Chicken Tractor

The flock had their first experience in their chicken tractor today.  Jackie, Ross and I were all on hand for the maiden voyage of the tractor, which traveled about five feet.  We just wanted them to have a few hours getting used to a different environment and they did pretty well, once we got them through the port. 

I had to go into the coop to physically put them through the port door and they kept coming back into the coop--it was pretty hilarious.  Then we used a combination of food lure and a baffle to corner them by the port to shoo them through.  One chicken slipped through a crack in the transfer but we secured her almost immediately.

They spent about 4 hours doing their thing, which is scratching the ground for insects, weed seeds, grass and other plants and pooping, before we trundled the tractor back to the coop.  The reentry went more smoothly than the exit; we used food again to lure them in and had to wait a bit for two stragglers.

We'll test the electro-net fencing tomorrow so we can start regular day shifts while we are away during the week.