What Is a Chicken Tractor?

A chicken tractor? No, it's not some crazy rooster perched on top of a John Deere, driving around a corn field, tipping his baseball hat to all the cute hens he passes.

However, this silly image may be closer to the truth than you realize. Chickens are great for your gardens. With all their foraging, and scratching, and pecking, and yes, pooping, they can do great things for the quality of soil in your garden beds.

If you have been around chickens for any length of time, you may be respectfully disagreeing at this point.  After all, you have seen the ground in a typical chicken run.  Nothing can grow there.  Too much poop from our feathered friends leads to toxic levels of certain nutrients, including nitrogen.  Nitrogen turns into ammonia, which not only kills any life in the soil, but also smells bad.  To make matters worse, all that poop draws the flies.  Toxic, smelly dirt and flies - doesn't sound like a winning combination for a bountiful backyard garden, does it?

The problem with a typical chicken run is that it's stationary.  The chickens do not get fresh pasture to eat and fresh soil to scratch.  Left in place, their potentially helpful manure builds up to toxic levels, killing everything good in the ground.  Another problem with stationary hen houses and chicken runs are that they draw rodents.  Mice and rats are naturally drawn to these structures, where they get free shelter and food.

What if you could move the chickens every day or every other day? They could chow down on any weeds and cover crops in your gardens, and have fresh soil to scratch. Your garden beds, on the other hand, would also get what it needs - a little bit of animal manure to fertilize and rejuvenate the soil. And those rodents - they won't have a chance to set up house. This win-win solution can happen! All you need is a portable chicken tractor.

A chicken tractor, also sometimes referred to as a chicken ark, is usually an A-line structure that has everything the chickens needs to thrive, all in one place. It has an open, fenced in bottom, where they can peck around in the ground and get fresh air and sun. It has a nesting box or two, where they can comfortably lay their eggs. It provides shelter in bad weather, although special accommodations may need to be made depending on the winter climate in your area. Most importantly, it's easy to move and clean. Use it in your garden, use it on your lawn, use it just about anywhere in your yard.

Another advantage of the chicken tractor is that you don't need to own a farm to raise chickens. It's a small structure that is the perfect size for suburban backyards. These structures solve any concerns that your neighbors may have regarding having chickens next door. No mess, no smells, no rodents, and if you forego the roosters, no obnoxious noises. Offer your neighbors some free fresh (and organic!) eggs, and there is a good chance they will have no objections.

So, what do you think - think you might like some chicken tractor plans to put one of these in your backyard?

• How to Build a Chicken Coop - This is another one of my hubs. It goes into detail about all the things you need to think about if you are building a chicken coop for your birds.

• A Multi-Functional Chicken Tractor - During the actual growing season, this blogger is going to have potted herbs and lettuce growing on the roof of her chicken tractor...

• The Fox is on the Town-o - Unfortunately, chickens do have quite a few predators. Here is one family's story of what happens when the local fox pays a visit...

• Chicken Tractor Chicken Eggs Cost Less - Free range (and chicken tractor) chickens are able to graze, and therefore don't eat as much feed as cooped chickens. If your chickens can't forage, your feed costs will be higher. ...