Chicken tractors are great! We tend to get good egg layers like Buff Orpingtons and Red or Black Sex Links. Joyfully, Jackie
Love reading everyone's feedback and responses ! LOVED the picture of the chicks so cute !! Everything that I have read about the breed Buff Orphington is positive and they are rated in the top 5 on the backyard chickens website. They are def. on our list of breeds to shop for. I have talked to a few poultry people at some local feed stores and they recommend doing it by september, before the weather really starts to change or wait until next spring. We just started entertaining the idea of having chickens about a month ago and also we are waiting for the zoning ordinance to be finalized as well. It would be tons of fun to do it now but also if timing is becoming an issue we can always exercise our patience and wait until spring. Thanks again for all who posted a reply !! I will have to let you guys know if we get them before the fall or if we decide to wait until next spring.
We have chickens. I really enjoy them. It is not cost effective in terms of money, over buying eggs in the store. If you have concerns about animal cruelty, and hormones in teh food supply, then it is worth it. I had a chicken tractor. The land here is not level enough for that to be effective. Additionally we have so many predators, that is is nearly impossible to have a strong enough coop that is light enough to move. I built a shed chicken coop combination. I like a set up where you can walk into the coop. YOu see the birds that way, get to know them and can check them out more often that way. I have an opening into a electric poultry fence. The fencing gets moved instead of the coop. I more the fence about once a month and rearrange it to cover different ground. This give some of the grass a change to grow back between being used every 4 month. I can reseed an area also if needed when it is not in use. Because the fencing is light weight, you can put it up in any shape, oval, circle, etc and have overlapping yards, from move to move.
I think I might go with something like this in the future. The only way I thought it would work is to have doors on two sides of the coop leading into different areas. If you don't mind, I'd love if you could post picks of the fencing you are using. Not sure that I have seen a set up like what you are describing.
The fencing is KenCove brand. It is a 48 inch tall positive and negative fencing sold in 164 foot lengths by Strombergs poultry supply. The solar charger is by the same company. The posts are built into the fencing. The fencing is flexible and lightweight. I just pull the posts up from the ground and move it. I make oblong ovals and point them off in different direction. If you looked overhead from above, you might see the coop opening as the center of a flower and the yards as the petals, in a simple childlike drawing of a flower. http://www.kencove.com/fence/Electric+Net+Fencing_detail_NP7X.php I selected the positive and negative type because of the drough conditions we encounter here. I cannot trust that the ground will be moist enough to conduct. http://www.kencove.com/fence/flashpopup.php?video=NSG12X_explained_2010 For the engergizer I bought this http://www.kencove.com/fence/Solar+Energizers_detail_EKS.5.php Be sure to consider the decimal when looking at joule requirements for fencing. this unit can handle two 164 foot lengths of fencing. I originally thought I would get a second and leave them up, but I have to move it to weedwack anyway. If I find the yard is too small and getting denuded , I might ad another next year. Depsnding on grass growth I can leave it in place for 6 weeks or longer, I think that in winter I will not move more than once. THis spring, I moved it once a month. THings are slowing down for now though.
I live in town, I use a chicken tractor at night, and let them free roam during the day.. also you could get a child play house ,i found one at thrift store for 10.00$ , put a couple pvc pipes inside to perch on,nesting boxes,and put door screen on the inside of the windows, and also made a door since it did not have one
It may sound 'cruel & unusual' but if you have a dog that kills chickens, the next one he kills, cut the chickens legs off, tie them to a thin rope & attach them to the dogs collar for a day or two...he will not want anything to do with chickens ever again...every time he runs he will get a mild beating with chicken legs...lol...it will do the trick!... Our best layers have been Plymouth Barred Rock, we have had a few different kinds & they show to be more consistent in production through out the year than other kind we know of.
Since I feed my dog chicken feet from the ones we butcher I'm not sure how effective that would be - LOL.
We had chicks in the spring. SO dad hatched about6 for us. However when we turned them out into the coop when tehy were big enough something at them all. Then we had an incubator with about 24 eggs and the dog got ahold of it, all he did was get it unplugged and knocked over but when it was time for the eggs to hatch only 2 hatched and they were not developed all the way and both died in less than a week. We plan to try again this spring and maybe get some big chickens as well as chicks/eggs. Good luck w/ the chickens
