Homemade chicken tractor: part III

In my last post, I showed how Mark added a perch to the chicken tractor.  Next, he made a roof out of aluminum flashing to cover half of the perch and the whole nest box.  This layer will make it waterproof and will also reflect some of the hens' heat back on them during cold nights.  Flashing is cheap and a joy to work with.  It can be cut with a pair of scissors.

The outer layer is some scrap carpet that worked out really well on the other two tractors. It seems to provide a nice layer of insulation. If you don't have any scrap carpet handy and you're not the type to scrounge for some at the dump then I recommend a section of that astro turf carpet they use on miniature golf courses.  The combination of flashing and carpet allows us to leave our chickens in the tractor all winter.

Stay tuned for the next installment.  Until then, check out our automatic chicken waterers that never spill or fill with poop.