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Sustainability Retrofit of an Existing Residence

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Commenced:	01/08/2011
Submitted:	05/11/2012
Last updated:	07/10/2015
Location:	Chame, Panama, PA
Phone:	+(507) 6533-6487
Climate zone:	Wet/Dry Tropical

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Sustainability Retrofit of an Existing Residence

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The Chicken Tractor

Project: Sustainability Retrofit of an Existing Residence

Posted by Daniel Owsiany about 12 years ago

The chicken tractor is complete, and the tenants have moved in.

A couple of months ago, a local friend, Clyde, and I decided to take the plunge and begin raising our own free-range chickens as one more step towards sustainability and food independance. We purchased 12 baby chicks and set about building a shared brooder out of some scrap materials we had available and began feeding and watering the chicks. About a month later the chicks, who had grown considerably in just 28 days, were ready to be moved into more the more permanent quarters of a chicken tractor (a moveable chicken coop which allows a sheltered place for roosting, nesting, and a limited amount of grazing). We poured over various designs for said chicken tractors, and since we live in the wet/dry tropics, decided to make our tractors from PVC schedule 40 pipe, which is lightweight and rustproof (a big consideration for longevity of the structure here). Clyde covered his with chicken wire, while I used a recycled plastic netting I had previously used in the garden (this turned out to be not such a wise choice...read on) and a design somewhat different than that of Clyde's. I was assisted in the final construction phase by Elsa and Julian, two WWOOFer guests from Germany. The attached photos show the developmental stages of this project.

Remember I said tha plastic netting I used was not such a wise choice. Well, it seems my beloved dog, Pia, had acquired a taste for chickem, and, one day while I was away, she broke into the tractor and had a 'snack' of one of the roosters. I was planning to slaughter the males soon anyway, but I was very upset to have a 'chicken killer' on my hands. I took the remains of the kill, wrapped it in an old t-shirt and tied it around Pia's neck, and put her in isolation for five days. This is an old trick that farmers have been using for a long time to humanely break a dog from killing chickens. We'll see how it works. In the interim, Pia is tied up when the chickens have the run of the yard, and I have used a stronger, but less rust resistant, wire for the caging.

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Patrick McGinn : Very nice to see you to design and build.

Posted over 11 years ago

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