Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Chicken Tractor

Built by just about every member of the Payne household, but most especially the Mr. :)

By the way, it's a chicken tractor because it's completely portable and intended to be moved daily or nearly that so that the chickens graze our grass and their "presents" are evenly distributed over the lawn, providing better fertilizer than any chemical can try to mimic.

It's 8'x4' and 3' high. The roost and nesting area is the covered part in the back, with the open area for their food/water and recreational purposes. Technically, we could lock them in there and they'd be happy for days b/c of the grass, feed and water. But we let them roam the yard. :)

Aaron built a door in the front that swings out. This is the nesting area, seen from a "secret" door that Aaron built so that we could just grab eggs from above. It's been working wonderfully! They're actually laying in the nest boxes!

This looks down through the nest door into a nest box and further, to the ground. You can see the roost (a stick hung above the ground where they sleep) and the divider between the roost/nest area and the open area.
The Happy Payne Hens!

1 comment:

J Stu said...

Most excellent. And then you don't have to mow the grass either. I think that alone would be worth it.

I have those Spanish books that you lent me a while back. I want give them back before I leave for Costa Rica in a few weeks. I'll bring them to church...