My mom got her first chicks a few months ago. Initially, she kept them indoors in her basement in a brooder, but they were quickly out-growing that and trying out their newly feathered wings by fluttering to the top of the brooder and exploring the basement unsupervised during the day. So the kids and I went over to her house and built her a little A Frame chicken tractor for her chicks to live in until they were able to get their permanent housing built at Mom's new house. (My parents recently bought a new home in the country and were remodeling it getting ready to move in, the chickens will have a large permanent coop at their new home.)
I designed this little chicken tractor to be very light weight so my mom could easily move it around her yard by herself. The chicks only spent their days outside. In the evening she brought them back into the basement brooder due to a large number of dogs and other predators roaming through her yard. Plus the night time temperatures were still dipping quite low at the time, even though the days were plenty warm for the chicks to play outside.
Since I forgot my circular saw at home, Logan cut all of the wood for the chicken tractor by hand. Claire found my mother's hammer which is covered with flower decals and asked "Is this for me?" She spent the next hour hammering every nail in sight! Some she actually started and nailed herself, others she just finished hammering in after they had been started for her. She was quite absorbed in the whole process. We had a great time watching her.
After the chicks had been installed in their new digs, Claire and my mom's dog spent a long time watching them explore their new surroundings.
The chicks were very happy to have a new safe place to play and eat bugs and fresh weeds and grass. The whole thing weighed less than 15 lbs, so it was quite easy for mom to move around her yard and lift to place chick feed and water under.
