Chicken garden bed rotation

My municipality recently allowed backyard chickens,  we can now have up to 5 hens. I am an avid gardener. I garden on multiple 4x10 ft raised beds. I use cover crops and other standard methods for maintaining soil fertility but is is hard to beat manure. I am looking for some sort of system / coop-run combo structure that will allow me to use chickens as a rotation through my beds. I am thinking of some sort of A-frame type design that I can move from garden bed to garden bed over the winter with a deep litter type thing going on. During the warm season the same coop/run could live in a singular space (not on the garden beds), again with deep litter.  Feasible? Experiences? Other approaches?

Rotating chickens through beds is one of those things that sounds simple but the timing matters a lot. If you move them in too early after planting a cover crop they'll scratch it all up before it establishes. I've found leaving them in for about 2-3 weeks max works better than longer stints, otherwise the nitrogen load gets too concentrated in spots and you end up with patchy growth the next season.

I've wanted to do something similar but my confidence in my timing is lacking. My zone has cold winters with decent snow cover and my chickens don't care to stray far from their coop/run.

Instead, I let my chickens access to the garden after my last harvest in the fall. I have all of my beds enclosed with chicken wire and a gate around the outside perimeter so it is as simple as opening the gate and letting them in. They get to eat up the beds and scratch up the surface after leaving their manure. No complaints so far.

Running chickens after a harvest is a great idea.

Before harvesting you will share the harvest with the chickens.

Chicken tractors are a perfect solution.

Trying to create a chicken tractor that is secure and holds everything the chickens need in a 4'x10' space, and is still light weight and easy to move is a huge challenge. Moving it while chickens are in it, adds to the challenge.

Chickens are quite capable of being trained to go with you from place to place if you use something like a treat bucket to lead them and ideally have a little help during the training period.

So my idea would be to have a permanent coop and run location which is rat-proof, aerial predator proof, weather proof etc. Then make a very light weight 4x10 mesh bottomless "cage" with some sort of hatch door, and some sort of pop door. Put the empty "cage" over the bed that needs cleaning,  and bring the chickens over to it for the day. The first time or two, you may need to use a dog crate, or just carry the birds, so they learn they're going someplace fun to scratch and find bugs. Don't give them feed in this run, so they will be a bit hungry by the time they need to go 'home'. I use key words and tone of voice, like "bedtime chickens, bedtime" as a signal, open up the pop door and with luck , the chickens will run back to their coop. Chickens have a strong homing instinct. Do give them a bucket of water in the run. If they reliably lay before you let them forage for the day, you may not need a nest box, but some sort of a basket hung from the cage may be advisable.

Jay Angler wrote:Trying to create a chicken tractor that is secure and holds everything the chickens need in a 4'x10' space, and is still light weight and easy to move is a huge challenge. Moving it while chickens are in it, adds to the challenge.

Weight has been my primary concern. I had hoped to be able to coax the chicken back in with treats after the I move it to a new garden bed.

Cleaning and gleaning a garden bed is not primary goal. My primary goal is keep the chickens on a single garden bed in some sort of deep litter (not on bare soil) for a prolonged period, say, maybe a month. The goal would be to let them stay there long enough to break up the litter, and add a fair amount of nutrients to the soil. Then move them to another bed. Admittedly, I do not have a strong idea of how long they need to be on single bed to add a “meaningful” amount of nutrients (this info would be very helpful if you have it), but insect eating and weeding is, to me, bonus side benefit. The approach you mention with a permanently placed coop/yard and a movable run could possibly achieve the same goal, though it would create for me a storage issue when the movable run is not being used. Space is tight.

Good plan, Ian,  and I concur with Jay on the daytime playpen.  In my experience with chicken tractors, about two decades, the daytime tractor relieves a lot of worry over predation.  We have nesting hawks on our land, with the voracious opossums,  skunks, raccoons, foxes, coyotes and most recently feral coy-dogs.  

Your average 8 by 4 by 4 is light and easy to start.  Of course your custom bed size may be preferred. This is for hens under three or four. I usually allow hens over three years to free range or live in a tractor, while younger ones get maximum protection  
Older birds have slowed or stopped laying, and are more predator savvy. They are not expendable, but I only shed crocodile tears if they depart for that  big coop in the sky.  
Ian, you don't have to waste space with that tractor, use it in spring as a mini greenhouse, using plastic perhaps, or in summer with branches, leaves to partially shade collards and kale.  Some folks buy shade cloth for their summers.  Best of fortune to you, Rico