Chicken Tractor – Skyline Pastures

I Fought the Donkey and the Donkey Won

October 18, 2020

by charles.lafferty Getting Started with the Farm

Tanya vs farm animal… here we go again. Grab a blanket, get comfy, and enjoy the story.

I will preface this by saying that the donkey did not attack me. Jasper is a good donkey. He is very intelligent. He is also, so I learned yesterday, stubborn when he wants something. Jasper can be a bully.

Jasper has always been very docile. He is a great pet and loves to be near his people getting pet. There are times when he can be mouthy. He tries to grab things with his lips. Behind those lips are big ole donkey teeth so you must be careful in case he gets a little too excited.

We have the chicken tractors in Jasper’s pasture, and this has been working well. However, Jasper has been growing bolder as we go in and out of the pasture with feed and water for the chickens. Jasper likes chicken feed. He likes it a lot. Just recently while CJ was in the chicken tractor filling up waterers, Jasper snuck over to the trailer, lifted up the bucket full of chicken feed, set it on the ground, and proceeded to eat it all before CJ could stop him. Jasper now has a taste for chicken feed.

This is how things went down for me yesterday…

CJ is at work. Isn’t that how my stories all start? It is my job at lunch to check on the chickens and fill waterers. They typically do not need the feeders refilled until after CJ gets home. I load up the trailer with my water buckets and drive the mower/trailer out into the pasture. I take care of the waterers and notice that on this day, they do in fact need feed. I do have a bucket of feed, but its only enough to fill two tractors. I must go back for more. I will add here that Jasper stays away from me when I water, because I keep the mower running and the noise scares him. I am usually quick with my job whereas CJ has more to do so he takes longer. I finish up and drive back out of the pasture. Jasper does not come anywhere near me.

I grab more feed, but I only need a little bit, so I decide to walk it up. No need in driving the mower/trailer up there for just a couple of buckets. I need one bucket of feed and one bucket of grit. You must add grit to the chickens’ feed. I get to the gate and I see Jasper has moved closer to the chicken tractors. I second guess myself about walking up. It is a long way to the tractors, and I do not have the mower to keep him away from the feed. I decide that it is fine. This is Jasper. My sweet, docile, nice donkey. He will not be a problem. I walk to the chicken tractors.

All is well. I feed the chicks and emerge with one completely empty feed bucket and one bucket with just a tiny bit of dirt/grit. Jasper has arrived. I pet him for a little. I see him eying the buckets, so I hold them both up to him and let him see for himself that they are both empty. He confirms this and removes his head from the buckets. I start to walk off.

Now this is where things happen. I walk just a bit and Jasper trots up to me nudging the buckets. I tell him “Nothing in there buddy, I already showed you”, but I show him again anyway. He confirms yet again that they are indeed empty. I walk away again.

Jasper trots up and nudges the buckets. “Dude, there is nothing in there but dirt!”, I say sternly. He stands there offended while I walk away, again.

Here he comes again. I have made some distance this time and I notice Jasper is becoming more excited. He did not trot up to me. He ran. Jasper does not run often; he is a lazy donkey. This time, he is being mouthy. He is being very stubborn. I take note of his stubborn, excited behavior. Large, stubborn, excited, animals give me cause for concern after the cow attack. “Fine, you want the dirt? Here you can have the dirt bucket!” I place the dirt bucket on the ground. Jasper sticks his head in and examines the bucket. I walk quite a bit faster now.

Jasper does not like the bucket of dirt. This is unacceptable to him. I see him begin to run. Fine, I can run too. Jasper is a donkey. Jasper has four legs. I have two. At the end of those legs are big bulky Muck boots covered in a thick layer of chicken poop. Jasper accepts my running challenge and reminds me that while he may be miniature, he can still run like a big boy. He catches me quite easily. He wants my bucket. “Fine, you stubborn donkey, here, take the empty bucket”. I leave the bucket. I am now empty handed. I decide against running again but walk away quickly. No need to slip with my poop covered boots and get trampled by a donkey.

Jasper does not accept my offering. He refuses it quite quickly and comes up to me. Jasper is upset. Jasper wants a special treat, but I have nothing for him. Jasper is being an ass. He is very excited. He is tossing his head in frustration. He is huffing at me. He is being mouthy. Seeing as how I do not have any buckets for him to be mouthy with, he is nibbling at me. I do not like this. A frustrated, stubborn, mouthy, large, animal can be dangerous. I am out in the open. I do not have buckets to distract him with. If I try to pet him, he shakes his head and huffs at me more.

Ok, I go back for the buckets. I need the buckets. Jasper is with me the whole time being belligerent. I try being stern. I try being loud. This is all to no avail. I grab one bucket then two. I use them to kind of swing out, to shoo him away. This does not affect him in the least. Crap. How do I always manage to get myself into these situations? I do the only thing I can do.

I lock myself in the chicken tractor.

I figure he will mosey on after a few minutes, I can leave the buckets in the tractor, and he will not bother me on the way out. Wrong. Jasper does not leave. Jasper stands outside staring at me. He pushes on the wire (the only barrier between us). He huffs and shakes his head. Then, this incredibly intelligent animal grabs a rope attached to the tractor and starts jerking it! It is hanging right next to the door. It looks like part of the door. This donkey is TRYING TO OPEN THE DOOR! Yep, I am going to die.

I do have my phone with me (a big shout out to leggings with pockets). I call little CJ and tell him that I am stuck in a chicken tractor with an angry donkey trying to get at me. I ask him to bring some sweet feed from the barn and shake it down by the gate to distract Jasper while I escape. He does this but Jasper is to smart for this trick. Jasper does not budge. Jasper continues his antics. Little CJ dumps out some sweet feed and some chicken feed thinking that will help. Nope. Jasper has his eye on the prize. Crap. After a while I tell little CJ to give up and go inside, there is no use. I live in the chicken tractor now. I do the only thing left to do.

I call CJ at work.

“I need a little help here”

“What’s up”

“I am trapped in a chicken tractor and Jasper will not let me out”

Tanya in Tractor — Tanya is displeased with her location…

Laughter, I hear laughter.

“What?”

I explain the situation. CJ tells me to just be firm, show him the bucket, leave a bucket for him, etc.

“Yes, yes, I have tried all of these options. Do you not think that I considered all options available to me before locking myself in a stinking chicken tractor?”

“Tanya, I am a half hour away”

“Well, I am not going anywhere. I need you to come rescue me”

This is followed by more laughter, and his acceptance to come rescue me. I flip over a bucket and take a seat. This is what it has come too. Lord have mercy. My phone rings. It is my

Donkey looking into tractor — Jasper knows there is delicious chicken feed in there…

Aunt. I got nothing but time, so I sit and chat for a while. Jasper does not leave. He walks around the tractor, rubbing, testing areas, pulling on ropes occasionally, shaking his head at me. CJ calls again to check on me. “No, I haven’t made it out yet”, “Yes Jasper is still out there”, “Everything is fine, it’s fine, I’m just sitting on a bucket in a chicken tractor”.

After about an hour of sitting in the chicken tractor, I notice I do not see Jasper. I look out and he is down by the gate eating the chicken feed. I notice little CJ left the whole bag of sweet feed in the pasture. I call little CJ back out to grab it through the gate. That is too much for Jasper at one time. He comes out and retrieves the bag. He calls me. “Mom, book it! Jasper is distracted, go around the back of the tractor and sneak off”, “BOOK IT NOW, GO, GO”.

I unlatch the door and sneak around. I confirm that Jasper is happily eating and begin my escape. I do not run; I do not want to call attention to myself. Jasper starts to turn his head towards me and little CJ yells at him, “Hey Jasper, look at me, over here, don’t look there”. He shakes the feed to get his attention back. I love that kid. I continue walking and eventually make it to the side gate and I am out of the pasture. I am safe. I walk to the other gate and tell Jasper he was naughty. He continues eating without a care. He has what he wanted. He wins.

I have now been beaten by a cow, a rooster, and a donkey. I am seriously lacking in the farm-wife skill department. CJ arrives home moments later and laughs at me some more. I go in the house make myself a drink and contemplate my life choices.

Death on the Farm

October 2, 2020

by charles.lafferty Chickens Getting Started with the Farm

Last week was a hard week. We lost three animals in the same amount of days. So sad.

It all started on Tuesday night, when CJ went to put the egg laying chickens in the coop. We had been letting them free range around the yard for a while now and have had no issues. They loved wandering around the yard and making dust baths under the trees/bushes. They would follow you around if they thought you had treats. Occasionally the rooster would be a

little jerk and come at me, but I made sure to keep Tank near me to keep me safe from his shenanigans. Betsy the chicken, would get separated from the group often because she was not paying attention, or the other chickens would wander away. It was a little funny because she would start to panic. She would just stand there and scream for her friends. We would have to locate her and guide her back to the group.

The chickens always put themselves to bed at dusk and CJ goes out to close the coop once it is dark. However, that night, he could only find 5 chickens. One was missing. We all grabbed our flashlights and went out as a family to search for whom I was sure was Betsy the lost chicken. There was no sign of her though. We did see a fox run off into the woods. We were worried but could find no sign of her. We locked up the coop and just hoped she was sheltering down in the woods safely somewhere.

CJ saw no sign of her the next morning either. It was only later when I went looking for her again that we discovered the truth. Betsy had been murdered! On my walk, down by where we had seen the fox, I noticed a large swath of feathers. There had been a struggle here and Betsy had fought hard. Walking further down below Cow Cow’s pasture I noticed several more areas of feathers, in sections, quite far apart. One location was but a single feather and a small pool of blood. Oh… poor Betsy! She had wandered off by herself, with no protection, and had lost her life. She had put up one heck of a fight, but she was not strong enough to fight off her predator. It was a sad day.

We assumed it was the fox we saw. However, later that day I was making my rounds and noticed a HUGE vulture hanging out on our fence post. With my chickens very near. Mr. Rooster Gooster (that is his name) was being a lazy bum and not even paying attention! I ran up screaming to scare away the vulture. I will add here…. Those are big birds when they are on down on your level. Holy moly. His wingspan was just as long if not longer than Tank! Thankfully, he flew away. I would have had some serious issues if he had come after me! After saving my chickens lives, I stood there making sure I had all my girls accounted for. Rooster Gooster had been standing by me (with no issues) the whole time. Suddenly, he decides that he is jealous that I came in and did his job for him. He huffed up as big as he could, flapping his wings, and came straight for me! I kicked at him to back off, but he was truly offended this time and proceeded to try and kill me. I ran.

That mini velociraptor was hot on my tail. I ran faster. Tank could not see that I was in danger, and with my brain in full flight mode I forgot about him being outside. I remembered about halfway to the house and screamed for him. He cam running but was too far behind. I ran even faster. I was getting a side stitch. Evidently roosters do not get side stitches as he was never more than two feet behind me. I was close to the back door of the house but then realization hit! I will never get the screen door and the regular door open in time. He is going to catch me while I am trying to get the screen door open and I will die. I spot one of Tank’s toy balls on the ground and swoop down during my run to grab it and throw it at him. Rooster Gooster don’t care; Rooster Gooster ain’t scared of no ball. He never falters. Yep. I am going to die via chicken. Thankfully, right as I reach the screen door, Tank catches up and saves the day. He stands between me and Rooster Gooster daring him to come near his mama. That will teach you, stinking rooster!

We decided to put the chickens in the pasture with jasper and added the electric poultry net back up as well. I do feel bad that they do not get to wander now. I may go out and put some wire up on the gates so they can free range in the pasture with Jasper there to scare away any predators. On a good note, that darn rooster will not be able to come after me again!

Poultry on Pasture — They are now double-protected with the poultry netting and the donkey!

That same night, Lil CJ came down to tell me that he thought his guinea pig (named Rat) was not feeling well. I went up to check and it was obvious something was wrong with him. A quick google search of his symptoms made it clear he had an upper respiratory infection. We carried him into the bathroom, and I gave Alayna permission to take the longest, hottest shower ever while I sat with him in the steam hoping it would help him breath a little easier. It was almost 8pm so there was no option of a vet. I tried to look up anything I could to help him, but the only thing that could help him were antibiotics. We made him as comfortable as we could and let him sleep in the bathroom where it was still warm and steamy. Unfortunately, he did not make it through the night.

The next day I dug a small hole next to two doggie graves from the previous property owner and Lil CJ and I buried Rat the guinea pig. We lined his grave with bricks, just like the others and placed a small piece of split wood on top for added protection. It was very sad.

The Day after that, CJ announced that we had lost the 1^st meat bird from the brooder. We are not sure what happened. You always expect to lose some of the meat birds, but these were doing so well I had hoped all 100 would make it out to the pasture. It was so close too! We had planned to move them out the following week! Poor little thing. All the others were happy and healthy, so I am thankful we only lost one bird.

That is the hard part of owning so many animals. You always do your best to take care of them, but death is a part of life. We must learn to deal with it as best we can and keep moving forward.

RIP Betsy, Rat, and meat bird who had no name because I cannot name 100 birds.

Chicken Tractor Build

March 20, 2020

by charles.lafferty Uncategorized

With the help of my father, the first chicken tractor has been constructed and put to use. Frankly, my Dad is to thank for the majority of the construction; he built the major components in a modular fashion and then hauled them to my farm for assembly. A friend from our old neighborhood had 6 hens that had begun to eat eggs, so she gave them to us and there you have it.

Chicken Tractor Build — CJ and his Dad building a chicken tractor

Not counting the hours spent at my Dad’s house, assembling the walls and door, bending the conduit for the rafters, and tacking the hardware cloth to the framing, it took 4 hours to put together in my driveway. We are using a modified version of the Suscovich style chicken tractor. Ours has some additional structural support that does not add too much weight, as well as hardware cloth covering the entire structure. After 6 days being moved daily throughout my garden space, we have lost none to predators although the predators are certainly out there as proven by my game camera.

Picking up the chickens was an ordeal since, against my better judgement and Tanya’s advice, I sold my pickup truck and bought a Corolla. I was spending too much in gas (90-mile one-way commute) plus the truck was beginning to show its age mechanically. That being said, I really need to get another truck. We picked up the hens in Tanya’s van using a large dog crate (the wire frame style with a plastic tray for a floor). I expected this to be sufficient for the 1-hour ride back to the farm without damaging the carpet in the van, but I was incorrect. Fortunately for us, our friend loaned us a tarp to place under the dog crate and boy was it needed. Within five minutes of pulling out of their driveway the chickens had pooped all over the crate and the smell was horrendous. We had both sunroofs open, all of the windows down, and were mouth-breathing but it wasn’t enough. The tarp protected the carpet so at least once we got to the farm cleanup was easy, but we let the van air out for a few hours anyway.

The test chickens are all hens and are actively laying eggs, which was not the original intent for these chicken tractors so I had to add in some nest boxes with the hope that they would lay the eggs in the boxes for easy collection. The chickens have other plans though. They use the nesting boxes as roosts and lay their eggs on the ground. Not a big deal I guess but I will have to build them a proper roost to see if that will fix the issue. So far, they have not eaten any of their eggs.