The main downside to the chicken tractor is potential crowding. Most of these structures have open bottoms, which facilitate scratching, although in places where predation is particularly heavy, the bottoms are meshed as well. Virtually all of these frames will include a house or shelter component at one end that the builder covers with a solid roof and sides. Still others use metal tubing and weld complete frames from scratch. Others build the base with lumber to which they attach hoops created with 1/2-inch PVC pipe. Some choose to build the frame using lumber - a great choice for those with a good scrap pile. These structures can be framed in many ways. Most modern movable coops are combination chicken shelters with attached runs, mounted on skids or wheels and readily moved along the ground from place to place. Although the chicken tractor has been a useful component to the flock-keeper’s kit for more than 100 years, it has undergone only minor evolution as modern material and thoughtful innovation and even technology have become available. Gangs of these so-called “chicken tractors” mowed the grass, aerated the sod, and fertilized it in a single pass. These coops were necessary to keep the birds contained and safe from predators, and they were moved daily. Portable poultry enclosures are nothing new - pasture-reared birds were raised in wooden and wire coops with open bottoms since before rural electrification. Bottom line - let the chickens do the heavy lifting so that you don’t have to. If you operate on a larger scale, movable chicken pens are useful for enhancing pasture fertility, fly control, and grazing-animal manure management. The advantages of moving your chickens around include preparing the garden for planting, cultivating the garden, pest control, and even mowing and fertilizing the yard. However, if you want your chickens to be productive workers in your yard and garden, you might want to control where they scratch and peck. Permanent chicken houses and fenced runs are wonderful if you have the space and the means to keep them clean, compost the litter, and spread it around. Electric fencing is simple to set up and will help to discourage predators.
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