New And Improved Chicken Tractor

Remember this mess from a couple of days ago?

It now looks like this! See the hinged door on top?

It also has another door on top. This way I will have access to all areas of the tractor. Those doors also have latches for safety and assurance. The opening in the front also has a door but I forgot to get a hinge and latch for that one too. Not that it really matters much since they probably won't be coming out until they're much bigger.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out. I think I learned a lot from the first version. Best lessons learned are from your mistakes. Right? Tonight I'll set it up like if the chicks were in it and I'll put a digital thermometer in it so I can see how low the temperature gets during the night. I just want to make sure that it stays at a decent temperature to keep them warm. I don't want to just throw them out there and have half of them freeze.

But we definitely need to get these babies out of the house. They're getting crowded in these storage container brooders. But also, the smell is getting unbearable. Even if I clean them out every day, they get everything messy and pooped up quite quickly.

The only thing I can't decide at this point is where I'm going to put the tractor. I WAS going to put it in the chicken pen so the other chickens can get used to them. But with all the rain we've had recently, the chicken pen is just a giant mud patty. So I'm thinking I may actually use it as a tractor like I did with the meat chickens and move it around the front yard. I can always move the tractor into the chicken pen later when the babies are bigger. Yeah, I think I just decided. lol

I eventually want to have several fenced areas to rotate the sheep between. After the sheep leave one area, I'll move a tractor into that area with one of my flocks. (Wyandottes, orpingtons or mixed flock.) That way the chickens can clean up behind the sheep and help take care of any parasites. Oh! And then I'll be able to use the chicken coop as a brooder! But that will be way down the line. I gotta get the perimeter fence done first and that will probably take me all year, if not two. Especially with all the other projects that need to be done.

Anyway, need to figure out what to do for dinner. Take care all and have a good night.