Chicken Coop and Chicken Tractor

The chicks that I posted about a couple of months ago have grown up. It turned out that 6 of the 25 chicks were actually roosters. Until today, all of the chickens shared the large coop as well as common land to free range. Since we planned to keep 12 chickens for the purpose of egg laying and the others for meat, the roosters will be the first to go. In order for us to eat them, they must be separated from the hens for one month because we feed them all medicated starter. We need to have the roosters free of the medicated food for at least a month to be sure the meat is clear of any medication. In order to get the roosters separate from the hens, Eddie built this portable coop, called a chicken tractor. It is 12 feet long by 5 feet wide. There is a hanging waterer, a roost and a place for food. It can be moved around the pasture so that they are still able to benefit from the natural bugs and plants the others have access to. Their feed will be non-medicated and in a little more than a month, Eddie will get to practice butchering a chicken. He has found several online sources to help learn how to do this. One site that he keeps returning to is this one: http://www.butcherachicken.blogspot.com/ It is very informative and he has links to many other blogs and sites that are helpful. For more pictures of chicken tractors, you can visit www.thecitychicken.com