Chronicles of Raising Meat Birds - Modern Broilers, Heritage and Hybrids

[aliciaplus3]

I do have to say that I think the finished carcass looks better with the extra skin to cover the breast. thank you all for your wisdom!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Hi All, we are making plans for the 15 BCM and OE chicks that are intended to be meat birds. Chicks are two weeks old and moving into the chicken tractor in the garage, with their brooder plate. I plan to leave them in the garage for two weeks. Plan is to get them on prairie ASAP, so I’m trying to figure out how that will work.

We have the tractor coop and 160 ft of electric poultry netting. I was thinking about lining the inside of the electric net with plastic bird netting for when they are small - anyone tried that? We are also concerned about hawks. I’m using electric net with 1” woven nylon bird netting, supported by posts in buckets of cement, for our guineas (see pic). The electric net was easy to set up, but the bucket supports and overhead netting was such a pain! That will really limit our mobility... Anyone else making the electric netting work for juveniles?

 

[Molpet]

Hi All, we are making plans for the 15 BCM and OE chicks that are intended to be meat birds. Chicks are two weeks old and moving into the chicken tractor in the garage, with their brooder plate. I plan to leave them in the garage for two weeks. Plan is to get them on prairie ASAP, so I’m trying to figure out how that will work.

We have the tractor coop and 160 ft of electric poultry netting. I was thinking about lining the inside of the electric net with plastic bird netting for when they are small - anyone tried that? We are also concerned about hawks. I’m using electric net with 1” woven nylon bird netting, supported by posts in buckets of cement, for our guineas (see pic). The electric net was easy to set up, but the bucket supports and overhead netting was such a pain! That will really limit our mobility... Anyone else making the electric netting work for juveniles?

I have some premier 1 with 3/4"plastic netting on the bottom, "shock or not" is the model...but it doesn't go high enough. Some chicks learn to jump up and through the larger sections.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I have some premier 1 with 3/4"plastic netting on the bottom, "shock or not" is the model...but it doesn't go high enough. Some chicks learn to jump up and through the larger sections.

I already have the regular poultry net, so I was thinking about limiting the bottom with a plastic mesh and attaching with zip ties... How high up does your 3/4” mesh go?

 

[Molpet]

I already have the regular poultry net, so I was thinking about limiting the bottom with a plastic mesh and attaching with zip ties... How high up does your 3/4” mesh go?

About 16 inches, they attached it with small hog rings, like for meat bags

 

[FortCluck]

Hi All, we are making plans for the 15 BCM and OE chicks that are intended to be meat birds. Chicks are two weeks old and moving into the chicken tractor in the garage, with their brooder plate. I plan to leave them in the garage for two weeks. Plan is to get them on prairie ASAP, so I’m trying to figure out how that will work.

We have the tractor coop and 160 ft of electric poultry netting. I was thinking about lining the inside of the electric net with plastic bird netting for when they are small - anyone tried that? We are also concerned about hawks. I’m using electric net with 1” woven nylon bird netting, supported by posts in buckets of cement, for our guineas (see pic). The electric net was easy to set up, but the bucket supports and overhead netting was such a pain! That will really limit our mobility... Anyone else making the electric netting work for juveniles?

I just hatched some BCM. What week are you planning on processing?

 

[Molpet]

About 16 inches, they attached it with small hog rings, like for meat bags

 

[Parront]

I do have to say that I think the finished carcass looks better with the extra skin to cover the breast. thank you all for your wisdom!

They look great!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I just hatched some BCM. What week are you planning on processing?

We are thinking about 4 mo? We will probably need to do in stages and may process any obnoxious cockerels early...

 

[iwltfum]

I already have the regular poultry net, so I was thinking about limiting the bottom with a plastic mesh and attaching with zip ties... How high up does your 3/4” mesh go?

You might want to think twice about attaching any extra netting to your electric poultry net. I've tried it and it's very difficult to take up the fence and move it to a new location with a second net attached. If you don't have to move it ever, then you might be able to get away with it. I hate hate dealing with tangles in those things.