05 May, 2008

chicken tractor part 2: planning and building

Here we are at the second phase of this process, it has gone more than smoothly since I am not following the plans that I originally bought supplies for. I decided to do my own thing, that is no surprise to you who know me well....I don't follow directions to closely. I tend to use some one's idea and change it to suit my needs. Why not?!
Here are the initial chicken tractor plans: (J even joined in on the planning!)
Here we are after the wood has been cut and the beginnings of the tractor are put together!! Oh, yay, I am so excited.
Now we get to work on the "19 gauge galvanized wire"! J likes to "help", sometimes it is a blessing, others it is not so much...but it is always sweet...very sweet.
For the roosting (nighttime closed in area) I am happy to have been able to REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE, four of the letter blocs from our yard. My parents got them from their church and they are neat, but now our chickens can learn their ABC's! I am debating weather we are going to paint the outsides of them, or just leave the letters. In the picture below J is writing a story for the chickens. He also constantly "feeds" his imaginary chickens pine needles, too cute.
This is what I did with the letters, I took out two sides of each box and put a roost in each. I am going to have a hinged door on the front and back. On the back to access the eggs without having to go in with the chickens, and on the front to keep them protected at night. I still need to go to the lumber yard to get the wood for that, and I also need roofing materials.

We are well on our way...I'll keep you posted. Now I need to find chickens!! Let me know what you think of our progress, oh, and this is the first time I have built anything, so don't be too critical of my skillz.

8 comments:

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

I love the cat in the drawing! My cat would be in the same position, just watching those chickens! Looks like the little bungarees are having a blast!

MamaP said...

Ok, are you building this, not Brad? You are incredible. Stop trying to impress us all, you're just so awesome! That looks great and looks like a huge space. How many chickens? I learned that for my three, you only need a nesting box or two. They can share. Do you know that they don't sleep in the nesting boxes? Ya need a roost. I bet you know this already, but I didn't. Have fun! WE're loving ours. WE've been letting them run around the yard everyday and then putting back in the coop at night.

bethany (dreadlock girl) said...

trish: I know, that is my cat too...her name is spider and she is a killer. I know she will stock them, I hope they scare her though. Yes, us bungarees are having an incredible time building this...I have been neglecting my reading though (oh, no!). I'll be back in the swing of things soon.


P:Yes, brad is not a builder...and he is incredibly busy. I am the one that almost always puts things together. I like doing it!

I am not sure yet how many chickens we will get, we have been offered four. I am combining the nesting boxes and roosts, so they will sleep in there. I am going to lock them in at night, I saw tons of youtube videos where they did this and I liked it.

you still need to post pictures P!!

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

I've noticed your bookblogging absence but hope everything else is going well.

Angel said...

I am impressed.

Tricia said...

you are awesome, you woodworking woman! i'm glad the blocks are getting good usage! i'm so jealous of you getting chickens. both you and paris. great job.

Anonymous said...

This is great, your little boys have a super mom! It will be fun for them to watch the chickens live their lives. you'll have fresh eggs, they taste better than store-bought.
Love the cat on the drawing :D

Medbie said...

It's fabulous! We're planning on building a similar structure as a play-pen for our cats and I was worried we might have to hire someone to build it for us. You've given me hope!