Tractor with wire floor?

[nebuckeye]

I've read numerous post NOT having a wire floor in coops or some sort of raised floor. What about a tractor and the wire is resting on the ground and the chicken is not supporting it's weight in any way upon the wire? This is for cornish rocks.

Thanks!

 

[Opa]

I built a tractor and put wire on the bottom just as you describe. Big Mistake. In very short order the droppings formed a "blanket" on top of the wire. Even moving the tractor daily didn't prevent the build up. I have since removed the wire.

 

[lceh]

We put 2" x 4" fence wire on the bottom of our tractor to keep our hens from digging dusting holes in the yard and predators from digging in. We have not had the poop problem, maybe because the holes are so large. We use hay for bedding, and for a while they were pulling it out of the house and it would sit on the wire, too long to fall though, until I raked it up. Then I added a "lip" to the floor of the house about 3" away from the door, and they don't pull it out anymore.

 

[nebuckeye]

Thanks folks for the reply!

Yep, I can see the poop build-up playing a problem, it's gonna be moved everyday it's a PVC 10x10 tractor. Never even considered bedding or anything other than the wiring at the bottom to keep the raccoons out. I'm double netting (wiring) the sides 2' from the ground to keep them from reaching in. If that doesn't work I'll run electric fence up the first 12"; then if they wanna play rough out come the traps and .22

 

[Kiwibird]

The other problem with a wire floor can be moving the coop. Unless you do it at night when birds are roosting, it is easy to catch a chicken's foot in the wire as you drag the coop. OK, so you can do it in the dark but I don't like doing my chores in the dark - just a personal preference.

 

[nebuckeye]

Quote:
so very true... Thanks for the insight before I found out the hard way

 

[Opa]

When I want to move my tractor I close the door after the birds go to roost. Get up early, move the tractor, let the birds out.

 

[patandchickens]

CornishX don't (and shouldn't) roost. And oh my GOSH do they poo. Also they are heavy and clumsy.

Thus, there will be no way to safely move the tractor if you have a wire floor.

If you go to the "meat birds etc" section of the BYC forum, you can find a buncha designs for tractors people use for their meaties. (Note that exactly 0 of them have wire floors

). You may find some useful design ideas there.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[95yj]

why would you want to wire the bottom? predator protection?

 

[nebuckeye]

Quote:
Yep, but I have other means of getting rid of them, we have raccoons, fox, bear (black), coyotes, plus your domestic animals. I'll try the humane route first.