So, since we’ve moved here we’ve never had a dedicated place for the chickens. We used a stall in the barn for a while, but it never really worked very well—there wasn’t an easy way to give them access to the outdoors, and when we opened the stall to let them out, they just started roosting up in the rafters of the barn, which was disgusting, as they pooped on everything. They were also impossible to round back up after that, so they’ve pretty much been free range—really free range—for the last couple of years.

This has resulted in several things. First, we get very few eggs, as they are masters of hiding their nests. Second, the poop on everything.  Third, they come down in the yard and garden and scratch up my beds. And fourth, we can’t protect them from predators. Last fall this really became a problem, as for some reason we’ve had the most insane number of possums and raccoons this last year! Something about the wet year seems to have caused them to reproduce really, really well, and they nearly cleaned out our whole flock of chickens. The girls have also witnessed a fox carrying a hen (it couldn’t get through the fence with the hen in it’s mouth, so it had to drop it) and DH chased a coyote out of the yard a few nights ago.

So, sometime last fall we started catching all the remaining chickens and locking them in a chicken tractor we made from hog panels and chicken wire. This kept them pretty cozy all winter, but as spring came on, we realized we needed to get something together for them to lay eggs in, because otherwise they were just eating any eggs laid. Finally I fussed about the situation enough that DH had no choice but to make me this clever little egg box that hangs on the outside of the tractor. Better late than never, I guess! It’s so wonderful to have our own eggs again!

There’s a real chicken house in the works, but nothing moves very fast around here, so it’s a good thing the chicken tractor works for now!