Saturday encore ~ You know you might be a redneck when you drive down the highway with one of these in your truck

The post below appeared originally last March. I've truly enjoyed my chickens (and their eggs) over the past year, and I plan to add another pair of hens to my family this weekend. I haven't decided on names for the new girls yet, and your suggestions would be most welcome!

Imagine you're driving down the highway and come upon this.

Lord have mercy, is that what I think it is?
An outhouse with a screened-in porch and handicap rails?

No, silly! It's a chicken tractor! And soon to be the best little hen house in New Mexico.

I've been wanting to have a few laying hens for years but have postponed their acquisition for fear of having to build an entire chicken wing onto the barn to keep them safe. What with the coyotes and mountain lions lying in wait, a hen's odds of surviving at the 7MSN would be dismal.

Enter this chicken tractor I discovered on craigslist. It's big enough for a couple of hens and tall enough for me to stand up in.

And check out all these cool features!

I can move my mobile hen house every couple of days so that the hens have fresh foliage to forage and a new batch of bugs to nibble, and so that I don't have to clean out the chicken poop fertilizer.

And look! There's even a drop-down door off the back for easy egg collection.

There's painting and decorating and accessorizing to be done, so I'm still several weeks away from bringing home the girls. I will try to do right by them and provide eggs-actly what they need to be happy hens.