Foraging And Feed Effeciency Comparing Breeds

[Rainey]

Thanks for the responses about using tractors--is there a reason for only using them for young stock just out of the brooder? Our plan was to house even the layers in tractors except for winter--so we're looking for birds that can forage and cope with confinement.

We're trying to settle on a breed of chicks to get this spring. Have always gone dual purpose before but what we want from these birds are eggs. Am I correct that feed efficiency just for eggs would be better if we had smaller birds bred primarily for egg production?
Do smaller birds have a harder time with cold? (we're in NY and the low last night was -18 and we haven't gotten above zero for a couple days nor above freezing for 6 weeks or so) Do they have shorter lifespans than larger birds?
The egg breeds we can order as chicks through our local feed store this spring are Brown Leghorn, NH, production red, ameraucana.

How would anyone here compare NH with production red?

Sorry for asking so many questions. Hope someday I'll be able to help with some answers

 

[Beer can]

Chicken tunnels are pretty cool, check them out. You can use tractors all year if you have enough space per bird when they get big.
RIRds were the egglayingest chickens I've ever had.

 

[maranfarmer563]

I have bantys in chicken tractor year round but you can't move in the winter,frozen down

 

[Rainey]

In winter it's so much easier for us here to have the chickens (and goats and rabbits) where we can get to them through the woodshed into the barn. And with the snow so deep, I don't see the advantage of a tractor that can't be moved.
Our thought was to have several small tractors that could be moved readily to where either the forage is especially good or we want a garden bed or whatever worked over. Also that we could separate chickens that weren't getting along--or put hens we want eggs from together with a rooster. Does that make sense? If anyone sees why it doesn't, please don't hesitate to explain what I'm missing.
Thanks again to all who take time to reply and let me learn from their experience.

 

[Beer can]

I've never done tractors before. But being I'm getting a few new breeds I want to keep separate and the coop expansion is going to cost enough, I'm thing of a couple large tractors would be ideal to house the cemani crosses I'm getting, especially if I get two different breeds of them. I'm pretty darn strong, so I think I can move a couple large ones around, thinking about building a couple with coops, even if I have to use the lawn tractor to help move them.

 

[gjensen]

I know it's not a foraging time of year--at least here between Lake Ontario and the Adirondacks where the high today is below zero and falling. But it is the time of year when I have time for reading, gathering information, planning. So here are my questions for this thread--
Anyone using chicken tractors? How big for how many birds? What breeds? how often moved and over what kind of ground?

What do you grow to feed your chickens? What feed do you buy?

Here is another version. There are many styles. I like to be able to walk in mine.

I prefer adult birds in these. The majority of my housing is fixed with runs. I do like the flexibility of these though. They are versatile.

I keep eight hens in these and move them every second day. I do not like to pack them in too tight.

 

[Beer can]

gjensen , what breed of roo is your avatar?

 

[gjensen]

gjensen , what breed of roo is your avatar?

It is a young NH cockerel.

 

[southernmomma]

In winter it's so much easier for us here to have the chickens (and goats and rabbits) where we can get to them through the woodshed into the barn. And with the snow so deep, I don't see the advantage of a tractor that can't be moved.
Our thought was to have several small tractors that could be moved readily to where either the forage is especially good or we want a garden bed or whatever worked over. Also that we could separate chickens that weren't getting along--or put hens we want eggs from together with a rooster. Does that make sense? If anyone sees why it doesn't, please don't hesitate to explain what I'm missing.
Thanks again to all who take time to reply and let me learn from their experience.

Have you considered mobile poultry netting in conjunction with a tractor? I have always assumed the ground under a tractor didn't stay fresh for long

.

M

 

[Rainey]

Have you considered mobile poultry netting in conjunction with a tractor? I have always assumed the ground under a tractor didn't stay fresh for long

.

M

Still figuring this out. Right now the plan for the 10 chicks we start this spring is to use a small movable coop we started the last batch in. It had an attached run and was moved daily. This time we're going to have a compost pile in the center of the area we'll use and move the coop around that. The attached run will open from the other side of the coop so will be moved around the outer part of the wheel of which the compost is the hub. Decided on this after reading about running chickens through the compost piles (lots of bugs & worms, and the compost gets well turned/mixed. The run will give access to green food and it will be moved the furthest but not a problem because it is so lightweight. Also hope having two places to go out from the coop will minimize disputes, give the timid more chance to get away from the more dominant birds. Hope that moving each day will work--at worst we'll learn some things and try again.
The problem for us with the mobile netting is no overhead cover and we have red-tailed hawks.