Tempfencing and Grass Mowing

"Tempfence" is a word I've coined ...

My tempfences are movable fences that I've made from one-inch mesh chicken wire 3' wide. For poles I use 5' pieces of half-inch thin-wall electrical conduit. The conduit comes in 10' sections which I cut in half, flatten one end, then thread the tubing through the mesh in the chicken wire.

This photo shows some of the tubing, but the wire is difficult to distinguish. Two pieces of tubing are next to each other just to the right of the red rooster in the foreground. It is at this point that two pieces of the fence come together. I usually make a section of the fence about 30' long, putting tubing poles at 10' intervals and at each end...four pieces of tubing. The 30' sections are easy to move about. A few sections of 20' length may be helpful to use in adjusting the fence to the locations you wish.

I use a small sledge hammer to drive the tubing in for a secure fence. It may be necessary to leave a bit of slack in the fencing, especially if it goes over a shallow ditch or other depression. The wire can then be pushed down into the depression.

I shift the fence around to give the ducks new forage areas. This helps to keep the weeds and grass down in addition to providing them with good food and nutrition. I generally prefer to mow the area just before I move the ducks to it. It seems as if they can keep the grass under control much better, for they have little use for tall, tough grass.

This is a large, space-hungry photo, but it does show very well how the chicken tractor can be moved from place to place for weed control.

Starting at the lower left of the photo, move to the right then up toward the tractor. There are four spaces where the tractor has been with the chickens confined inside.

If this were a garden area, the soil would be "tilled" by the chickens scratching and fertilized by their droppings. I'm using the tractor for mowing, bug control, and to provide the chicks with good greens as food supplements.

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