Building a Chicken Tractor, Step by Step
This coop is an adaption of Joel Salatin’s chicken tractors. I have seen his tractors but have never found a design online and finally just had to guess a bit and build one. I built a coop a few years ago which turned out to be too heavy to move efficiently. I literally went to the drawing board last year and came out with a Salatin-esque tractor.
Read MoreOur first year with Aunty Barbara, our Livestock Guard Dog
Before Barb, it was open season on chickens and any stored feed. We effectively had a neon sign above the barn flashing “Open Late!” Attracted were all types of predators common to Kentucky: possum, raccoons, and foxes. (We never encountered coyotes, probably given the proximity of house to barn). Despite the lack of coyote sightings, there were hoards of others. Fox were the main problem with the chickens. Rumors have gone around that a neighbor has supported the breeding and release of fox in the area to promote fox hunting. With or without a breeding neighbor, our chickens were attacked mercilessly by foxes. Foxes kill for sport (as many as possible) then make off with one or two. The sight of a dozen chickens in various states of dismemberment is one of the most demoralizing things we have encountered on farm. But it was becoming frequent, and coupled with raccoons gorging themselves on feed, we finally quit chickens altogether.
Read MoreSpring 2015 and what’s new on the Farm
Spring 2015 arrived quietly on a grey 45 degree day here in Kentucky. I only knew it had arrived when in exasperation I asked my wife “when does spring get here?” As to a simpleton, she responded, “to-day.” I should have known however, that spring was upon us as the signs were everywhere. Thankfully we haven’t had a hard freeze, or really a mild frost since much earlier in the month and the earth has subtly begun to awaken. The boar (male hog) and gilt (unbred female) are “dancing,” and not, as they say at Catholic High School dances, “leaving enough room for the Holy Spirit.” The hens are broody; they are trying to sit on their eggs to hatch chicks rather than just depositing their daily egg and moving on. Where the chicken tractor made tracks last year the grass is already growing and lushly green unlike the rest of the yellow splotchy grass around the same field. There is one other place where the grass is deeply green, last year’s pig paddock. That grass never lost its color over the winter, its almost as though the pigs aeration and fertilization made the grass an evergreen. With these small reminders it is apparent that the earth was made for stock and the stock made for the earth. Our plans this year include adding a family cow for milk and meat. Taking a cow bred for milk and breeding her to our neighbor’s angus (beef) bull will keep us in milk and in the fall fill the freezer with young milk fed beef. (This is not my idea, credit to the Contrary Farmer, Gene Logsdon). Furthering bio-diversity, we hope to add guinea fowl as well. They’re beautiful birds and prodigious layers. They also are kown to keep tick populations down – ticks are menacing to all of us on the farm. Last year, I pulled a small tick off of my chest and soon found myself broken out in hives after every serving of red meat, including pork. This is not a good place for a pork producer but with prayer and time the sensitivity to red meat has subsided. We are committed to being more diligent with the garden this year. You feel truly deficient when people naturally wonder, “wow pigs and chickens – you must have a great garden…?” Confession time, up until last year we hadn’t gardened much at all and last year we only grew tomatoes and potatoes – our garden had a nightshade theme (both potatoes and tomatoes are of the nightshade family, once considered poisonous). This year we’ve already planned out the garden and put in our early plants – peas, onions and cabbage The farm goes on. We have become more involved in spreading the “good news” of slow alternatives to our fast food society. We emphasize that confidence and indulgence accompanies most every meal when it’s farm fresh and from a trusted source. In our Christian tradition, Adam’s first calling was to keep the garden. With that in mind it could be inferred that we were made for this life. If we all tried to keep our part of the garden and kept responsible dominion over the creation the world would be a cleaner and safer place. Thankfully that notion is catching on. Many in this oncoming generation vote everyday with their fork and it’s not going unnoticed. We’re grateful to our friends, who buy pork and chicken from us that they are some of those who vote for better, safer and ethically raised pastured meats. We’re excited for 2015 and look...
Read More