The pullets get a new home

A pullet is a young hen that is usually less than a year old.  Our Barred Rock pullets should begin laying eggs any day now.  When they lay their first egg, we normally set them free from the chicken tractor that they've been living in and allow them to "free-range" on the pasture.  The chicken tractor allows us to move them to fresh grass daily while distributing their poop evenly on the pasture.  It also allows them to grow up safely away from predators like hawks and owls.  Once they are bigger and are street smart, they are able to protect themselves better, so we open the door to the tractor and let them roam free during the day.  At night they return to roost inside the tractor.  This keeps them safe from the nocturnal predators.

The current chicken tractor that they are in measures 12 feet by 6 feet and there are currently 31 pullets in it.  We'll be moving them into a little larger chicken tractor that measures 12 feet by 8 feet.  In the photo below I've rolled the current tractor right next to the new one to make the move easier.


Moving from one tractor to another

Here is the new tractor that I'll be moving them into.  You can see the door in the front that I open during the day so they can roam free.  You can also see the roosting bars built on the back half of the tractor.  The back half has a roof over it to protect the pullets somewhat from the elements.  The first thing I need to do is to move the bell waterer from the old tractor and install it in this one.

The pullets' new larger home

The pullets have grown a lot since the last time you've seen them.  They'll like their new home as it is roomier and will allow them to "stretch out their wings."


Cramped Quarters

I've moved the bell waterer and installed it in the larger tractor.  They are ready to move in, but with  a couple of small orders of business to take care of first.

We will remove the pullets, counting them to ensure we still have 31 birds, and then place them in their new tractor.  First, we will clip one of their wings.  Our perimeter fence is only 4 feet tall.  Chickens can't fly very high.  To be safe, though, I want to clip one of their wings to keep them off balance and unable to fly over the fence as there are dogs and other predators outside the safety of the pasture.  Clipping their wings doesn't hurt them.


Getting their wing clipped

You can see the difference in the wings below.  The left wing is clipped.  The right one, we won't clip at all.

Comparative view

We also put a color coded cable tie on one of their legs, leaving plenty of room for them to grow.  Since we'll have 100 birds on the pasture, we want to be sure we can tell the ages of the different birds.  Our older birds have orange cable ties on their legs.


Tagging a pullet's leg for identification

Now we counted them, confirmed that we have 31 birds, and have moved them.  For the first time in several months the old chicken tractor is empty.  We will use this tractor to house the meat chickens after we move them out of the brooder.  They'll arrive in a couple weeks, so I have plenty of time to push this tractor closer to the house.


An empty house

Here they are in their new home.

Scoping out the place.  The plan is to leave them in this tractor for several weeks to get them familiar with roosting in it.  Then, after a few weeks, we'll open the door and they can come and go as they please.  As creatures of habit, they'll return here to roost nightly, safely out of the way of predators.

One more bit of housecleaning - we gathered up all the feathers from when we clipped their wings.  There's no waste around here:  We will compost the feathers in the garden.

It's good to get that crossed off the list.