Moving The Chicken House

Yes, a friend with a tractor came on Sunday night (october 5) and picked up the whole chicken house and moved it about 200 feet to the upper garden near our house. It had to be done at night after the chickens had gone in. And of course we tried not to upset the chickens too much as they rode inside their house because we did not want them to forget about laying eggs. It all worked out and we appreciate our good neighbors who are so helpful on these things and who have the right equipment. So thanks to Jerry, Victor(Jerry's son) and Jerry (Victor's friend). It was quite interesting to see this move only in the tractor lights and the moonlight.

I wonder what the chickens thought the next morning as they cautiously exited their house to new surroundings. They seem to be quite happy.

So why the move? Susan had a great idea to let the chickens scratch the compost at the end of the kitchen garden to remove the weed seeds, especially the Johnson grass seeds. Johnson grass is awfiully hard to get rid off because of the huge roots. We managed to get a truckload of it out of the compost but are sure lots of seeds remained. So the chickens are there and doing a great job scratching out the seeds and eating them and .... 

Of course, after the house was moved, Susan and I had to move the electric fence as we do not let our chickens roam freely. This went OK too.

Some of you may think that the chicken yard will smell badly (especially since it is 25 feet from the house) but that is not an issue. There is no odor, except inside the chicken house when we do not clean it out often enough. So no problem with smells. And the eggs are great and easy to gather!  Also it's now easy to toss the garden weeds and dead plants ovber the fence to the chickens instead of haiuling them to the old chicken yard.

Another good byproduct of Susan's idea is that the goats now have a bigger and better fenced area. 

The only negative is that the old gate to the original chicken yard, which is on two posts seciured by concrete is still there and unused. We call it the "Gate to Nowhere" (you know about the "Bridge to Nowhere" from Sara Pailin).


After the chickens finish their Johnson grass seed cleaning business we may move them back. Also thinking about putting wheels on the chicken house to make the moving easier.

And that's the story of the chicken house being moved in the light of the moon on Sunday night, October 5.