clean, given it's design (or lack thereof). Do you think it is an option with racoons to lay bricks or paver stones (10-12") all around the outside perimeter of the tractor to prevent digging under or otherwise moving the tractor? At least with bricking it in at night then during the day I can move the whole thing into the sun while I clean it or I'm at work. Or should I give up the whole mobility issue in favor of a Fort Knox approach?
Thank you in advance - any advice is much appreciated!