New Brooder/Quarantine Tractor (pict heavy)

marshallsmyth said:

It needs a name now Cane

Click to expand...

Anybody got any suggestions?

eta: Yesterday was supposed to have been THE BIG DAY for the new hens to arrive. They were supposed to have been home around 4:30, and so, would've had about 2hrs of daylight to get used to their new home. But, as it worked out, I got a call from my roommate that the furnace was 'banging'. She could not seem to give me ANY other sort of information (like what sort of banging, where it seemed to be coming from, etc) other than it was 'banging'. So I had to cancel the trip to the next town to pick up the 'Jersey Girls'.
When I got home, I found a very soft fluttery/scratchy sort of sound in the furnace's fresh air intake pipe. <..... banging?????>
Anyway, I took it apart and got the tiny little bird out. It had obviously had a VERY stressful day, and unfortunately died a little while later. This was where I learned that the little wire guards had never been instaled over the intake/exhaust vents. I got about half way up on my very steep roof and decided that THAT was one job I was NOT doing and called a neighbor. He had the make-do guards (from leftover hardware cloth) in and was back on the ground in less than 5 mins.
..... maybe I could've done that after all.... NOT!
The whole thing was over with by 6:00 so I called my friend with the chickens and agreed to meet when she got back home last night. 9:00 last night I was flying down the road to bring them home. Poor girls, they went to sleep in the only home they've ever known - got plucked off their roost and stuffed in a box - rode 20mins down a country road - got scooped out and plopped down on a strange roost in a strange place that they couldn't see. I hope they're doing ok now that the sun is up. Can't wait to get home and check them out.

As long as I'm looking for name suggestions - anyone have a suggestion for Jersey Giant/Australorp hens? I was thinking Turnpike and Shore (Jersey...) but maybe I should stick with the Cane theme.

And the fun begins!

Chicken tractor: Howbout...

ROLLS ROYCE FIREBALL XL5

More cane names:

ANITA CANE
CANE SORGHUM
CANE MILL
PEEPER CANE
CANE MAMA
JOE'S MAMA CANE

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I know about some roofs, especially if wet. There've (<<<that word got underlined by spell check. I always thought it was a good word!) been a few roofs I've decided discretion is the better part of valor. Our roof in the 1886 built house in Twin bridges Montana was steep and high. I had to go up to determine if bricks were so loose on the chimneys that the chimneys, no longer used, should be removed. After a couple discretion took the better part of valor attempts, I got a rope, mentioned to the landlady the shingles were shot, she agreed, and got some short 2x4's and nails, lassooed a chimney, tried it, and nailed steps as I went up holding the rope. (neanderthals have alternative methods for lassooing! toss the rope up from the roof edge. end of the rope has piece of 2x4 tied on it, far enough to get it on the other side. repeat process from over there, other side of chimney...) This way i had a rope to hold onto, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS AROUND A ROTTEN FALLING APART CHIMNEY!!! Bottom of the chimney was good enough. Once up i sat and scooched along the top ridge. Yep, both chimneys were losing bricks. Landlady called in a crew to remove them. Oooph! Those guys walked around on the roof like mountain goats! Nailed plywood down, whacked bricks, and down they went, another guy stacking them to take away. "BUTTE 1885" visible on some of them. A week later a roofing crew came, traipsing around up there even easier! When I was up there, I was like, each move in slow motion, carefully considered, wondering why sloths move around so fast!

above story only embellished slightly from reality...

Marshall that's a good story!! Reminds me of the time the Park Superintendent left 6 teenagers to scrape and paint a 2 story house... you can imagine the foolishness we got into.
I kept telling Eddie that if I had managed to get up there, I would've been lying FLAT on the roof scootching around with my toes and elbows & trying to reach the vent pipes with my fingertips. He just stepped off the ladder, walked across the roof, cut the guards & shoved them in - then walked back over and stepped back onto the ladder like he was walking down a flight of stairs.
Logically, there is NO reason I couldn't do that ( ) ... except that the shingles were going to suddenly become slippery, the house was going to tip and toss me off, the ladder was going to slip out from under me or I was going to miss a wrung.......
I hate heights and the older I get the lower my work level becomes. By the time I'm 60 I'll have to be sitting down to get anything done!

If all is well with the new girls when I get home tonight, I'll post a couple of pictures tomorrow.

Meet the girls (sorry about the poo)


I haven't really had a chance to do anything with them yet. Just keeping the feed and water filled and opening and closing the doors.... But today I don't have anything planned (yet) so I hope to be able to spend a little time getting to know them.
I have found that they make the most unusual cooing sound - very much like a dove.


Chicken yawn.

Nice cane! I have come to learn that if there isn't poo under a chicken, there's something wrong For canes, there is still Sugar and Benzo

marshallsmyth said:

Chicken tractor: Howbout...

ROLLS ROYCE FIREBALL XL5

Click to expand...

Since the big coop/garden is 'Bushel & Peck', what about calling the little part time tractor Half-pint?

Ok all yall creative folks - I need some help.
There are picts on page 1 of the brooder/tractor.
It weighs at LEAST 250/300lbs. (WHAT was I thinking.....)
The rubber tires on the end have given up the ghost and will not hold air long enough to move it even a short space.
They were too small anyway and only gave me about 2" clearence when pushing it. Which was a problem at every dip and bump in the yard.
It's been sitting in the same place for so long that it's sunk into the ground... or the ground is slowly absorbing it...?
I rocked it back and forth last summer and got it up on blocks enough to attach 4 lawn mower wheels - one on each corner.
When I rocked it to remove the blocks and set it on the wheels - they promptly sunk into the ground.
I really, really want this thing to be moble again.
ANY IDEAS????

Cane, take a look at this wheel assembly here. http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Revised_chicken_tractor_wheel_lift/ It's a little technical to build, but it would provide built in leverage to engage the wheels only when you need them. It would keep them up off of the ground and the bottom of the tractor flush with the ground when you don't. This is what I ultimately want to add to my chicken tractor/coop when I can get around to it. It will get it up higher for easier moving too.

Here's the wheels on mine currently...


The trailer jack was my wonderful hubby's idea. We got it at TSC for about $30. It will give the front of the coop up to 5" clearance, but the wheels on the back only get about an 1.5" and are currently not adjustable (the idea is to make the lift/lever wheels above...one of these days!) For right now, as long as the ground is relatively flat, and either dry or frozen, I can move it easily by myself. I have moved it almost daily in the past, but currently have it stationed right on my garden and move it about once every 2 months, with a PoultryNet electric fence surrounding it so the chickens can work on my garden. If the ground is too wet/mushy I either have to put boards under the trailer jack to move it or just leave it where it is. I have found that if the tractor is sitting on any bit of a slope, it may put too much pressure on the back tire for that side and cause it to unseat itself from the rim (these are tubeless tires) and that will cause it to go flat. I remedy that by using a pivot point and leverage with a spudbar to lift the corner of the tractor up enough to slip a big rock underneath which will take the weight off of that wheel. I'm guessing my tractor must weigh somewhere between 300-400 pounds. I move it by myself because my DH is nowhere to be found when it comes to chicken chores. LOL

Those back wheels are mounted through the 2x4 frame with huge deck bolts. It's working, but not really the best way to go about it as they are not as stable as I'd like and tend to camber in a little.

Thanks Journey! That IS pretty complicated looking... I'm not the best about following directions.
I wish I could just take it apart and start over.
I like the trailer jack idea. My yard tends toward soft/damp except in the hottest part of the summer, so the little wheel would not work...
...but I wonder about attaching 3 jacks - jacking it up high enough to get plenty of clearance - and attaching 4 large, removable wheels... hummmmm