As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
This Chickwagon which the Holy Ghost Inspired me to design is something which is impressing me more as time goes by as I notice new features in it, that I had not expected which I could exploit.
It is light enough that in flat nice areas which most of you would have, it can be pulled and rolled by myself. It is about light enough that I can move it over just by lifting and dragging a corner. That helps as I do not have steering on it, just the wheels to move it.
What I am enjoying this autumn is I moved this in back of Mom's house where the grass is not mowed, and being Russian bromus grass, it is thick and a problem. The chickens though in just a few days destroy the area pretty well to scorched earth from a jungle.
It is the ultimate green mower, as the chickens do all the work.
The one drawback are the flies, but I am wondering if it "was a fly year", because I was listening to two old women in the second hand store and one was talking about all the flies. I have never seen flies like we had this year, and they were around into November. I hope it is a sign of warm winter.........although I have seen Canadian Redpolls and Juncos early, which makes me frown, as Redpolls usually never appear here unless Canada sucks in being cold.
They came last year early too, but left, so I do not know what that is about with HAARP now either.
I really want to experiment with this in a garden, not for cleaning up, but for fertilizing and when chickens dust, they dig holes. I would think that it would be a win win. I of course need a digger or rototiller, as I think that it being dug deep would please the chickens, and allow them to root around like pigs in turning the soil over and incorporating poop into the mix.
The wind, and we do get wind here, pops this Chickwagon pretty good. It hit the tarp pretty hard in chafing it, but I had a cold frame in the garden over the chard and the last wind storm we had, flipped the cold frame, but thankfully, the wind has nevercome close to lifting this.
That is not to say it is hurricane proof, as I do try to keep it protected, but I am really pleased with how stable it is.
Next year I might put this 12 by 16 tarp a bit further on one side for rain protection, but it does need ventilation, and a cooler color than dark brown. I am thinking of silver for next year.
I can not think of anything I would change in the design of this. The only drawbacks were Baby Belle being a poop in crashing into it and bending it, which is no fault of the Chickwagon.
So the lesson in this is the Chickwagon has proven it is a lawnmower and I think in time, it will be a garden tiller with fertilizer attachment. That is a very versatile ranch device. If I lived in some God's Country where the winters were autumn, this would be a year round home.
I have this so close to the house that I do not have predator problems thankfully, but a electric fencer is what other people use to deal with that, as animals could dig under the sides.
One more thing, I have seen people making elaborate egg boxes and things, but not having time or money for such things, I had sat a 5 gallon bucket inside to protect the cracked corn I was feeding......and the chickens like laying eggs in it.
I have not gotten around to it, but a good chicken nest would be gravel or a big rock into a 5 gallon bucket, with wood shavings on top to lay in. Put 4 of them in, and this would work with a few to a dozen hens.
We have 3 green egg hens, 2 Gold Star and 3 Wyandotte. The Americanas are not that great at laying, but the chickens keep ahead of us, and started laying good at 4 months. The Gold Stars are laying like every day. You do not need very many hens to give you more eggs than you need.
The chickens are doing great in cleaning up garden stuff which are culls in tomatoes, cukes etc... They like it, and they are really happy. They sing allot and make happy noises. While the Asian chickens are not laying, most are quite tame in pecking me or liking to be held. I just have absolutely no time to enjoy them.
That is the Chickwagon, Chicktiller, Chickmover review.
agtG
