Building A Chicken Tractor

Several weeks ago, we got ambitious and decided to build a new chicken tractor since our old one is falling apart. If you think, "Chicken tractor, huh?" let me explain. A chicken tractor is a portable cage you can move around your yard so your chickens can graze but still be enclosed and not devour your garden.

So, I looked online and got this great idea for a fairly light-weight, inexpensive (I thought) tractor. I went to the hardware store and the guy told me I was crazy. He said that PVC pipe would not bend the way I wanted it to.

I called Dad. He really knows what he's talking about. The hardware store guy was wrong. Dad looked at the picture I found online and told me exactly what we needed to build this contraption. We went to work. Brady and Bryan sawed the pipes. Then, we realized that it was almost impossible to get the corner pieces that we needed. Luckily, Bryan's brother is a plumber and came through for us with the parts we needed.
On Friday, we spent a few hours putting together this lovely frame. The kids played and Bryan and I bent PVC pipe. It worked!

On Monday, we spent most the day stretching chicken wire over the frame and securing it with cable ties. Our fingers are very sore! We used close to 100 feet of chicken wire.

We built a door and finished putting on the wire today, and here it is.

This is a chicken tractor. It's huge, but Bryan and I could lift it and move it into the yard. I can drag it around where I want. I put a on a hook to secure the door so that Ellie won't kill the chickens with love. The chicks have moved in and have lots of room to roam. Hopefully soon we can move the hens in with them, but for now the hens hate the chicks and try to stomp them and peck them. Grumpy old birds!