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Priebe's Chicken "Dragster" Simplifies Pasture Rotation
Jerry Priebe's chicken "dragster" reduces mowing chores, fertilizes the yard and cuts chicken feed costs. The 4-ft. sq. unit includes an indoor pen and outdoor cage for a dozen chickens and pulls easily by hand every day to new ground.
Priebe attached an old trailer axle to the back and built a wooden arm on the
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Priebe's Chicken "Dragster" Simplifies Pasture Rotation LIVESTOCK Poultry 32-3-35 Jerry Priebe's chicken "dragster" reduces mowing chores, fertilizes the yard and cuts chicken feed costs. The 4-ft. sq. unit includes an indoor pen and outdoor cage for a dozen chickens and pulls easily by hand every day to new ground.
Priebe attached an old trailer axle to the back and built a wooden arm on the front that pulls ahead and lifts the pen to make it easy to pull the 150-lb. unit. Though the big ATV wheel works, Priebe says setting it up like a fifth wheel unit would be better and prevent the tire from twisting.
"There is no floor, so I never have to clean it out," Priebe adds. By using old windows and a storm door and leftover metal and lumber from a building project, he kept the cost down to about $80 with new 1 by 4-in. treated lumber and woven wire.
Though it's not insulated and the walls are just 1/2-in. plywood, Priebe's chickens did just fine in the small pen through Ohio's winter. His biggest chore was shoveling snow before moving the pen ahead.
Priebe says the pen could probably be 50 percent bigger and still be easy to pull. The nesting boxes could also be on the outside of the pen in the summer to give the chickens more room to roost. He has a long eave to protect the hanging feeder, but may add clear fiberglass roofing to provide even more protection.
Priebe saves about one-third of his feed costs during the summer. He pulls the pen along the edge of the horse pasture, which cuts back on mowing the area. The portable pen also protects the chickens from neighbors' dogs and wild predators.
The pen works great, Priebe says, and if it ever gets too difficult for him to pull, he can move it with an ATV or tractor. He'll provide drawn plans for anyone interested.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jerry Priebe, 6015 Tr. 219, Big Prairie, Ohio 44611 (ph 330 378-2960; jerrypriebe@hotmail.com).
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