billh
Pro Member
Posts: 231
Zone:: 6a
Joined: December 2011
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Post by billh on Aug 13, 2014 19:12:01 GMT -5
Here's my chicken tractor, took me a week to build it. I could have probably built it quicker if I'd drawn some plans but where would the fun be in that. It holds 50 meat chickens and keeps them safe from varmints and the weather while allowing them fresh grass daily. This is my prototype, building another 1 this week I am trying to make things work together here, So Daisy the cow and Herkimer the calf are strip grazed and then my 100 chickens are run behind them scratching cow poop, pooping themselves, aerating the ground, eating bugs, and fattening up for dinner. That eliminates the need for expensive chemical fertilizer. Our laying hens are kept in the "orchard" so they keep the bugs down and leave enough fertilizer for the garden. It seems to be working so far Just noticed if you click the picture it gets bigger....Cool.
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Post by spacecase0 on Aug 14, 2014 9:48:39 GMT -5
that looks neat, is it hard to move ?
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billh
Pro Member
Posts: 231
Zone:: 6a
Joined: December 2011
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Post by billh on Aug 14, 2014 10:41:33 GMT -5
not at all, I put wheels on the back that retract so the tractor is flat on the ground when not moving and I use the 2 wheeler on the front. The biggest problem is training the birds to follow as it moves but after a couple of days they realize they're going to new grass and start running along
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billh
Pro Member
Posts: 231
Zone:: 6a
Joined: December 2011
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Post by billh on Aug 22, 2014 16:34:00 GMT -5
Here's a couple pictures to show the progress I think you can see where they've been. Rowdy is supervising the operation
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