Chicken Tractor's Final Move

As I alluded to in a previous post, the chicken tractor I built became a burden to move. I decided to park it and let it become a stationary chicken coop. I have three main reasons for this decision. The first being its weight and how hard it is to move. The second reason is shade. When I moved the coop in tractor mode, it would sit out in the blazing sun all day. The chickens would try to stay in the limited shadow the coop cast in the run. I decided to park it under one of my oak trees where it will get shade in the summer and sun in the winter. The final reason I parked it is pretty shitty. I will explain in a moment.

I had to make sure the foundation was solid. I decided to lay a bunch of 8" x 16" patio stones instead of pouring concrete, just in case I ever need to move it. The good thing about concrete is it levels itself passively with gravity. It took me a long time to level all of these stones. I used a flat shovel, a 4 ft level, a tape measure and some gin and juice. Eventually everything lined up. Note the position of the chicken tractor.

I started to arc the tractor towards its final resting spot two weeks before I put the stones down. Every two days I would move the tractor a little closer. Once I got it to this spot, the next move was its last. One of the reasons I choose this spot is it has electric at the light pole. I don't plan on using heat lamps, but you never know when you will want power for something. 

Back to the shitty reason to park the chicken tractor. When the tractor is moved, all the chicken shit is spread over the whole yard. When it is parked, you can do what is called the "deep litter" method. The principle is the same as composting your kitchen scraps. You just need to get your carbon (straw / leaves) to nitrogen (chicken shit) ratio right. The chickens will constantly scratch the straw and deposit nitrogen, efficiently turning your compost for you. It is amazing how fast a bale of straw turns into dark nutrient rich compost. I throw a lot of kitchen scraps and yard waste in as well. You can harvest this compost 3-4 times a year. I plan on letting it build up until the end of fall. I will harvest the compost and let it age on the garden beds over the winter. This will ensure the compost is not to "hot" with nitrogen when I plant in the spring.

Here is the final product, painted yellow of course to match the house, garage and dog house. The egg collection door is about 25 ft from the back door of the house. It is easy and convenient to collect the eggs everyday. We let the chickens out when we get home from work and on the weekends. Otherwise they are busy turning straw to compost. 

Compost Challenge

A lot of people recycle their paper and plastic products, not enough, but a lot of people realize their trash is going somewhere. Way less people compost their kitchen scraps. If you are reading this, and do not compost your kitchen scraps, I challenge you to start.

We cook a lot of our own food and generate a bunch of compost every week. We will fill one of the large spring mix containers from the store every week with kitchen scraps. Next time you are at the store buy a large spring mix, eat some salads and save the container. We keep this in the fridge and pull it out every time we cook. Once that is full I walk it to the compost pile or in the winter, I keep a large bin next to the kitchen door so all I do is open the door and dump it.

The next time you have that egg shell in your hand hovering above the garbage can, please stop and think about the nutrients you are sending to the landfill instead of your garden.

Some people would look at this picture and say yeah that looks like a bag of garbage. I look at it and see fresh tomatoes, a beautiful asparagus patch, chicken and rabbit food, garden fresh strawberries... you get the idea. In less than a year, if you are lazy, you can turn this bag of "trash" into nutrient dense compost for your garden.

This bag of compost material comes from a family in my area. I was looking around Craigslist and saw an ad looking for someone to pick up and compost a family of fours kitchen scraps. The family rents their house and cannot set up a compost bin but didn't want to just throw their scraps away. I am a little eccentric so I replied to the ad and said I would be happy to compost their kitchen scraps. I have been stopping by periodically over the last 6 months or so to help keep their "waste" out of the landfill. I am glad Amanda reached out and took responsibility for her families kitchen scraps. It doesn't seem like what we are doing is a big deal, but if everyone you know composted their kitchen scraps there would be an immediate impact on landfills to the tune of several tons a day.

Amanda has a blog called The Eco-Friendly Family, I think she and her family are living what they preach. Check out her blog for great ideas on how you can live a more sustainable lifestyle.

I finally reached a tipping point at work when I looked in the garbage one day. I couldn't believe the amount of compost material in it. That night I stopped at my local big box store and purchased a nice seal-able plastic container. I leave it on the counter in the kitchen and take it home every night. I would leave it for a day or two to fill up but I think some people might complain if the kitchen doesn't smell like sanitizer.

Here is my message to my co-workers. I have gotten a lot of positive responses since I started doing this.

Here is the list of stuff I am asking them for. I would say to put the used paper towels in, but my work goes through so many everyday, my bin would be full before lunch.

Here is a typical haul. I still see compost material in the trash. I guess I need to put up more signs. I hope this post has inspired some of you to start composting. I encourage anyone to put a bin in the kitchen at your work. It is a good conversation starter.