100 Broilers and Fermented Feed Project

[kuntrygirl]

 
Would you look at how traumatized those chickens are in that picture?  Don't you know it's inhumane to let them watch you butcher the other chickens?    My chickens are so traumatized by it they wait by the processing table and compete for the tasty bits...crying and grieving all the while. 

My laying flock tried to take off with the heads! I had to prop the bucket I was using under the table to keep them from knocking it over when they got in it for scraps.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Ok, I have a crazy question. How do you move a chicken tractor without running over the chickens and do they know to move along as you are moving it? Or do you just move the chicken tractor and put them in after it's moved?

 

[Beekissed]

Go slow, be patient and keep the back of the tractor low to the ground so it doesn't run over birds. You are basically nudging/herding them to a new spot.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Go slow, be patient and keep the back of the tractor low to the ground so it doesn't run over birds.  You are basically nudging/herding them to a new spot. 

That makes sense. I think I can do that.

Thanks for not laughing at me. I often wondered but never asked anyone about it.

 

[Beekissed]

My laying flock tried to take off with the heads! I had to prop the bucket I was using under the table to keep them from knocking it over when they got in it for scraps.

My rooster got up and tried to drag a carcass out of my stainless steel pan..and while I wasn't looking my cat actually succeeded.

Here's Toby, who simply would not leave my meat alone! By the end of the day they have licked all the blood from the tree like it never was there and then they come back a few days later to eat the bugs that have risen into the soil to get the blood deposited there. Total clean up crew.

 

[Beekissed]

That makes sense. I think I can do that.

Thanks for not laughing at me. I often wondered but never asked anyone about it.

I wondered the same thing, so you are not alone.... and you may still run over a few because they are just...not smart. And that's all chickens, not just the meaties. I once had a tractor for a layer flock and it was the same thing....they just wouldn't learn to move with the tractor without someone getting caught under the back side and screaming bloody murder. I had to learn to go very slow and just nudge them along.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Ok, I have a crazy question.

How do you move a chicken tractor without running over the chickens and do they know to move along as you are moving it? Or do you just move the chicken tractor and put them in after it's moved?

Yeah, they'll move when the tractor hits them in the butt. Just go slow.

 

[kuntrygirl]

That makes sense. I think I can do that.


Thanks for not laughing at me. I often wondered but never asked anyone about it.

I wondered the same thing, so you are not alone.... and you may still run over a few because they are just...not smart.  And that's all chickens, not just the meaties.  I once had a tractor for a layer flock and it was the same thing....they just wouldn't learn to move with the tractor without someone getting caught under the back side and screaming bloody murder.  I had to learn to go very slow and just nudge them along. 

Thank you!

 

[kuntrygirl]

Ok, I have a crazy question. How do you move a chicken tractor without running over the chickens and do they know to move along as you are moving it? Or do you just move the chicken tractor and put them in after it's moved?

Yeah, they'll move when the tractor hits them in the butt. Just go slow.

I'm sure it'll take me all day to go from point A to point B. I'm a worry wart.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Ok, so how big of a chicken tractor would I need to build for 50 broilers in 1 tractor and 49 broilers in another tractor? - Estimating their future size and weight at 8 weeks. I would like to build something that is too big right now but will be perfect at 7 - 8 weeks old.