Recently, a small flock of Red Star chickens was added to the Wild Things’ “zoo”. The chickens are housed in a portable pen or “tractor” as they are called, so they can be moved around the farm during the day to eat insects and spent garden plants, as well as fertilize wherever they’ve been. See the white stack on the side? That’s where the exhaust comes out from all the energy they expend moving the thing around……just kidding! It’s moved with the tractor. This particular breed is supposed to start laying around 18 weeks of age, so around Thanksgiving they should start producing great tasting hen apples! The upstairs has a roost and two nest boxes.
FYI–The white pipe on the side is where the feed goes into the feeder to supplement their daily foraging. It’s a plastic coffee jar with the bottom cut out taped to a 3″ PVC pipe that’s taped to a plastic screw-top jar that’s screwed into a store-bought chicken feeder—-that’s called “farmonomics” or “hillbilly engineering”.
Wild Things Farm 