Free range alternatives to broiler pens, tractors, and coops

[shadowmane]

I thought this was interesting.

 

[Buster52]

Ok. Now I have heard from 2 people that I trust that if you free range them, it will take them extra time to get to weight.

I was researching day-range broiler operations this morning and ran into two different studies that showed there is a slight difference between industrial confinement raised poultry and day range poultry. Weights were a little less for the day range over the same period of time.

 

[Buster52]

I thought this was interesting.

Yes it was. Certainly food for thought. Thanks.

One thing that jumped out at me during my research... day range operations require less day-to-day physical labor for the amount of birds that you range. So, the more you raise, the easier it is per bird. You only move your netting once a week, and your skid shelter is moved by tractor.

A nice little side benefit that appeals to an old geezer like me. Less work is good.

 

[shadowmane]

I just wish I had that kind of acreage. I have 2 1/4 acres. Anything I do will have to be on the micro scale in comparison.

 

[Buster52]

I don't have all that much more. Just a little under 8. But enough to do the thousand or so per year I want to do.

I have noticed day range folks tend to keep their birds in brooder for a little longer, some as long as 4 to 6 weeks, I guess because they are more exposed. I'm thinking of using the Salatin pens as an extended brooder system to harden them off before going to the full day range setup with the netting, skid shelter and all. Continue to move them into the pasture at 3 weeks, then to the netting at 5, just when they are big enough for it to start looking a little crowded in the broiler pen. That is about the time I start moving the pen twice a day.

What do you think?

On the range shelter, I'm thinking slatted floors covered in half inch welded hardware cloth. That is how my eggmobile is built (only with chicken wired, except that probably wouldn't work with 5 week old chicks) and most of the droppings fall through the flooring. Some folks have regular plywood or wood flooring, and that seems unsanitary and laborious to me. The thing I most hated with the old coop was cleaning it out.

 

[wsmoak]

On the range shelter, I'm thinking slatted floors covered in half inch welded hardware cloth. That is how my eggmobile is built (only with chicken wired, except that probably wouldn't work with 5 week old chicks) and most of the droppings fall through the flooring. Some folks have regular plywood or wood flooring, and that seems unsanitary and laborious to me. The thing I most hated with the old coop was cleaning it out.

Trust me on this, chicken poop does not fall through half inch hardware cloth. That's what is in my cobbled together laying hens coop, and it is a *pain* to clean. I occasionally give up and have at it with the spray nozzle or pressure washer to get it done.

My other coop with cheap linoleum over a solid floor is much easier to clean, I just use a flat scraper to pull everything out the cleanout door and then toss some new shavings/wood chips/dry leaves in there.

The trick is to have as few corners as possible. Build any shelves and roosts with supports up on the wall, not with "feet" going down to the floor. Then it's one big smooth surface without little corners for stuff to get stuck in.

-Wendy

 

[loanwizard]

As far as a range shelter goes, why do you need a floor? If I go that route instead of the tractor, I was going to either A: remove one side from the tractor and voila! new shelter. or B: build a skid shelter consisting of 2 sides a back and a top, or I already have made shelters for the goats/hogs etc... that are 2x6 covered in tin that would work as well inside a fence that you move every 3 weeks or so. My thought was place the shelter, put the poultry netting out one direction, then in 2-3 weeks as necessary move the opposite direction without moving the shelter, then move the whole thing. If I had the space, I could move the poultry fencing 4 times before I moved the shelter.... left, right, forward, and back.

 

[Buster52]

Trust me on this, chicken poop does not fall through half inch hardware cloth.  That's what is in my cobbled together laying hens coop, and it is a *pain* to clean.  I occasionally give up and have at it with the spray nozzle or pressure washer to get it done.

-Wendy

So could it be because it is half inch? Would one inch work?

 

[PotterWatch]

We are raising some red rangers this summer to see if they take the heat better than our usual cornish. We are going to get batches of 150 birds and raise half of them tractored as we usually do. The other half we are going to try raising in larger areas with electric netting. We are still going to use the tractor as a shelter within the netting, but we will have it raised on blocks so they can get in and out. I'm not sure yet about how we will handle things at night though. I'm concerned that the netting won't keep out coyotes and dogs so I am thinking of shutting them up in the tractors at night. Any thoughts on that? Has anyone used just netting at night to successfully keep out predators?

 

[loanwizard]

My netting is to be delivered today. My understanding is that the netting is to keep predators out. I have dogs and this is the main reason I bought the netting.

Good Luck,
Shawn