In a perfect world, the
ground over which you pull a chicken tractor would always be flat.
We live in the mountains, though, where nothing is flat. Add in
my crazy permaculture techniques like hugelkultur and raised beds, and
it gets tough to move the tractor underneath fruit trees. I want
my girls to tear up some weeds there, though, and eat up any
overwintering bugs, so I chock the tractor.
What
do I mean by chocking the tractor? I yank it to where I want it,
then fill in any gaps along the lower edge with cinder blocks and pieces
of wood. This really only takes a minute if you keep all of your
chocking blocks handy.
The trickiest part of
this endeavor is making sure that no hen sneaks out under the gap before
you get all your chocks in place. Our Red Stars
continue to be chicken-tractor queens because they patiently wait for
me to fill in the gaps rather than scurrying off in all directions, even
when the holes are a foot high. I guess they deserve another
round of Brussels sprouts!
