Making a Chicken Tractor
March 26, 2016
After two months of minor migraines, I had three days of major migraines and being laid up in bed. Dh and Dd kept themselves very busy making the chicken tractor together. They spent hours and hours getting it all done, and learning a lot. I figure we will make another one or two like this one, so we can keep our chickens outside and move-able around our property.
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| They came up with this plan together. |
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| They got the plastic netting, instead of the metal kind. |
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| Dd got to do a lot of the work. |
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| They put up the netting on two sides, and left the top and bottom empty. I'm not sure what the plans are - for their time in the garage they get a cardboard bottom and top--especially to keep the heat in. It is still very cold here, and they have the two heat lamps on all the time. |
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| I think this is the only picture I took without the cardboard on the cage to help hold in the heat. |
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| The chicks get a warm side and a cool side, so they can go where they feel most comfortable. |
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| They put a cardboard door on each end, that can fold down for us to reach in. We put cardboard on the tops and sides to help hold in the heat. |
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| You can see the food trough fairly well in this picture. They are eating the "Chick Starter Food" still, plus I am putting in lettuce, spinach, celery, and any other odd veg I have. This week I have been cutting up Kombucha SCOBY for them, and they LOVE it! I was amazed at how they ate that right up each time I offered it. |
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| Here is bowl of cut up (like thick spaghetti) SCOBY from my Kombucha jug. |
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| Can you see the metal feeder trough? it is on the right side of the picture, with a chicken eating out of it. It works really well. I like how it can feed all the chicks at the same time. If I put it in the middle of the cage then they can all fit around it. |
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| See the two clear glass BALL jar water dispensers? Giz and Grampy brought about four or five of them from the family farm for us to use on our new little flock. We had bought a plastic one to use before they got here. The biggest difference between these ol' timey BALL jars and the ones we buy now-a-days is that the old jars are thick and heavier. |
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| Giz and Grampy brought this old chicken cage. They use to sell off their two year old chickens, and they would put all their flock in these wooden cages and they would stack them up in a truck to travel. I don't know that we need this, but it is nice to have. I know appreciate having our chickens use the old family items. |
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| This is another item G&G brought----it is a feeder. I can see how it would be nice that the chickens can't stand in the food and poop in it. We haven't used it yet, as we have been using the long metal trough, it fits better in their cage. |
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