Avian Aqua Miser: Automatic, poop-free chicken waterers

Wheel lift for a chicken tractor

Chicken tractor wheel lift

Wheels down to move tractorDuncan's heated chicken waterer was exciting, but I have to admit that I found his chicken tractor wheel lift system even more inspiring.  Although we've since changed over to pastures, we spent the first four years of our chicken-keeping career dragging tractors around the yard.  At first, Mark mounted wheels on some of the tractors, but the wheels tended to raise that end off the ground and let chickens sneak out, so I eventually had him delete Wheels up when tractor is at restthem.  Not so with Duncan's wheels!  He writes:

The wheel lift system is my invention. I worked it out so the chicken tractor is balanced with very little effort needed to lift the end to move it. The location near the center also prevents the operator from lifting it high enough on either end for a hen to escape. (if the wheels Chicken tractorare near the end the operator could lift high enough for the birds to fly the coop! LOL!) It's also very easy to lift or drop by even a small child.
 
The tractor sits 3" off the ground when raised on fat 10" wheels and is very easy to roll around (even uphill) and on soft ground. It would be easy to make these in such a way that the assembly could be bolted on to a chicken tractor with a Lag bolt into say a 4x4 or whatever was strong enough to support the force placed on it. In other words they could be built and installed on various configurations of chicken tractors after market.


Duncan's stunning diagrams and photos tell the whole story much better than I could.  Aren't you chicken tractor folks itching to try it out?

Wheel diagram


Our chicken waterer is a low-tech solution to another common tractor problem --- water that spills or fills with poop.


Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed.

free hit counter