Had to test out the chicken tractor.

The broiler chicks are getting big, and I'm ready for them to be out of the garage.  I'm still filling their feeder three times a day.  Their water has been less of a hassle since I put it up higher.  The worse part is cleaning out the litter.  That has to be done once a day now.  I can't let it go more than that.

Anyway, they aren't supposed to go outside until they are 3 weeks old.  They'll reach that age on this coming Wednesday.  I like to experiment (and I don't always have a lot of patience).  So I thought I'd put a few of them outside today. 

I built a chicken tractor last year and used it for the layers until I had a chance to build them a real coop. I plan on keeping the broilers in it until they reach maturity.

It doesn't look this good any more.  It's well weathered from sitting in the woods for the last 9 months.

After cleaning out the litter this morning I grabbed 4 chicks, put them in a bucket, and carried them out to the back yard.  They did not care for their new environment.  In fact, they spent nearly the entire day sitting in the box.  They had no interest in venturing onto the grass.  I moved them there a few times.  They would look around for a little while and then make their way back into the box.

I went about my business, mowed the lawn, and did some stuff around the house.  They were in the tractor all day.  I guess they finally got used to it because this evening they had no issues with being in the grass.  They didn't even mind the dog checking them out.

I moved them back inside with the rest of the chicks when it started getting dark.  I'm going to try putting more of them outside tomorrow.  I'm not ready to leave them out over night yet.  I'll wait until Wednesday before doing that.