We need eggs!

The title of this post was the exclamation Sophie made recently. She has become quite the cook over the last year, and if Momma is ever out of the house, then we know Sophie will take over the kitchen and keep us fed. But she does tend to go through quite a lot of eggs. So much so that we have now decided that this year's project will be a chicken tractor.
I've been looking at different designs over the last year, to see which one would suit us. It had to be cheap and easy to build, predator proof and easy enough for one person to move.
After a lot of studying, I have finally found one that matches our needs. Its a Quonset design using cattle panels curved and attached to a wooden base frame. The cattle panels supply the form of the tractor with finer mesh covering it to stop predators getting in. The nest boxes are attached to one end and there is a door at the other. The nest box end is also covered with tarpaulin to provide shelter from the weather for the birds.
As soon as the weather allows us to work outside again, then the construction will begin. It may be a little while yet though, as we are experiencing one of the snowiest and coldest winters for a long while this year. This may be a freak of nature, or it may be a sign of things to come. Either way, it has shown us some of our weaknesses that have to be resolved. We had a dam of snow still on the roof at the back of the house one night and it decided to pour with rain. Because the rainwater couldn't run down the roof because of the snow dam, we started to have drips coming through the ceiling in the living room. I had to climb up and release the snow from the roof, in the pouring rain at 11pm at night. Not something I want to do too often.
We are all looking forward to another year on the farm, and the adventures it brings us. Lots of new things to try and hopefully succeed at. If not, then we learn from the experience.