Moving a tractor with hens - funny experiences?

[PacsMan]

Ok, I’m new to this and have some chicks that are 2 ½ weeks old (and getting large quickly I might add!)

I’m trying to imagine me on a nice spring evening, ready to move my tractor. I see myself (or two of us) moving the tractor from one spot in the garden to another. But I can’t quite conceive what the chickens will do.

When I left, will they run?
Will they be hard to get back in after ‘escaping’ from the tractor?

Do I lift, and as I’m moving it just leave a couple of inches between the ground and the tractor and encourage them to scoot along with the move?
Is the evening the best time to move your tractor?
Do you move yours daily, every couple of days, or weekly? (ours is for a garden plot)

What are your experiences?

And, what’s the funniest thing that ever happened to you and your ladies while moving a tractor?

Thanks so much!

Marty
Utah

 

[jeanniejayne]

Oh my God. I looked at your post becasue I am new, too, and figured I would learn something, I had no idea it would be so funny!

I thought I would move my tractor in the evening or in the morning before we let the chickens out of the roosting area, into which they would be closed at nght.

But the idea of trying to move an 80 lb tractor while scooting them along underneath is too much!

I sure hope somebody who knows what they are doing answers soon!

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
It is really not very exciting, at least with mostly-grown birds. They walk along inside the tractor, ho hum. The first time it can be useful to have a second person to poke at 'em if they stupidly want to stand still and are in danger of getting snowplowed by the back wall, or something, but they learn fast. Really, an intensely uninteresting enterprise

I suppose if you were doing this with small chicks it might be a bit more Fraught, and might be wise to put them in a box or carrier temporarily so they did not zig when they oughta zag and end up getting smushed under the tractor frame.

Do you move yours daily, every couple of days, or weekly? (ours is for a garden plot)

TOTALLY depends on tractor size, # chickens, and what effect you are trying to have on the ground.

With 2-3 hens in a 4x7 tractor I have to move it daily on my lawn to prevent undue thrashing of the turf, and even then, you can see a trail of stomped/scratched/pooed-on rectangles stretching back in the tractor's aftermath

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​