Anyone raise meatbirds (red ranger or cornish x) in a stationary set up?

[Hedgeland Farms]

I use 1/2" hardware cloth as flooring for my dual purpose. The DP grow a lot slower than your CX. I find that the poop falls through until they get to be about 12 weeks old, then it can accumulate. It gets too big and doesn't all fall through. I assume you are not seeing that with your 8 week old CX on that wire or you would have mentioned it. I wanted to point out that the size of the mesh can be important, that would be easy to miss.

Some welded wire can have tiny sharp nubs on it, from the manufacturing process. Some doesn't mean all. That could be from either welding or galvanizing. Those can chew up the chickens' feet, but they are going to be on one side. Check to see if your wire has those. If it does, put the smooth side up and you will be OK.

Thank you for this tip!!

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I am thinking of raising meat birds in a stationary set up. 11x11 coop with a 25x25 run connected. I want to use this space for 10-15 birds at a time. Preferably red rangers but I am super curious as to others set up regardless, especially if they are stationary.

I plan to have an on season (say spring) then an off season (till the following spring)

I have raised a few broods of CornishX, in a pen that's approx 20x35, with a tiny 4x8 coop. I slaughter at about 8-9 weeks. I have success raising about 20-25 at a time, though keeping the coop clean is my biggest challenge.

The coop (or multi-purpose livestock shed) has a cement floor. There are no roosts - they don't use them anyway. No nesting boxes. Just a secure building with a hardware cloth-covered window, that I can lock them into at night for safety and warmth. I use wood chips in the coop, shallow depth, just enough to insulate their bellies from the cold concrete - as they make such a horrific mess that it has to be cleaned out about every other day. (Spent chips and poop go into the compost pile or scattered in the garden.) I learned the hard way NOT to use straw or hay for coop bedding - it mats together and is difficult to scoop out. I haven't tried sand, not sure that would be any more sanitary anyway. I do not have problems with poop sticking to their bellies or shanks; they stay fairly clean, although by 6-7 weeks it's bare skin.

I use a couple of metal range feeders and standard metal poultry waterer out in the pen. I feed them on a schedule - twice a day, measured amounts according to their age and growth, and ONLY that amount no matter how hungry they proclaim to be. I put the waterer away from the coop and feeders, so they have to walk the distance several times a day. I toss sparing amounts of treats, like vegetable scraps and weeds, to them once every day or two, to encourage exercise.

I use killing cones and a PVC cutter for slaughter, and a series of water containers with a bit of bleach added to rinse the birds - before and after each stage of scalding, plucking, and processing.

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

I have raised a few broods of CornishX, in a pen that's approx 20x35, with a tiny 4x8 coop. I slaughter at about 8-9 weeks. I have success raising about 20-25 at a time, though keeping the coop clean is my biggest challenge.

Thanks for this! I was hoping a bigger area with less birds would cut down on the having to clean it out. What are you're thoughts as far as that goes??? Think it could be a wkly thing in an area the size I am thinking with only 10-15 birds???

The coop (or multi-purpose livestock shed) has a cement floor. There are no roosts - they don't use them anyway. No nesting boxes. Just a secure building with a hardware cloth-covered window, that I can lock them into at night for safety and warmth. I use wood chips in the coop, shallow depth, just enough to insulate their bellies from the cold concrete - as they make such a horrific mess that it has to be cleaned out about every other day. (Spent chips and poop go into the compost pile or scattered in the garden.) I learned the hard way NOT to use straw or hay for coop bedding - it mats together and is difficult to scoop out. I haven't tried sand, not sure that would be any more sanitary anyway. I do not have problems with poop sticking to their bellies or shanks; they stay fairly clean, although by 6-7 weeks it's bare skin.

Great info thank you!

I use killing cones and a PVC cutter for slaughter, and a series of water containers with a bit of bleach added to rinse the birds - before and after each stage of scalding, plucking, and processing

We used the shovel or broomstick method last time, it worked well. The cutters are smart and I am likely to steal that idea as well as the rinsing station!
Thanks again

 

[Morrigan]

I've raised several batches of CX -- usually 20 to 25 at a time -- in a closed 8x8 shed with access to a large yard. The shed was a simple converted storage shed with, hardware cloth covered windows and a concrete floor. I put packsaddle (wood) pellets as first layer. That helped with cushioning and moisture absorption. I then topped with straw.

My strategy was to feed them twice a day as they got older. I put their morning feeding outside, and after all the cx rushed out after it, I would close the shed up. At night, I would put their second feeding inside the shed and they would all rush back in.

Every morning, after they were 4 or 5 weeks old, I would shovel a matted top layer of straw off and refresh the straw. They generated a lot of compost, but we have a big garden so it all got used. With fresh straw each day, they stayed clean.

I would also put out old produce and some sprouted grains around the yard, to keep them moving. The yard never got over soiled.

As they approached 8 weeks, the shed would get pretty crowded, and that's when I would start butchering them in stages - the biggest 5 or 6 first -- wait a week, and then take the next largest. By 12 weeks I would be done.

I've since moved to raising rangers or dual purpose heritage breeds, because I like the flavor and overall experience of raising them better. But, boy you couldn't beat the CX for how fast they turned feed into meat.

 

[Welllaidacres]

I raise cornish cross in my barn on pine shavings. I've raised about 4,000 of them in the last 3 years. Start with 3-4" of bedding material. Remove soiled bedding and replace as needed. 2.25 sq ft per bird works well for me. Feeders and waterer areas are first to be soiled. Heat source areas are next to dirty up in winter/colder months. Full feed 24/7. Fresh water all the time. No antibiotics, animal byproducts, etc. I'd move to a pasture based system if I had the acreage or time (I work 2 day jobs and hobby farm as a side hustle). For what its worth this system yields me 4.5-5 lb dressed whole birds (neck in cavity) at 46 days of age.

 

[CNJ]

I use 1/2" hardware cloth as flooring for my dual purpose. The DP grow a lot slower than your CX. I find that the poop falls through until they get to be about 12 weeks old, then it can accumulate. It gets too big and doesn't all fall through. I assume you are not seeing that with your 8 week old CX on that wire or you would have mentioned it. I wanted to point out that the size of the mesh can be important, that would be easy to miss.

Some welded wire can have tiny sharp nubs on it, from the manufacturing process. Some doesn't mean all. That could be from either welding or galvanizing. Those can chew up the chickens' feet, but they are going to be on one side. Check to see if your wire has those. If it does, put the smooth side up and you will be OK.

My 1/2 inch x 1 inch screen floor seem to be made from stainless steel. It seems thicker and stiffer than hardware screen.

I put wood shavings underneath to control the smell and used a quart size bait trap for the flies, but the bait in the fly trap smelt worse than the poop, so I stop using it..

I will try blending some banana or papaya in water for bait when I get around to it.

 

[Esrun]

How do you clean under a raised stationary run? We are looking at trying meat birds but we really can’t free range and our property is hilly. I do have a space that we could allow them out in a penned in area but otherwise a raised structure seems like the cleanest? I’d love to others’ set up like this if anyone wants to share

 

[Esrun]

How do you clean under a raised stationary run? We are looking at trying meat birds but we really can’t free range and our property is hilly. I do have a space that we could allow them out in a penned in area but otherwise a raised structure seems like the cleanest? I’d love to others’ set up like this if anyone wants to share