Beer Town Austin

Because You Like Beer… You Like Chicken Tractors

Posted by BeerTony on 5/10/10 • Categorized as Because You Like Beer...

Completed and fully functional Chicken Tractor

If you are into all things DIY chances are you have a passion for home brewing, gardening and…chicken coops? To say that having an urban chicken coop is trendy would be taking things a bit too far, but raising chickens in your backyard is definitely becoming a phenomenon of sorts. In Austin, we are some funky chicken loving people. Most Sundays you can head up to Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon to play Chicken Shit Bingo (recently anointed to Texas Monthly’s Bucket List) while drinking cheap beers and listening to Dale Watson. While it is legal to raise chickens within the city limits, some neighborhoods have covenants that prohibit the backyard brood. If you have been thinking of taking the term “Organic Eggs” to new levels and have limited space to do so, then building a chicken tractor may be right up your alley.

Making the Tractor

A chicken tractor is essentially a mobile chicken coop that you can move to different parts of your yard so that the chickens have more room to eat fresh grass, forage for bugs and scratch until their hearts content. Chicken tractors come in all shapes and sizes, but if you want 3-4 birds, you can build one relatively pain free and light on the wallet. The key is to engineer handles and a set of wheels to easily move the coop to different parts of the yard. Raising pets with benefits is a near win-win situation. You get fresh eggs, scrape the poop into your compost bin and teach kids invaluable lessons about how those pesky chicken nuggets make their way on to the dinner table. You may need to bribe your neighbors with some of those eggs and a few of your home brews, but a dozen eggs go a long way.

3 Happy Girls

With some help from my neighbor and Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA, I recently built my first chicken tractor. I was amazed by how much fun I had creating this urban coop. My goal was to build a house large enough for four hens. After reading a few forums online about chicken coops, I found a design of sorts that I liked. I modified it a bit to fit my needs and goals and started in with the man tools – miter saw, circular saw, jigsaw, drills, etc. I spent about 15 total hours constructing and another few hours painting and dropped about $100 in materials (about half of the materials were scraps from previous projects). I now have three Black Australorp hens that lay 2-3 eggs per day for me. I also got to know my neighbor a lot better in the process while we shared a few brews.

The goal here is to do a lot with a little land. While a full-fledged chicken farm is indeed enticing, I do love being close to the city. Having 3-4 hens should provide a family of four with plenty of eggs and enjoyment. I am surprised by how easy chickens are to raise and care for as pets and am equally surprised by how much these little creatures poop…yikes.

If you have always had the itch to raise your own yard birds, now is the time of the season to do so. You can easily get pullets (not quite babies, but not fully grown chicks) from either Buck Moore Feed Supply or Callahans General Store in town. You can also find farmers who have 8-10 month old hens that are already laying rather easily. Good luck!