Chicken Tractor for Sale, Only $300!

Benefits:

• Meets Durango city ordinance
• Made from 80% reclaimed/reused supplies
• 3 locking doors
• Easy to access eggs & hens
• Wood nesting & roosting floor
• Nesting divider & Roosts removable for easy cleaning
• Low center of gravity- not easily knocked over
• 2 people can move- handles
• 2 removable roof coverings for grazing area
• Transportable in a pick up truck

Growing potatoes in a reused container

• I had this plastic bin that has a crack in the bottom so I decided to try to grow my own potatoes.  
• We drilled holes in the bottom and I filled it with a soil made up of potting soil, vermiculite, sand & organic compost I had left over from another project. 
• I then mixed it with straw
• I had some purple, red & white potatoes I let sit in a dark, cool closet that sprouted. 
• I sliced them up & buried them in the soil right beneath the top, then covered them with straw.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

Durango CO City Ordinance on Chicken Tractor structures

ORDINANCE NO. 0-2009-23

(4) Chicken hens kept within the City must be provided with a covered enclosure. It is required that such enclosures be predator-resistant, properly ventilated, easily accessed for cleaning and maintenance, and provide not less than 2 square feet per chicken to be kept in such enclosure.

(5) During daylight hours, chicken hens must be provided access to the sun, the covered enclosure, and also have access to an outside enclosure that is adequately fenced to prevent the escape of the chickens and to provide protection from predators.

(6) The chickens must be placed in the covered enclosure between the hours of dusk and dawn to provide protection from predators.

(7) Neither the covered enclosure nor the outside enclosure may be located less than 15 feet from an abutting property line or 30 feet from an inhabited dwelling unit on abutting property, whichever is greater. Variances from these distance requirements shall require written consent from the owner(s) of affected abutting properties.

(9) The chicken hens must be sheltered or confined in such fashion as to prevent them from coming into contact with wild ducks or geese, or their excrement.

Easy to Use

Nesting Box & Roosting Area Benefits:

• The inserts are made to come completely out so you can do a thorough clean
• Area easily accessed through doors on each side that hinge up out of the way
• Both doors latch shut to prevent predators from encroaching
• Front door will slide across & be accessible from outside the tractor

@ the 4 Corner's Green Expo

People loved it!! Even the ones who walked past took a double take and walked back to see it. 

Loading up

My poor Babe got the stomach flu so we didn't get the finishing touches done but it still looked good!

Last minute touches

It's 05:30..... really? Yep, Millard's been up since 04:00 working on the Chicken Tractor. 


Recommendation #1: If you are making one out of reclaimed/reused materials, give yourself at least twice as long to complete as you have to puzzle piece together your materials to fit.

Deadline looming.... Raindrops keep falling on my head....

It's 23:00 & I can hear the phft, phft of the nailgun.  Millard has got his headlamp out working in the yard (wishing for a workshop I'm sure)

Truck trunks being banged around....  out comes the tarps.. pitter patter on the roof & no it's not reindeer bearing a workshop.... oh yea.... it's April! Thought that was just a midwest truism (definitely wishing for a workshop now!)

Are two heads really better than one?

Progress

You can see the various types of wood that is being used for the frame:

• Red wood from a porch demolition
• 2x2 remnants from construction site

Phase One: Beginning of the Tractor

What is a Chicken Tractor? Well, ours are meant to be an easily moveable all-in-one house & free range area that is protected from predators.

• Nesting Area to lay eggs
• Roosting area to sleep
• Range area where they can graze as they choose

We decided to buy some plans to start out with, but they weren’t as comprehensive as we hoped, good thing Millard is a carpenter. 

That's about as much of me you are going to see folks. Millard's the carpenter, just like Jesus - with about the same patience, since I don't seem to understand why it's not going faster???

Chickens in Durango CO?

Summer Project – Chickens

Can this “city gal” raise chickens organically & naturally?

Goal: Raise Organic & Natural Laying Hens

• Phase 1: Build chicken tractor
• Phase 2: Obtain chicks or pullets
• Phase 3: Raise: organic & natural
• Phase 4: Regular harvest of eggs
• Phase 5: Winterize tractor