300 chickens, pastured egg farm

[centrarchid]

You generalize too much. Out here your little bird dogs would be lunch for a pack of coyotes, or even a lone wolf.

In my location, central Missouri, coyotes likely with little or no wolf in background so are standard the standard 35 to 40 lb size. Red fox and red-tailed hawk are handily more important as daytime predators. These smaller guys are real issue when flock must be dispersed enough for nutritional benefits of free-range production are to be realized. Having more birds on smaller tracts can otherwise approximate run or feedlot where landscape is denuded.

Larger dog would do same although cost would be higher and not justified unless flock is very large. I do not know at this time what is very large for a flock, do you?

 

[mohillbilly]

question how do you start a csa?

 

[centrarchid]

question how do you start a csa?

What is a csa?

 

[ChickFarmer]

CSA stands for consumer supported agriculture. It's like getting a subsription to a farms products. The consumer pays up front and gets the product weekly. In order to have enough product to go around I will only offer 75 dozen eggs per week in the CSA and will sell the rest in the conventional ways.

 

[RBOutdoors]

What are you planning on selling your eggs for? Where are you gonna sell outside the Csa?

 

[ChickFarmer]

4 dollars a dozen 2.50 a half dozen CSA. It looks like the co-op and Olympia local foods will buy all I can provide.

 

[ChickFarmer]

Update: The guy who owns the farm has three roles of electric poultry net, and he says I can use them. I'm going to set up a smaller pen with it and use it to raise the chicks. I'll use the roosting houses as chicken tractor style pasture brooders, partly floored with a temporary floor till the chicks can roost. Once they are feathered I'll let them out into the electric poultry net area. Until then It will keep preditors reaching the roosting houses.

 

[centrarchid]

Watch very closely for losses of juveniles to arial predators. When birds small, haks can pack off entire bird alive leaving little or no evidence in form of feathers.

 

[ChickFarmer]

I have started building the first roosting house. It's a 10 x 16 A frame. So far I have spent $75 on lumber and am using corner brackets and screws left over from a deck progect. the heavy duty silver tarp (not one of those cheap woven blue messes) will be an additional $40. The white tarp for the ends will be an aditional $11. I'm using treated lumber only on the bottom and 2 x 4's with scrap wood corner bracing throughout. I still need to choose wheels and roosts, but I'll keep you posted on the costs. I'll post pics when It is finished.

 

[centrarchid]

You are very right on the cheap blue tarps. Regardless of tarp type, make certain it does not collect water as that can cause contraption to collapse. Also remember the tarp can act like a sail in high winds causing setup to blow away. I make certain that with high winds the tarp fails before roosting house begins to pitch. Watch with frame bottom so it does not trap water during rain events.