Author: Anna & Mark

Homemade chicken tractor part V

January 31, 2010 Posts No Comments

chicken tractor plastic nettingIn
my last post, I showed how Mark added
a large access door to the chicken tractor.  Next step is to cover
the rest of the tractor.



Green plastic netting
is Mark’s new favorite material for covering
chicken tractors. It’s easier to cut and manage than traditional
poultry wire and we think it looks better. Small dry wall screws seem
to be the perfect
choice for attaching the larger corner sections of the netting to a
wooden surface.

plymouth rock animation

The green plastic
material we used for this chicken tractor has an added advantage of
being a nice comfortable size for
each hen to poke her head through to access some goodies outside the
tractor.  Combine bugs with fresh water from an automatic chicken waterer and you have happy hens!

This post is part of our Introduction to Chicken Tractors series. 
Read all of the entries:

Homemade chicken tractor part III

January 31, 2010 Posts No Comments
Chicken tractor construction

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.

This post is part of our Introduction to Chicken Tractors series. 
Read all of the entries:

Homemade chicken tractor part IV

January 31, 2010 Posts 2 Comments

Chicken tractor door constructionIn
my last post, I showed how Mark made the
roof of the chicken tractor.  Next step is a door.



We’ve
learned the hard way that it’s very handy to have a door in the chicken
tractor big enough to get a whole person inside.  Mark framed up
the door out of red cedar branches and covered it with green plastic
netting.  He added a board to the side of the tractor so that the
chickens would have room to stand up under even the shallowest part of
the door, then framed around the door and hinged it in place. 



While
he was at it, Mark cut a circle in a sheet of cardboard to make a handy
mount for our automatic chicken waterer.  Stay tuned
for the next installment of our construction series.

This post is part of our Introduction to Chicken Tractors series. 
Read all of the entries: