great chicken tractor prospect if you have $120

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I hate Wal-Mart as much as the next gal, but yesterday I was there with a friend. They're selling a small chain link dog kennel, including a black mesh top (for shade or rain, I guess) for $120. Now, the kennel is way too small for any dog, actually, but it would be a perfect portable chicken pen. And, my girlfriend and I actually lifted it and carried it with no trouble...one person could have done it. Wrap the lower half of the pen in chicken wire, and you could easily put baby chicks in it. And then just move it each day to a fresh spot. The roof looks sturdy enough to keep out most predators, certainly owls & hawks, and cats. Anyway, I'm getting one, and I'll let you know how it works out.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), May 02, 2002

Answers

Yeah, and when the thing is THAT small they still make it 6' high. Must be a really small, skinny, tall, giraffe-style dog. (Yes, yes, I know they make it that tall so us people can walk in it.) Seems like a waste of chain link to me. I reckon you could make one out of chain link and PVC...

-- Gailann Schrader (gtschrader@aol.com), May 02, 2002.

Sounds like a possibility, but then, I built my chicken tractor for about $4.50 or so out of salvaged materials.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), May 02, 2002.

Just a thought here Shannon, don't know where you live and what predators you have. Many predators can go right through chain link and sure wouldn't house my ducks in it or advise anyone else to put poultry there. You might live in an area where that is not a problem? Members of the weasel family, spotted skunks etc have, can and will climb up above the chicken wire and presto, no chickens. Also re chicken wire, I know you put a lot of your time caring for your critters and lots of emotion also, chicken wire is not to be relied on to keep poultry safe! It is only good for keeping poultry in, won't keep anything out. Raccoons reach right through it and can and do eat chickens and ducks right through the stuff. If you are in an area without these critters then maybe things will be OK. I hope so, good luck and enjoy the spring. :) LQ

-- Little Quacker in OR (carouselxing@juno.com), May 02, 2002.

Shannon, I'm going to check out my local Wal-Mart, sounds like a great idea for those of us who are tired of: 1. PVC cracking after being in the sun a few years or carrying too much weight (I have a PVC chicken tractor) 2. Spending hours looking for bits of lumber that hopefully are not too rotten, too full of nails and are long enough for the project. 3. Dragging around sodden wooden pens to new pasture - heavy 4. Looking out my window and seeing a "junk" yard of misc. pens Re: chicken wire. Yes it will keep the bad guys out if it is heavy enough and has holes no bigger than an inch. Coons can rip light gauge chicken wire to bits. I reckon the best would be a coarse hardware cloth but it costs the earth. Unless you are plauged by day hunting varmits don't worry about the chicken wire keeping things out and just lock them up safely in the (wooden) chicken house which needn't be very big for the younger chicks. I'm putting together a "broody tractor" which is nothing more than a 2' X 2' wooden box with a roof on it and an attached run the same width and about 4' long. I don't know how big this Wal-Mart pen is but you might consider a two-storey style by putting the box "upstairs" with a stair leading to it thus maximizing your 6' height of chain link and freeing up the grass down below. I've seen something similar in a English poultry book. Have fun!

-- Kathy (homefarmbc@pacificcoast.net), May 02, 2002.

Kathy, you and me are on the same page! $120 is worth it to me...after all these years of scratchin' and patchin' and duct-taping stuff together. Sometimes when we take a look around this place, we can't help but hum the Beverly Hillbillys song! LQ, we are pretty lucky as far as predators go, here near Kalamazoo, Michigan. We get the occassional raccoon or owl that causes trouble, but less than a couple times a year that happens. I think the dogs in our kennel keep the wildlife away, even though the dogs are all penned.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), May 02, 2002.


We live in NE Texas and the predators are really bad here. We have bigcats, littlecats, and all the little varmits and birds that make their way into our chicken coop....lets not forget the coyotes. it is a real accomplishment to keep small animals here without feeling that you are just providing food for the predators. A few weeks ago I picked up a cage made of reimforced rabbit wire and housed two pigeons in it. I locked the cage and left in on a screened back porch for the night. The door to the porch was open so our domestic cats could run in and out. The next morning I awoke to a mess on the porch...blood and feathers everywhere. The cage was out in the back yard...looks like the varmit was headed for the woods with the cage. The only thing that stopped them was an electric fence that keeps the livestock out of our "yard". The two birds were eaten thru the cage...only a wee portion of one bird was left inside. The cage was unopened....they were pulled thru iy and eaten. This wire is much tougher and smaller holes than chicken wire. We heard nothing during the night. Of course there was a big storm and we have a tin roof on our cabin....when it rains, we literally have to shout at each other to be heard. We know that our domestic cats did not do this....they are very friendly with all the fowls on our place. They even sleep with the peacocks( another interesting story in itself). Someone told us that it was a skunk or opposum. Had it not been for the electic charged fence that stopped the progress of the cage removal, there would not have been any evidence left at all. I think it was a big cat. Whatever, the birds are gone. The sight of it all just made me sick. Anyway, I'd be leary of the kennel at Walmart. It would definitely need some reinforcement...and it already costs $120.

EV

-- Evelyn Flesher (etflesher@netexas.net), May 02, 2002.


My pens are chainlink, but I attached 1/2 inch hardware cloth to the chainlink from the ground up 4 feet. Predators can't get a paw thru nor climb it.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2222@hotmail.com), May 03, 2002.

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