Cornish x Rock space

[dadsdeercamp]

thanks all i was thinking about putting 25 in each one

 

[mstricer]

No, it's a fixed straw bale enclosure.  (The guinea in my avatar is standing on it.) 

In the past, I've just tossed fresh pine shavings in every day or two to keep things fresh, then composted the litter when the birds are moved out.  I've raised ducklings this way, and there's no way meat chickens can poop as much as them, right?  Right? 

Yes they can. It stinks just as bad.

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

Great. I'm glad it's a ways from the house, then.

 

[PotterWatch]

You certianly can raise them that way, the commerical houses do very well at it. If you try to keep up with the poop using shavings, you'll be spending a lot on shavings. If our tractors fail to get moved even one day with 50-60 6 wk old chickens in it, there is at least half an inch of poop covering the ground except under the waterers. That's one reason we make certain to move them every single day unless one of us is so sick we can't walk.

 

[brandislee]

In a non-moveable closure... well I wouldn't want to raise ANY meat chickens in a non-moveable structure. They are SO stinky and poop SO much, and they don't keep themselves clean. I had 10 of them in a 6x11 tractor that I moved every day, except for one weekend (2.5 days) that we were out of town- it was a really heavy tractor and I didn't want to burden the person I had feeding them with moving it. When we got home the ground was completely covered and caked with poop. 25 in an 8x8? That would be pretty disgusting pretty fast... I now do 50 in a 10x10, but I move it at least once a day and often twice.

 

[pck1]

What about 20 in a house at night 6ft by 9ft. During the day they would have outdoor run 50ft by 15ft?

 

[chicapee]

I keep 30 in a non movable coop and pen. I use shavings in the coop and leaves, hay and pine straw in the pen. I never have problems with smell or flies. I do use de under the shavings and turn and fluff up the shavings every other day. This is my second batch.

The dimensions are 15'x15'

 

[pck1]

Awesome. Do you have any issues getting them back in for the night?

 

[chicapee]

No, when the sun starts to go down they get cold and want to go under the heat lamp, then I close the doors for the night by about 4:30 to keep the heat in.

 

[pck1]

Cool. What about the summer? I plan on trying two groups of 20. This is my first go with chickens. Any advise you might have?