Whoa. This information about chicken tractors caught my attention while watching a Joel Salatin video.
The key part I want to draw attention to is at 29:47 in the video. Joel says (slightly edited for clarity) “Instead of spending thousands of dollars on grubicides and parasiticides we just collect an extra $100,000 worth of eggs as a byproduct of the ‘pest and sanitation program’ (chickens eating the bugs). Take a waste stream that has no value and make an enterprise out of it. An eggmobile (chicken tractor) is a perfect example. Grasshoppers, crickets and worms that have no value can be turned into eggs that have a lot of value. You can grow more animal protein per acre in insects than you can meat and milk. If you turn that protein into eggs then you can double your income per acre without sacrificing anything. And, the animals are healthier.”
An article at Permaculture News shows how to make a small eggmobile. Joel’s eggmobiles are much larger. Photo above is from their site.