I want to house my meat kings in a tractor this year. 20 of them. Wondering if a 8' long by 6' wide be large enough?
you should be fine! i have layers and have had meat birds. the meat birds do not need as much space as full grown birds. most people who raise meat birds are going to process all at once between 9-12 weeks old. there are many ways to do this, this is the most common way i found of doing it. at first, i had considered raising meat birds, and just process one at a time as i need the meat. I was discouraged from doing this because I'm told the chickens desire a "family habitat" whatever that means! i guess they get lonely? if they get worked up too much before the cull, adrenaline can also change the tenderness and taste of the meat if the chickens are not kept "happy"pecking order is disturbed when you remove one bird at a time. the size you asked about 6' x 8' will give each bird 2 sq. ft. each of space and take it from me that is plenty of space, as long as they are all the same breed and age. mixing breeds is sometimes okay but mixing young birds with grown birds can be fatal to the younger birds if the size difference is too great. as long as they have fresh water and plenty of feed( i was also told put in more food than they will usually eat and they may get bigger faster from overfeeding(they will not live long enough for this to affect there health or the quality of the meat) so go for it i don't think you will have any major issues.
