Cattle Panel Chicken Tractors | The Survival Gardener

Early this week we finished building a cattle panel chicken tractor from 2x4s and 2 cattle panels.

I discuss the pros and cons as we build and test it.

After posting my build, my friend David shared pictures of a single cattle panel chicken tractor he’d built – I have to share it with you too!

 

The latter two pictures are the cattle panel chicken tractor in progress, the top image is it finished.

I asked David how he decided on the plan and he said he just eyed it out and started building. That’s my kind of construction! Except his tractor looks better than most of what I build.

One change I would make on this design is adding hardware cloth instead of the wider wire fencing on the outside. That will keep it free from smaller predators such as rats.

The main problem with the cattle panel chicken tractor I built is the weight. It’s very strong, but too heavy. It’ll work, especially now that I figured out how to add wheels, but it’s not idea. I understand the PVC design better now. The next one will probably be made from PVC.

What? Another chicken tractor?

Yes. You see, we had some new friends arrive yesterday. In a box.

Hey guys, let’s get out of that bow and into the guest room, okay?

Wow. There are a lot of you!

Yes – we got chicks in the mail. We bought from Valley Farms Hatchery in North Alabama and were very pleased with how happy and healthy the chicks are. The order is a combination of production brown egg layers and Red Broilers for meat. The latter can be raised to adulthood and reproduced, unlike Cornish Cross birds. They take longer to hit a good slaughter weight but the meat is reportedly better tasting.

I am looking forward to seeing how they grow (and taste). We’ve eaten Cornish Crosses in the past, raised on grass, and found them to be delicious. We’ve also eaten hens and roosters from various non-meat breeds and enjoyed them. I don’t mind a tough chicken, as the flavor of a free-ranging bird is significantly better than anything you can buy at the grocery store.

In fact, I find grocery store chicken disgusting and usually refuse to eat it. Homegrown is a different animal.

Finally, I am pleased to announce the release of WINNING THE WAR ON WEEDS by John Moody, published by Good Books.

This is the first book we’ve released by an author other than myself. John is an expert on small-scale farming and land management. The book is well-worth owning and I highly recommend it. We are quite pleased he trusted us to republish it in a new edition.

But enough for today – I have to go tend the chickens. Bawk bawk.

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