Chickens and The Chicken Tractor - Both Are a Boon to Your Lawn and Organic Gardening
A chicken tractor is without a doubt the best thing that ever happened to your birds. They are a powerful benefit to your lawn and will increase your organic gardening skills.So what is a chicken tractor? Think of it as a portable pen with an attitude. Basically, it's a coop on wheels with no flooring. It gives your birds the two things they love best: fresh grass and new dirt every day for them to scratch around in. Birds of the Wild Mean Lots of problems.Your hens and roosters were designed to spend their days eating grass and hunting for insects - a wonderful, natural form of pest and weed management.But left to their own devices, they become wild. They're impossible to catch at butchering time, by humans anyway. Without a coop for protection, your birds become easy prey for coyotes or neighborhood dogs. Plus they hide their eggs. Everyday becomes an egg hunt. The Hen HouseSo someone thought up the idea of a hen house. Let's put all our birds in one place. That way they'll be easier to catch and safe from predators.Problem is, the hen house got smelly pretty quickly. Loaded with manure, it quickly became a toxic site that could make your birds sick if you didn't clean it often enough. Plus, even if you provide your birds with a run, the grass in the area quickly disappeared. Then your birds were dependent on the food you gave them - "dead" food consisting of dried, ground grains. That meant a bigger feed cost and more work removing manure and urine. The Beauty of the Portable CoopThe great thing about a chicken tractor is it provides safety for your birds, but also allows them to roam - under your supervision.Every day your birds get a brand-new patch of grass, with lots of tasty bugs and fresh greens. Your lawn, in turn, get aerated and fertilized. Your organic "lawn service" will do wonders for your grass. For example: this is what our grass looked like immediately after we removed the portable coop.
Keep one of these coops in your backyard, move it daily, and you'll have a lush, dark green lawn by the end of the summer. Better still, your pasture-fed hens will produce eggs with lower cholesterol and more of the healthy vitamins your body needs. How big of a coop do you need?It depends on the number of birds you plan to keep in it. You will need two square feet per bird.So if you decide to keep four hens for example, your coop will need to be either two feet wide by eight feet long or four feet square. Laying hens need a nesting box, something secluded and above-ground, approximately one box for every two birds. Here is one of the coops my husband designed for our hens. It is eight feet long by three feet wide and is three feet high.
I line the boxes with hay the goats no longer want. Every day I change out the dirty hay for clean. The dirty hay goes into the compost pile.
So my husband modified it, and turned it into a pop-up design.
Learn why the birds who live in your chicken tractors are a valuable part organic gardening and homesteading. You want chickens, but you don't know what breed to buy? Learn the right type for you. Before they're allowed on the free range, your baby chicks need special care. Why you need a brooder. Maintenance tips to provide your flock with the best care possible.
|
