Chicken Tractor

The chicken tractor I decided to go with was from a company called CreatableSustainable on Etsy. I purchased both the blue prints and the hardware from them. The rest I purchased at a local hardware store. 

 I have to admit, this project felt at first to be undoable because I had neither a chop saw or a table saw.  But I did have my dads old circular saw. 

It's honestly funny that when you start using tools you're not familiar with how the brain just kind of wants to shut down.  Honestly, shutting down could be the wrong word to use but I'm not sure what else to say. Prior to my stroke, using a new tool at the jobsite did not slow me down in the same way.  My brain shutting down has been new obstacle.  

When my relatives where over I started to cut the pieces of wood out, I had my cousin and nephew make a few cuts as well, so we were able to have some male bonding time.  Fast forward a weekend later I spent an evening assembling the frame.   

Then, few days later I got all the plywood together. 

Another week went by and I got the wire installed. 

Then back to the hardware store to buy the right sized bolts for the tractor wheels. The bolts that came with it originally were sized for a different type of wheel. 

The most expensive part of this process was purchasing the Kregg which is a really nifty tool. It allows you to not have to purchase a lot of extra hardware and just use the wood with a couple of screws in order to hold the wood pieces together.  I also used it to construct the Floating Fortress.

I will also say, I wish I had used more screws and washers for the wire mesh, but one day I will use a staple gun to go back and staple the little waves in the mesh down. 

If I were to purchase this system again I would get a different latching mechanism for the top part.  The latching system does work however it's tight.  Also one more tool that was not in their list of tools that are handy is a grinder which I used to cut the chicken wire and to trim screws.

While it is not in constant use at this time, it has worked well in giving our ducklings time outside prior to them being ready for the pond. 

Overall, the chicken tractor is functional and will probably build another in the future for our growing flock.