Would you use this set up to free range?

[coloradoalice]

We are going back and forth about how to free range our red ranger meaties. I am hoping to move them onto grass this weekend. We have 3 acres. One acre is fenced yard around the house and a gate across the drive. Our egg chickens free range the entire acre. We have a Pyrenees who protects them and he does a fabulous job, we've had him for a year and a half and haven't lost one chicken to predators. We got him because we were losing chickens to coyotes.

We have built a chicken tractor from an old trampoline frame for the meaties. We do not want them interacting with our egg chickens so we planned to move them around the yard in this pen. The negatives to this situation is that our yard has a fairly decent pitch to it and the yard grass isn't great. We also have a 2 acre field where the grass is coming in wonderfully and it's much more level for moving a chicken tractor around. We run 2 mini donkeys on that field. We do have coyotes and fox across the field every now and then but the donkeys chase them off. We also have skunks in the area, we smell them occasionally but don't see them.

So, given that information, would you put the tractor in the field with the donkeys for protection? I think it would be better for the chickens in there as far as the grass, it's much nicer, and the bugs will be plentiful out there as well. We can't let the dog have reign of the field, first off the donkeys would try to kick his head in and second off it's not fenced for dogs which is why we do occasionally see coyotes passing through. But like i said the donkeys always chase them out, they will not let them hang around in the field at all. I don't know about skunks though. We've never lost a chicken to a skunk and I've never seen one but I know they are there. Our donkeys do chase our cats so I would assume they would chase a skunk but I'm not sure. And how easily can a skunk get into a tractor? How quickly could they dig under it?

Any experiences or advice or words of wisdom appreciated!!

 

[centrarchid]

You are probably good on coyotes and foxes when donkeys at job. I doubt themdonkies will harass the skunks since they do not exclude them from our sheep / goat pastures.

Donkeys might get into you trampolene-tractor to get at feed. Bored donkey means problem donkey.

 

[coloradoalice]

You are probably good on coyotes and foxes when donkeys at job. I doubt themdonkies will harass the skunks since they do not exclude them from our sheep / goat pastures.

Donkeys might get into you trampolene-tractor to get at feed. Bored donkey means problem donkey.

I think the pen will be ok since it's all metal. They will be super happy to be back out in the field, they themselves have been on a dry lot for over a month in order to let the field recover. There will be plenty for them to eat and to help keep them happy I think. We let them in the yard to mow the grass and they generally leave the chicken feed alone.

Good to know yours don't chase off skunk. Mine hate cats though, do yours? I wonder if they would think a skunk was a cat and chase it out. And I don't even know if we've ever had skunk actually in our field. I just smell them every now and then. Pew!!

 

[centrarchid]

I usually see skunks (striped only) in middle of feilds at night. Paddocks are big enough that skunk can be a few hundred feet away from donkeys and herd they guard. My bet is the donkeys think skunks smell bad just like we do so are not motivated to go out of their way to chase one away. Somebody is harassing your skunks or you have mink messing around as well.

Feral cat numbers here are low in part due to bobcats and coyotes. Cats seem to concentrate movements around fence rows and bushes where donkeys do not go readily.

 

[coloradoalice]

Any other opinions or thoughts? Does anyone else run donkeys as livestock protection?

I'm still torn. I half want them in the yard because I know 100% they will be safe. But I really want them in the field where they can truly graze and enjoy the grass while they finish.

 

[Daisy8s]

It's hard to comment without knowing more about the chicken tractor. What size openings are there? Could it be tipped over by a donkey? If you are concerned about a predator digging under then I'm guessing it has no bottom?

If you have skunk I'm guessing you may also have raccoon. I have both and it's the raccoon that are more of a problem for me--they will reach in through small openings and are generally more persistent in their attempts whereas skunk, in my experience, seem more opportunistic feeders.

Your only option may be to just try it and see. Do you have any kind of trail cam or remote web cam that you could set up for the first week or so to help you monitor things at first?

Another thought: if your donkeys would not try to break into the chicken tractor to get the chicken feed, perhaps you could intentionally add a grain bucket to the outside of the chicken tractor and occasionally put some grain in there...just to get the donkeys used to the idea of wanting to be near the chicken tractor. I don't know your donkeys so this could be a bad idea depending on how persistent/curious your donkeys are--don't want them to be TOO interested!

 

[coloradoalice]

The fence on the tractor is 1" openings, not hardware cloth so something could potentially reach in. The donkeys could not lift the frame. They could probably push it if they wanted. I'm sure there are probably racoons around but we haven't seen them at all because of our dogs. Even before we got our Pyrenees we never had a racoon mess with our chickens. It's always the coyotes who cause the problems.

That's a good idea to feed the donkeys near the tractor for a few days and see what they do. I could even put some feed inside and see if they try to get to it. Do a little experiment before we put chickens out there.