In an excellent international, we might let our chickens free-range all 12 months around, and we’re positive they might respect us for this. On the other hand, what do you do throughout the iciness, when predators reminiscent of foxes are determined and chance an assault throughout the sunlight hours? The solution is hen tractors.
You need to stay your chickens in a coop and pen throughout iciness, however we discovered this impacts their egg-laying vastly.
For this reason we determined to make use of a hen tractor, and the ladies rewarded us by way of expanding their egg-laying!
Observe: Learn How A lot Room Do Chickens Want in case you are taking a look at making your pen and wish to figure out how giant it must be.
Now not heard of a hen tractor ahead of or puzzled how one can use one? Let’s get instantly into this week’s article.
A Hen Tractor: What Is It?
To start with, for the ones of you who haven’t heard of a hen tractor ahead of, you most likely marvel what precisely a hen tractor is?
A hen tractor is a conveyable pen that you’ll transfer round your lawn to supply your chickens with a relentless contemporary grass provide.
Hen tractors are typically simply dragged around the lawn; alternatively, you’ll get ‘fancier’ tractors that experience wheels to lead them to more straightforward to drag!
At this level, you’re most probably questioning how that is any other from my common hen pen.
Hen Tractor Vs. Hen Pen
Probably the most vital distinction between a hen tractor and a hen pen is {that a} hen pen isn’t transportable – a pen is connected to the facet of your hen coop.
A pen has a tendency to be extra protected as it’s an enduring construction, and you’ll bury the hen cord down into the bottom to forestall predators from digging beneath the pen.
On the other hand, the pen’s problem is that as it’s an enduring construction, you are going to most probably in finding your chickens consume the entire grass of their pen and depart it simply dust.
Until you supply your chickens with a big pen this may at all times occur, and for many yard hen keepers, we don’t have the gap to increase the pen.
That is the place the hen tractor is available in. As a result of hen tractors are very cell, it method you’ll transfer them round when your ladies have cleared a patch of land.
This implies they get get admission to to contemporary grass and other spaces of your lawn, preventing them from overgrazing any explicit segment of your lawn.
It additionally stops them from consuming issues they aren’t meant to. i.e., seeds you’ve planted, greens, and flora!
Experimenting A Cellular Hen Coop
So let’s now discuss how the use of hen tractors made our chickens lay extra eggs.
We nonetheless have in mind fencing off their pen after we were given our chickens at round 18 weeks outdated.
We began with six chickens, they usually had a pen kind of 15×8 toes.
All through the summer season, our ladies free-ranged within the lawn.
On the other hand, we stored them in pen throughout the iciness as a result of we have been anxious about foxes attacking them (they get determined and can assault in sunlight if vital).
The summer season used to be implausible, and our ladies have been mendacity smartly; then iciness used to be coming round, so it used to be time to position the ladies again of their pen.
Inside of a month, our ladies had completely burnt up the grass, and it used to be becoming a dirt bathtub in the midst of December!
Hmmm.
Now not ultimate.
We prolonged the pen by way of every other 15×8 foot, and once more by way of the tip of January, their complete pen used to be simply dust – and worse but, the grass didn’t even get time to get well for the reason that chickens have been at all times there.
Right through this iciness, their egg-laying plummeted- granted, the selection of eggs they laid will have to cut back anyway throughout the iciness, nevertheless it used to be actually off the spectrum.
We expect the issue used to be as a result of they’d eaten the entire grass, they just had dust to scratch round in, they usually didn’t like this, and it unsettled them.
If we had used a hen tractor again, we can have moved our chickens across the more than a few patches of grass.
This is able to have allowed the brand new grass to get well and develop again.
We had a quandary, we’re glad for our chickens to roam anyplace within the lawn, however throughout the iciness, they wish to be protected because of the chance of them getting attacked.
We will be able to’t position hen cord across the fringe of our complete lawn (it might appear to be a jail!), and the scale in their present pen wasn’t large enough as a result of they grew to become it into a dirt bathtub!
So the next iciness, we determined to take a look at as an alternative and use a hen tractor.
We deliberate to stay the ladies of their coop in a single day to roost, after which we might put them within the tractor throughout the day.
The tractor could be moved each and every week- to forestall them overgrazing any explicit space.
One sudden facet impact used to be that even though their egg manufacturing bogged down throughout the iciness, they nonetheless laid way more eggs than the former iciness!
On the other hand, the eggs have been moderately dirty- to not concern as a result of we simply adopted the information How To Retailer Your Chickens’ Freshly Laid Eggs.
Since then, we’ve been the use of the tractor for a number of winters and observed good stuff occur. A few of our buddies came around and sought after to understand how we used the tractor, so we wrote them a listing of items we do- so we concept we’d proportion them with you too!
Chickens Lay Extra Eggs When They Devour Healthily
The grass is acceptable for chickens. So the use of a tractor naturally advantages our laying hens of their manufacturing departments.
We spotted our eggs exchange when our hens had get admission to to the grass beneath the tractor year-round. The yolks become darker and tasted higher!
As a result of grass meets our hens’ protein necessities, their manufacturing spiked! A hen’s day-to-day nutrient requirement is one-quarter of the way in which fulfilled by way of consuming grass. To not point out the nutrients and minerals in addition they get from consuming the vegetables (E, C, and Iron).
Enforcing the hen tractors in our poultry-raising regimen allowed our hens to consume a extra herbal vitamin consisting of high-value vegetables.
How We Use a Hen Tractor
Wintry weather Use: The very first thing to bear in mind is that we simplest use the tractor to stay them secure throughout the iciness.
Stay the Coop: Within the night time, we push the tractor again over to their coop, they usually roost in there at night time.
Make Certain You Rotate It: Every week, we transfer the tractor to a brand new position within the lawn.
Offer protection to In opposition to Flooding: If positive spaces of your lawn are vulnerable to flooding, make sure to position the tractor on upper floor.
At all times transfer the tractor if the bottom beneath it’s naked.
You Want Flat Floor: Make sure to simplest use the tractor on flat floor. The bumpy floor isn’t ultimate for tractors as a result of it will possibly depart gaps which the chickens would possibly get away from.
Shut It on Snow Days: We stay the ladies of their coop/pen on concise iciness days. We expect it might be too chilly for them to be out within the snow.
Test for Eggs: Even if now we have a small nesting field at one finish of the hen tractor, some ladies don’t like the use of it. So whenever you’ve moved the tractor, test the grass to verify there aren’t any hidden eggs!
Blank Up The Meals: Whilst on the lookout for any hidden eggs, ensure there aren’t any pellets or different meals at the flooring as a result of this may draw in pests reminiscent of mice.
Right here is a smart video I discovered appearing what can occur for your grass and not using a hen tractor!
Do I want a coop/pen with my hen tractor?
When the general public pay attention about hen tractors, I believe some of the first questions is- does this imply I don’t want a hen coop anymore?
This depends upon the local weather you are living in and the bread of your chickens.
Should you are living in a heat local weather all 12 months around, you need to stay your ladies of their tractors (however we wouldn’t counsel it).
On the other hand, chickens want the coop to stick heat throughout harsh winters in chillier climates.
Additionally, most of the time of thumb, simplest chickens grown for meat are stored in tractors all 12 months. Laying chickens want a considerable nesting field.
We wish to stay our ladies of their coop and, like we prior to now discussed, simplest use the tractor throughout the iciness as a need.
So, are you going to take a look at and use a hen tractor now? Tell us about your studies within the feedback beneath.
Need To Percentage This…
