Our chicken tractor

I am so excited to finally have a chicken tractor! Since I began this season with 13 chicks and only have 5 left, I am very happy. Thanks to the birds of prey and the neighbour's cat.
In case you don't know, this chicken tractor allows the animals to be safe while being moved daily to a new spot. They are still locked into a fortress at night in case of genets or mongoose who may come visiting but during the day they can walk around and scratch, eat grass and weeds and what ever is in the soil. They dust bath, sunbathe and do chicken stuff. They can lay eggs in the nesting boxes instead of all over the farm where I can't find them. Wiley tarts!

Another benefit is that I have 2 beautiful cockerels and they have begun fighting for dominance and the ladies attentions.  I have split my flock so each rooster has his own harem in a separate home. Zoro has the 5 older ladies and Chip has 4 young hens with the 5 chicks in the tractor. The birds in the tractor seem very happy although Zoro is a bit put out to have so few ladies! When I move the tractor further from the other flock, things will be more peaceful. I am always surprised what short memories chickens seem to have.

And so I have had several people who have never had birds say its a bad idea and that they should be free-ranging. This had always been my view until we moved to a farm and came to realise that everything likes chicken for breakfast lunch and dinner! I love my hens and this is my best option for keeping them safe. I don't want to loose any more of my family.

We made it of all bits and pieces we could find- all recycled or reclaimed stuff. IBR sheeting off-cuts for the roof, steel sheets and timber for the house, scrap timber from building our volunteers' cabin, chicken wire for the sides and the bottom of the house and of course the bicycle wheels. We are not sure if the wheels will be strong enough to carry the house all over the farm but so far so good.
We treated all the timber with EnviroTouch wood finishes- our left-over bits and linseed oil. All safe for chickens.

The nesting box roof hinges open to collect the eggs.

Note that the reclaimed bicycle wheels are off the ground when it is in its place leaving no gap for anything to crawl in and attack the birds.

The plank is fixed with a bolt and is raised and locked in place so the tractor can be easily moved. 4 wheels were used as the tractor is very heavy.

When the girls aren't in the house, I will post another photo of their bedroom.

Chicken Tractor at work

We have already moved the chicken yard (but not the tractor) to a position beside it's first space. We found that even though we had clipped the hen's wings, they were still athletic enough to make it over the yard fence. We raised the sides and checked their wings.

We found the ramp which husband had made too steep for hen feet and claws so I added a longer, rougher plank propped up by the tyre.

I also, found the hens do not like being in the sun as much as I had thought. I had to put up several extra pieces of shade cloth or they would all crowd under the tractor in the shade. When we move them again- this time to fallow beds in the field- I will put up some small sheets of corrugated sheeting over the thick grassy areas I want them to mow. The shade will mean they will be happy to do so.

I have not had as many eggs as I thought I'd get (6 is the most from 11 layers and 4 is average each day) and after some research I decided I needed to up their feed. As I said before, they come out of their yard in the afternoons to free-range all over and the yard is around 12m x 3m. I really thought that would be big enough to keep them busy but it seems my hens are greedy for more! I bought in some layers' mash but also soaked some white beans, chopped them in the food processor and left them to dry. They did not like them until they were dry. In future, I will be growing enough beans, lentils & chickpeas for their needs and ours.

I also discovered that it is cheaper to buy mash and crushed maize for feed than to grow your own. Since almost all our maize in SA is GM, this is not going to be an option for me anyway. More mielies to plant! I think I will need 3 plantings of about 1/2 a hectare each to ensure enough quality maize for all to eat and for seed. Such a great crop to grow with so many uses. I think it will be a mix of Indian rainbow corn, Stowell's evergreen and a sweetcorn ( variety TBD).

And how about these for nice harvests. We think this is a small Lesotho Charlie but will never know since the seeds were handed down via several people. It was yummy though.

 And as for these sweet potatoes! This was the first of 2 this size along with around 10kgs of various others. We thought the big ones would be floury inside but they were lovely. Made the best roasted wedges.

Other than these we have had great lettuce, swiss chard, basil, Blue Peter beans,  Crimean Black tomatoes, yellow pear cocktail tomatoes and a bunch more. Such a wonderful thing to work with nature to grow your own food. I really believe everyone must try it.

Chicken tractor is planted

Fabulous news (and especially for Gramps), our chicken tractor is finally finished and in place.
Jan made it from an old cart base, sheets of corrugated sheeting, reclaimed square metal tubing and other bits and pieces from our pile of treasure. For the floor, we bought thin ply and made a strong support structure below. It is sealed with EnviroTouch's wood sealer. The roosting poles are wattle lathes spaced out from the walls by square metal tubing.
The nesting boxes are a very thick carboard box (double corrugated) which we painted with water-based enamel paint to be able to clean easily. Jan used bottle tops to raise it just slightly off the ground so ants did not find it a good place to live.
 

Above, Jan used Gunda to pull the tractor into place. The area we have chosen for the chickens to work over, is part of a slope we are busy reclaiming. We had our Italian friend help us dig it over and we set tyres in place in mini-terraces and this part is the left over piece we did not finish at the time.

The right pic is the tractor levelled with tyres below at the back and above on the front so I can climb in to clean.

We added a yard on the front and more pics will follow with the new hens and rooster in place. The yard will be moved around so they can clear new ground for us.

With regards to our old ladies (3 of them- Hope, Mimi & Jessica Simpson), they were not happy to move from their cushy but tiny home next to the house. It took them 3 days to decide it was ok and we kept having to take them back when we let them "free-range". When the others arrived a few days later (caught at dusk from a friends huge flock), there was bedlam in the morning. The old ladies attacked the juniors (and still do sometimes) and even the rooster took a week to crow. I am pleased to say that they have all settled in ok. Today was our first day of 3 eggs again and hopefully one of the new ladies will start laying regularly too (she did lay an egg the first day they arrived but nothing since then).

more to follow...