Chicken tractor and winter coop

Gerald Hickman and his daughter, Shannon, have backyard chickens and built a chicken tractor and the winter chicken coop as a pandemic project.

Section:Gallery

Wed., March 10, 2021

Shannon Hickman and Jerry Hickman made a “winter palace,” and a mobile chicken tractor, wherein the poultry pets feed and fertilize the lawn. The two decided to raise chickens when they became concerned about food availability during the pandemic.

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Welsum, Winnie, Dot and Bean feed and fertilize the lawn a few square feet at a time.

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Jerry Hickman shows some of the fresh eggs that the chickens laid. “I collect the eggs every morning,” he says.

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Two Jerry Hickman and Shannon Hickman’s chickens wander in a homemade winterized chicken coop in their permaculture backyard in Cheney, Wash. The father-daughter duo have four chickens– Welsum, Winnie, Dot and Bean– whose “chicken palace” is equipped with everything from an automatic dry feeder, a swing, roosting boxes, a xylophone and is predator-proofed with a hog panel roof and hardware cloth. Shannon also designed a mobile chicken tractor, wherein the poultry pets feed and fertilize the lawn a few square feet at a time.

Libby Kamrowski The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
Shannon Hickman and father Jerry Hickman built this winterized “winter palace” equipped with an automatic dry feeder, a swing, roosting boxes and a xylophone. It is also predator-proofed with a hog panel roof and hardware cloth.

Libby Kamrowski The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
Shannon Hickman allows one of her and father Jerry Hickman’s chickens to jump down from her arm as she herds them away from the house.

Libby Kamrowski The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
The father-daughter duo also built a winterized “winter palace” equipped with everything from an automatic dry feeder, a swing, roosting boxes, a xylophone and is predator-proofed with a hog panel roof and hardware cloth.

Libby Kamrowski The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
Daughter Shannon Hickman (pictured) and father Jerry Hickman's pandemic project quite literally has many moving parts: the chickens themselves and a mobile chicken tractor, in addition to this winterized chicken coop in their permaculture backyard in Cheney, Wash. The father-daughter duo have four chickens— Welsum, Winnie, Dot and Bean— whose "winter palace" is equipped with everything from an automatic dry feeder, a swing, roosting boxes, a xylophone and is predator-proofed with a hog panel roof and hardware cloth. Shannon designed the mobile chicken tractor, wherein the poultry pets feed and fertilize the lawn a few square feet at a time.

Libby Kamrowski The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
Two Jerry Hickman and Shannon Hickman's chickens wander in a homemade winterized chicken coop in their permaculture backyard in Cheney, Wash. The father-daughter duo have four chickens— Welsum, Winnie, Dot and Bean— whose "winter palace" is equipped with everything from an automatic dry feeder, a swing, roosting boxes, a xylophone and is predator-proofed with a hog panel roof and hardware cloth. Shannon also designed a mobile chicken tractor, wherein the poultry pets feed and fertilize the lawn a few square feet at a time.

Libby Kamrowski The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
Winnie the chicken roosts in a winterized chicken coop that Jerry Hickman and Shannon Hickman built in their permaculture backyard in Cheney, Wash. The father-daughter duo have four chickens— Welsum, Winnie, Dot and Bean— whose "winter palace" is equipped with everything from an automatic dry feeder, a swing, roosting boxes, a xylophone and is predator-proofed with a hog panel roof and hardware cloth. Shannon also designed a mobile chicken tractor, wherein the poultry pets feed and fertilize the lawn a few square feet at a time.

Libby Kamrowski The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
Shannon Hickman and her father Jerry Hickman’s pandemic project quite literally has many moving parts: the chickens themselves and a mobile chicken tractor in their permaculture backyard in Cheney. Shannon designed the mobile chicken tractor, wherein the poultry pets – Welsum, Winnie, Dot and Bean – feed and fertilize the lawn a few square feet at a time.

Libby Kamrowski The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo