A Handmade Tractor
03 Nov 2010 8 Comments
You may be wondering what is this chicken tractor I’ve mentioned in a few of my posts. It isn’t some contraption that is powered by chickens, although that would be quite a sight! It’s a portable coop used to raise chickens on pasture grass. We have two of them that my husband designed and built. We keep our meat birds in them when we have them. The egg layers have their own little barn and barnyard. When it’s chilly out, we cover it with a tarp to keep the wind off of them. There’s a feeder and commercial waterer hanging inside. That’s the red thing. It’s fed from the white plastic bucket which we keep filled with water. They’re in the pasture with our very large dogs, so predators aren’t an issue. It’s on wheels so gets moved every day. We just attach a strap to it and drag it over to a new patch of grass. One person can handle the move. The birds love it when they get a new patch of grass to scratch around and eat bugs out of. The goats think it’s a toy. The occasional sheep does, too. They get up there and knock each other off while the birds are chirping ‘get off of my roof’ inside. Raising poultry on pasture makes for some really healthy birds.
Missing Willow Farm 
Nov 03, 2010 @ 21:49:54
Wow! That is so clever and practical. I had no idea that was even possible. 🙂
Mieljolie
Nov 04, 2010 @ 07:17:47
I’m going to show this to my husband, it’s just what he was looking for. Also that goat and sheep are just too cute playing on the roof 🙂
Nov 04, 2010 @ 07:37:51
That’s great! I’m sure my husband would be happy to talk to yours if/when he wants to build one. The only design modification I’d recommend is to add rear access, because when you open the door to get them, they run to the back where it’s really tight. Clever girls…
Nov 04, 2010 @ 07:34:48
Yep! He’s very proud of his design and execution, and I’m very proud of him for it.
Nov 04, 2010 @ 13:41:45
How clever! I found your blog through craftster and I really enjoy reading it! All of your animals look so happy.
Nov 04, 2010 @ 15:04:50
Thanks so much for stopping by Linsey!
Nov 05, 2010 @ 14:14:06
So cute!
Nov 05, 2010 @ 14:24:17
Thanks! All of the goats get up there but Beatrice is our only brave sheep.