Chicken tractor

Most of my garden area has been mulched with cardboard and straw. It works well enough, though this area is prone to wind storms that send the mulch traveling.

However I've neglected other areas which are now overgrown with grasses, which will turn into dangerous foxtails as they mature.

I was thinking that I should build a small chicken tractor for these areas. The chickens inside will happily munch on the grass, getting extra food and nutrition while solving my weed problem. But time and energy are in short supply lately, so actually making a tractor was overwhelming. Until I had a sudden realization that a wire dog crate (with the plastic pan removed) would be perfect for this.

Five minutes later, the whole thing was ready to go. The hardest part will be catching the chickens to put them inside each day. Today I spread out some treats and was able to catch the Red Star and Speckled Sussex. They'll catch on and start avoiding me soon enough. I'd rather avoid making them sleep inside the crate as they won't be comfortable. But putting in a roosting bar would be easy enough, so that may end up being the solution.