Session: Builder Bootcamp, Summer 2023
Builders: 40 students
Materials: miter saw, wheels, exterior paint, drill and impact driver, C-clamps, chicken wire, wheatpaste, 8.5×11 printer paper, pens and markers,
Description: Over the course of 2 weeks in July, our Builder Bootcamp built 2 chicken tractors for our longtime clients Growing Leaders at Willard Middle School in Berkeley. Chicken tractors are mobile chicken coops that allow chickens to move around a garden space, eating weeds and fertilizing the soil. Moving chickens to new spots also improves chickens’ wellbeing by providing them with new scenery and a diverse foraging diet. Our students learned how to use basic power tools, like the miter saw, drill and impact driver, to frame and assemble the walls of the chicken tractors. They also designed personalized “chicken trading cards” to wheat paste onto the tractor door.