Chicken Tractor Retrofit

Back in December, 2005, just a few months after we arrived here in Texas, we built a chicken tractor to house our chickens, the original process which you can see here.

Well, fast forward 12 1/2 years, and while it has served us well, it had also begun to fall apart, with uprights rotting, etc.

Given that this was the only real overnight housing for our main flock of chickens, I felt a retrofit really needed to be accomplished in one day. I figured there was no way I would be able to do that myself, and so I requested March 2018’s community work day, and this past Wednesday, we men began the process with haste…

The plan was to pull it all apart, replicate the siding, the front frame, the lower section in the back, and the upper “penthouse” section, and then put the sections back in place, and then the siding pieces. This would allow for not having to re-design things, and allow for using the same roofing and chicken wire pieces without having to re-do those.

But first, we had to pull all of the staples to get the chicken wire pieces off. Everyone got to participate in that, and it actually took a little while:

Removing Chicken Wire from Chicken Tractor

Here, the roof, siding, and lower back section (which you can see on the ground upside down on the right) are removed, with the front frame and penthouse section still in place:

Chicken Tractor Roof, Siding, Back Section Removed

Here you can see the back section center right, upside down, and a youngin’ sitting on the back door:

More Chicken Tractor Roof, Siding, Back Section Removed

Still working on the penthouse section:

Working to Remove Chicken Tractor Penthouse Section

Here on the left, you can see the penthouse section removed:

Chicken Tractor Penthouse Section Removed

And here, the new front framing and new uprights are in place:

New Chicken Tractor Front Frame & Uprights

And here’s the new penthouse section, guarded well by a couple of smiling gents…would you trust these fellers? 😉

New Chicken Tractor Penthouse Section

Skipping forward a little, here we are with the back and penthouse sections in place, and the new siding installed:

New Chicken Tractor Back & Penthouse Sections & Siding Installed

And here’s the front view:

Front View of Chicken Tractor Put Back Together

And from another angle. I was really hoping to get to this point so we would at least be able to box them in for the night, and thanks to the Lord and the guys, we were able to! But, we did pray the Lord would grant the chickens safety through the night, being they were a little more exposed with the chicken wire not put back:

Another View of Chicken Tractor Put Back Together

Here’s looking in the back. I decided to use the same nest-box structure as it was still in fairly good shape:

Back View of Chicken Tractor Put Back Together & Nesting Boxes

And here’s how we attached the roofing tin:

Inside View of Chicken Tractor Roofing Tin

And just a metal flashing piece to cover the roof apex:

Chicken Tractor Roof Apex Flashing Covering

Here’s the smattering of the old pieces and new left-overs all over…quite the war zone! 🙂

Chicken Tractor Pieces & Leftovers

Well, the next day, after God did graciously grant the chickens’ safety through the night, I went ahead and stapled on all of the chicken wire pieces, and they all fit very nicely! Good job to the chicken tractor retrofit crew! Now all we need is some paint:

Retrofit Chicken Tractor with Chicken Wire Stapled Back On

Hopefully a little more so now! 🙂

Happy Chickens

Curtains & Pecan Shelling

Over on the ladies side of things, they graciously helped Sue make some new curtains:

Shelled Pecans

And did some of the pecan shelling from the pecans the Lord granted us from our trees last year, which is something of a time-consuming process. The lady who did this got quite a bit of them done!

New Window Curtains

We are very thankful to God for His graces and mercies in allowing us to be a part of this fellowship. We thank Him for the people here, and we always pray we do these things in love and service for each other out of love and service to Him!

And thanks to the folks for all of the help! May God bless each of you and your households with an abundance of His graces, and temporal, spiritual and eternal blessings!

— David