DIY chicken tractor: logs and remesh

We stumbled into chickens, so Mark made our first three chicken tractors very quickly to give them a home.  This photo shows his earliest design which was very cheap and relatively easy to build.

First, Mark cut down some trees that were encroaching on the garden and used them to make a rectangular frame for the bottom of the tractor.  He cut a length of concrete-reinforcing mesh (remesh) to form a hoop, drilling holes in the base logs to run the ends of the remesh through and attach it into place.  He framed up a door with smaller branches and covered the whole thing (except the bottom) with chicken wire.  Inside, he made a nest box out of an old milk crate and a perch out of another branch.  Then he covered the back quarter of the tractor with an old tarp to keep the chickens snug.

Although it is functional, this tractor had to be slightly rebuilt three years later because the logs on the ground started to rot out.  We used walnut, and in retrospect wish we'd used red cedar, which is naturally rot-resistant.  Treated lumber or PVC pipes are another good option if you want to spend a bit more money.

Mark also went in and added a cover to the nest box.  There's nothing worse than nice, fresh eggs getting soaked and muddy, and our hens didn't much like laying in the rain either.  As you'll see, Mark made the nest boxes in his later tractors even fancier.

While you're planning your chicken tractor, don't forget to add in an automatic chicken waterer --- essential to protect your hens from dehydration which happens when conventional waterers spill on uneven ground.