Preparing a "Back to Eden" garden with a chicken tractor?

[Gregw]

Hello BYC group, first post! I'm moving from a postage stamp lot in the city to 2 acres just outside of town and I want to combine chickens with gardening.

The final goal is a mesh hoop house covered garden that is twice the sized needed, chickens have run of half, rotating each year. I want to use the back to Eden method and that really takes about a year to prep the soil and I don't have time this year to build the hoops. So I thought maybe a chicken tractor. Leave it long enough in each space to kill all the grass and fertilize, move tractor and cover the exposed ground with the thick layer of wood chips, move, repeat.

The following spring build the hoop house over the area prepped the year before and build a permanent coop with access doors to each side of the divided garden.

The questions I have are; what is the biggest practical tractor I can build and still move with a 2wd pick-up? Big enough for 12 birds?

Starting soon with chicks (Rhode Island Reds) say March 15th, by May 15th they could be in the tractor starting the work, How long would it take for a patch of lawn be taken down to dirt? Is this a week thing or less?

Just a guess here, but say a CT footprint of 8' x 16' moved 24 times = the 3000 sf garden. 24 moves x 5 days each = 120 days, or 4 months. Is this a reasonable thing or am I way off track?

Thanks all,
Greg
Louisville, Ky.

 

[txnative]

Welcome to BYC!

I can't answer most of your questions but I can tell you that it will take them no time at all to reduce the lawn to dirt!

 

[Alaskan]

I think you have a good general idea......


But how it is going to work you simply will not know until after you start doing it.





Or at least, that is how it always works with me.

 

[koop]

i move our 8x12 with my truck, no need to engage the 4x4, with 30 birds i move it once or twice a day.

 

[mitchgreen26]

Interesting idea! I get motivated having a vegetable garden at my backyard, it's one of my favorite past time. Besides, it also offers health benefits. Apparently, every person loves to backyard because it means fewer trips to the store for fresh food. In fact, you can get a pay day loan to help pay someone else to take care of every little thing. Your entire crop will be based on the amount of pruning and preparing you do in the spring, so you need to make sure to begin getting prepared today.