Right. Chicken tractor thread.

[Pasty]

I'm bloody useless at photos and internets and that. But I thought I would try to share a bit of my explorations into chicken tractors. This is not a new invention. I have seen very old video from the Dartington Estate, just up the road from me using similar devices. Recently and most famously re-visited by Joel Salatin of Polyface (who claims no ownership of the idea before we start laying into him). It is his version I got the idea from and that's in the USA, not Dartington which is the next parish to us.

I have built many versions of these and have a 'perfect' concept for next year which I will share once built and tried. Size, weight, land type, bogginess, forage height etc. all play a part so no design will be perfect for every farm but some key points:

1. The birds get fresh land every day or other day, or whatever you choose. They do not sit in their own mess.
2. Instead of creating a disease problem and a muck dispersal job, the manure is deposited directly on the land. This is rocket fuel for grass. You can see the grass bounce with a week. It comes back greener and stronger.
3. They do consume everything in their path. We know that dock seeds for one cannot survive a chicken's gut. I expect there are other things.
4. I have never, ever lost a bird to illness in these devices. Seems hard to believe but it's a fact.
5. They eat the grass and everything else so it must cut down on feed cost while potentially adding to the quality of the meat.

 

[Pasty]

The 'trail'. Each patch is 2 days. The furthest away has already recovered and grass is growing very strongly with thistle being all but wiped out. Surrounding grass is weak and yellow.

 

[Pasty]

30 birds for 2 days on heavy creeping thistle. On grass maybe 1 day would be better but I wanted them to wipe out the thistle and they did.

 

[Pasty]

This is where it started out. You can sort of see the track. Top middle of the photo is the starting point, the dark green bit. This field is full of creeping thistle. It's been topped once and will be again but the birds are pretty much decimating them as well.
I should say that the few thistle plants you can see in the 'trail' are where I dragged the tractor too far and missed a bit.

 

[Pasty]

Jacking up for the move.

 

[RushesToo]

@Pasty I can't recommend this enough - lot's of pointers in it:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Farming-La...1501405294&sr=8-1&keywords=the+farming+ladder

 

[Pasty]

@Pasty I can't recommend this enough - lot's of pointers in it:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Farming-La...1501405294&sr=8-1&keywords=the+farming+ladder

Cheers, will have a look.

 

[JohnGalway]

I like the idea of chicken tractors but the ground here is way too uneven, there'd be many gaps for something nasty to get in under.

 

[Pasty]

I like the idea of chicken tractors but the ground here is way too uneven, there'd be many gaps for something nasty to get in under.

Same here really. You can make them narrower which my next gen will be. Still not mind made up on them but the concept is good in the right setting.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

@Pasty, do you have mesh/grating of any sort or are they just on the grass?
I fully intended to get my chicken tractor project off the ground by now but haven't,
it will be a more extensive/ less intensive style like the Taranaki Farm setup (more free range with flexinets) but the same idea, weed decimation and chicken poo - and food generation.
But, just curious as to whether there's a floor or not, I'm thinking broken legs when I move the sucker.

 

[Pasty]

No floor on this one. But, later models have a 'roosting area' which is about 8x4 (foot) and that is 2" weldmesh under the roosts so once they are up in bed, they can't fall through. The one shown is a primitive example and I only picced it as it was in an 'interesting' field. It's all built around 8x4 ply or whatever. So it's 12x8 basically and that one is covered by 3 x 8x4 ply sheets as that's all I could find and had to get them out!

There are ways of mitigating the dragging effect as usually birds will hang back in the corner and die if need be. You can run them out of feed and fill a hung feeder at the front just prior to move. Older birds get the idea after a day or 3 and in the meantime, you just have to take care and let any strays out and pop them back in. They soon get used to running to the new grass but it's not a perfect thing.

I've never injured a bird through moving but jack mine up pretty high and would rather get a bird back in than mash them. They usually want back in anyway so are easy to catch. Key thing is to design something where you can see the floor area as you are pulling it along and don't rush it. Do it in 'waves' if you like. They sort of move with that. If you just drag they will give up and get run over. I have no idea why, but they will.

 

[Pasty]

I've got lots of experience with nets as well but maybe another thread?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Thanks!
Yes I feared mashing them too, they seem to have very little sense of self preservation
we are incredibly fortunate not to have ground based predators here, so I think the net will hopefully keep them in.
My starting point is a kids playhouse that doesn't get used, will pull out the floor and build roosting laying areas up off the ground and some pipe skids underneath.
It will help justify having a powerful side by side here will just haul it along with that for a start. These smaller frames will definitely have a place here, though, so I'll be keeping an eye on your innovations.

 

[Pasty]

Just keep a good spark on the net. Clip the lower horizontals if need be. They are the ones which short on the grass. Plus, don't leave net in one place for more than a week with good grass growth. It will grab it. Amazing strength.

 

[orchard]

Some have a bar or rope running from side to side a foot or so in from the back as a warning for the birds so they move on before they can get caught by the back frame.

No floor on this one. But, later models have a 'roosting area' which is about 8x4 (foot) and that is 2" weldmesh under the roosts so once they are up in bed, they can't fall through. The one shown is a primitive example and I only picced it as it was in an 'interesting' field. It's all built around 8x4 ply or whatever. So it's 12x8 basically and that one is covered by 3 x 8x4 ply sheets as that's all I could find and had to get them out!

There are ways of mitigating the dragging effect as usually birds will hang back in the corner and die if need be. You can run them out of feed and fill a hung feeder at the front just prior to move. Older birds get the idea after a day or 3 and in the meantime, you just have to take care and let any strays out and pop them back in. They soon get used to running to the new grass but it's not a perfect thing.

I've never injured a bird through moving but jack mine up pretty high and would rather get a bird back in than mash them. They usually want back in anyway so are easy to catch. Key thing is to design something where you can see the floor area as you are pulling it along and don't rush it. Do it in 'waves' if you like. They sort of move with that. If you just drag they will give up and get run over. I have no idea why, but they will.

 

[Henarar]

could you do laying hens like this or is it just for meat chickens ?
Use to do the same thing with my rabbits when I was a kid LOL

 

[orchard]

could you do laying hens like this or is it just for meat chickens ?
Use to do the same thing with my rabbits when I was a kid LOL

Sort of, you just need to scale-up for nest boxes, etc, and people tend to let them range/forage more...most frequently done by converting an old chassis to aid rotation and using electric net for protection.

 

[JohnGalway]

Sort of, you just need to scale-up for nest boxes, etc, and people tend to let them range/forage more...most frequently done by converting an old chassis to aid rotation and using electric net for protection.

Could do a lot with an old trailer, water barrel and gutter on roof to fill it, auto drinker, solar panel on top with battery and energiser inside.

 

[orchard]

Could do a lot with an old trailer, water barrel and gutter on roof to fill it, auto drinker, solar panel on top with battery and energiser inside.

Yep, even on a light-weight manually moving one
I think @Henarar posted about having a hotwire around his perimeter, which would work well too, they could follow a few days behind the grazers and cut back on the parasite cycle.

 

[Pasty]

I'm planning a similar idea. Mob grazing hopefully cattle, then sheep, then chickens go on. Either meat birds or layers. Salatin leaves 3 days as he says that allows the grubs to start forming in the cow pats. Extra bonus is they get spread as well by the chickens. Wondering if I could get geese in there too. Maybe with the sheep.