Thank you to the Lecke Bus Company!

Former School bus to be a rolling chicken coop for pastured eggs

In July I took possession of a full sized school bus that had just been de-commissioned by the Lecke Bus Company of Hackensack, NJ.  Susan and I are converting this bus to act as a rolling chicken coop for egg laying hens.  The coop will move the chickens to fresh pasture behind the cows and they will help with insect control, their scratching will help make the fields more fertile and the grass will grow better next time for the cows.  The chickens will require less feed as they are eating grass/legumes and insects all day and they will be outside all day except for sleeping in the coop at night and during egg laying.  We will also use solar panels to power any interior lights and the electric fence that will surround the bus and pasture area to protect them from predators.  To go a step further we will connect rain gutters to the sides and they will drain into a cistern that will feed gravity fed waterers for the birds.

This rolling coop will be as self contained as possible and will allow about 250 - 300 egg laying hens to live comfortably and because of their pastured lifestyle will result in the highest quality eggs available.

Susan and I at GrowingDirt.com hope to use the coop as a learning experience for children, we have an elementary school next to the farm and we would like to extend it to other schools wanting a class trip to the farm to learn about farming.  This will fully complete the circle... once the bus took kids to school and now it provides a new learning experience for kids in NJ that may never have seen a farm or a chicken.

We want to give a heart felt thank you to the Lecke Bus company and My Uncle Jules for helping make this idea become a reality.

Susan & Jeff,
GrowingDirt.com