The chicks are almost ready for the pasture. Their feathers are coming in and they are no longer the fragile little yellow chicks we picked up just a couple weeks ago. They will be divided up amongst the three chicken tractors we built and moved through the pasture under the supervision of Jasper the donkey starting next week. In the meantime, we needed to build another structure for our 6 egg laying hens to live in since they have been living in one of the chicken tractors for the last month.
Enter the mobile chicken coop. We purchased an 8×10 utility trailer and built a chicken coop on top of it so that we can move the birds throughout the pasture allowing them to range out and gather more of their own nutrition. They will not have overhead cover, so hawks could be a problem, but in anticipation of that potential predator, we are picking up a Jersey Giant rooster to watch over them. The mobile coop has plenty of roosting space as well as nesting boxes with outside access which should provide ample space and protection for the hens while allowing us to collect eggs without disturbing them. We just have to install the door and then the coop is ready to go.
The hens have been providing more than enough eggs for our family and we are excited to get them ranging even farther out into our pastures to eat pests and spread fertility!
