chicken tractor

We go to SpringValley farms once a week to get our raw milk. I found out today that yes, it is legal in Illinois for me to buy raw milk and yes, I can tell people where I get it. If you are from Iowa (about 2 miles from here) then it is a completely different story.

Last week farmer Mark and his daughter Faith both mentioned they were wanting to get rid of some small chickens. This reminded me that I had set a goal of building a chicken tractor and having a few chickens by this month. So I made one last weekend.

Jerome set out some wood that was salvageable from what we had ripped out of the bathroom. I bought some chicken wire. The yellow painted wood on the back we found on the curbside. I didn't even have to cut it, both boards were a good size. Oh, but I did cut the top yellow board in half for fun so that I could place hinges behind each piece and have each pivot backward and up (the hinges were reclaimed). The bottom piece hinges down so you open it as far as you need to for collecting eggs. Jerome and Phoenix found me a few wooden boxes, from the barn, to nail to the inside-back for nests. The tin for the roof was from the building scrap we found on craigslist. I really enjoy the fact that I bought the chickens from a four-year-old (Faith). She is a really amazing girl.

The bottom is open so the chickens can "tractor" the ground. They can scratch it up scrounging for bugs. It is light and movable so that they can be moved around to different parts of the yard.
As seen from the front: chicken pagoda.
This is a picture of the latch on the back. We did happen to have a metal hasp, but I thought it would be more fun to make my own from scrap wood. I didn't put the screws in all the way, so the wood can pivot. The idea here was like folding over the four flaps of a cardboard box to keep it closed. :) I also like the shapes . . .triangle, pagoda, triangle . . .

Happy chickens, happy Phoenix, happy mom, happy earth

Next comes the Earthship chicken coop for winter. I was told that the chickens were kept warm enough in the coop at the Phoenix Earthship in Taos that they lay the same amount of eggs through the winter.