Salatin broiler pens

are the pens open to the weather and elements or do they have shade?

Dang, I hate it when someone beats me to share a terrific invention...

I'm starting to get the feeling that most of the great new ideas in poultry raising date to the 50's or earlier. ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buster52 

 

My mom and dad raised chickens until I was 8, and that was the extent of my chicken experience until just a few years ago when I started raising them for meat and eggs. When I came across a picture of a Joel Salatin broiler pen, I was strangely drawn to its design. Still am, even though I have seen many more attractive and interesting designs here at BYC.

 

Then I started going through some old boxes of photos and came across the one below, taken in 1954. That's me in my pop's arms.

 

Now I know why I like Salatin's fancy invention.

 

 

 

Thats just too cool Buster

I had a pen like that in the 1950's

Wow! What a great photo to find! Love it. I'm glad the pens came back into fashion...they worked well for us....much better than the "skinny jeans" we wore in the 80's, now those should have never come back.

The chicken tractors go WAAY back... I was lucky to have a friend that told me about Joel Salatin. I built a chicken tractor out of 10' square PVC conduit. It isn't pretty, but it's light and easy for me to drag 10 feet every other day so my CX and egg layers get a fresh salad bar every day. We bent 4 ten foot pieces to form an arch and used "T''s to angle them upwards. We draped and zip tied a tarp across it. We screwed 1/2" hardware cloth all around the bottom wall.. I have 5 acres.. on about 1/2 acre.. It'll take me about 7 weeks to cover it with the meatie tractor (CX ). I still give them Flock Raiser, and a bit of pheasant starter.. But they are active and get fresh greens, bugs and sunlight every day and they are growing FAST!  My egg layers are in the same style tractor in a different area. Want to talk about hard shelled eggs that are the richest orangy yellow yolked you'd ever seen. I'm told that what I have isn't "true" free range. But I live in the upper end of the Everglades and we have a problem with Coons, Foxes, Coyotes and Hawks. I don't want to lose my chickens to quick thinking foxes, or lose eggs to hens that think bushes or swales hidden away are better than the nest box.  So, as far as I am concerned, They ARE free ranged.. Every day.. Just not where THEY want to go.. There's been no rain since November and  I do not water my grass, yet it is greener than the rest of the community. I feel that Joel Salatin has given my a way to have happier, healthier birds without over grazing and predation. In turn, I get healthier meat and eggs