Chicken Tractor

When a fox came through  two years ago, we closed the chickens in.  Last year, a raccoon wiped out all of our ducks.  While we now have these great fortified structures for the animals, they do not have access to the wonderful green grass surrounding them and I could really use them to cut down the grass around the perennial beds.  I have been looking for a rather cheap version of the elaborate chicken tractors people make, to put the chickens in while we are working in the yard (the fox took out three chickens when Andy came in for a quick drink of water). I finally found one on Pinterest- of course. 

 

After much convincing, Andy finally agreed to build the chicken tractor for me (Little Man thinks it is his new cage). 

 Once finished, we captured two willing victims from the coop, who were slightly suspicious of the whole thing in the beginning. 

 For today we placed it next to the coop so the other chickens who resisted capture could see the two we caught happily munching on the grass just outside of their reach.  The grass can be greener on the other side:)

Please excuse me while I add to this post; when I first heard the term "chicken tractor", it sparked some interest. I mean, who wouldn't want to have a nifty little machine that the chickens could drive around the yard? Maybe hot rod the engine or hook up a mower behind this chicken tractor and have those freeloading birds contribute to their feed bill.... Instead, I find that a chicken tractor is merely a portable chicken pen that lets the birds out onto pasture without tearing up garden plots or getting eaten by predators. To be sure, I was supposed to build this thing last year, but after searching online for ideas, it looked too complex. Try it - just image search for chicken tractors - what you find are hundred of mobile palaces for birds. Some of those things have wheels, nest boxes, even whole coops built into them. That's a bit nuts to me. This year, the issue was clarified: our tractor just needed to be a small "play pen" for two or three hens to spend an afternoon out on grass. It didn't have to be too secure - somebody would be gardening or doing yard work while the birds scratched up bugs - so no bunker style reinforcement or housing was needed. Easy 'nuff. A look through the supply closet barn found some lengths of wood and welded wire fence left over from the duck project. Two hours later, we now have a chicken tractor.

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Now, to teach those darn birds how to make John Deere sounds...