housing meaties?

[chickpeaz]

Not sure if this the best place for this question...might be a "managing your flock" thing...?

We invested a lot of time and energy over the last few weeks into cleaning up the bottom of our old barn and making it secure and comfortable for our young flock, in hopes that they'll be laying by the fall. I've enjoyed them so much and an getting so into this whole grow-your-own-food thing that I'm impulsively considering getting some Colored Rangers. The thought of having delicious chicken dinners in 9-12 short weeks sounds delightful! Ever the practical one, Hubby's first question was "Can they go in with The Girls or do they need their own space?" I truly don't know and I'm not having luck finding an answer -- just getting lost in the forums and losing way too much time to random surfing.

Do meat babies spend time inside the house in a brooder like my pullets did? Or can they go right into a section of the coop with a heat lamp? We can partition off an area if needed (I have 26 birds in a 12x20 space and they free-range for several hours each day, and I could possibly expand into other areas of the barn), but honestly, if I can house everyone together it would make things soooooo much easier. Thoughts?

 

[phoenixmama]

Well, I don't yet consider myself an expert but...

If your older girls are bigger, they will pick on the little ones. Also, the chickens you raise as broilers need a bit higher protein ration than the layers. And if yours are anything like mine, they ALL seem to prefer the higher protein feed.

A lot of people on here (including me and DH) put the meat birds in those "pastured poultry pens". They are pretty inexpensive to build. Also that way you can better monitor how much the meaties are eating, so that you can get an accurate idea of how much they are costing you. If they were in with the layers, the layers would be eating their feed too so you couldn't really get an idea of the economics of the whole thing. Although, we try to be as self-reliant food wise as possible, so I understand that raising them yourself can be more of a philosophical thing than a frugality thing.

Hope that helps a little.

 

[cassie]

I don't know if this will help. We raise our meaties in a 12 X 12 box stall in the barn. We start them in a cardboard circle about six feet in diameter or so and about 18 inches high with a heat lamp suspended over it. We bed on shavings. I add shavings as needed and they never get smelly or gross.

 

[chickpeaz]

Cassie --

How many birds in that 12x12 stall? Thanks!

 

[Buster52]

 

[jaku]

You definitely posted it in the right section. People in the "regular" section tend to assume meaties are going to be just like layers as far as space requirements. I would put them in a moveable tractor, as pictured in Buster's post. They will make a stationary coop disgusting in no time flat. You can make one quite easily out of PVC. The plan is at www.pvcplans.com

You will want to put them in a brooder for about three weeks before you put them out.

 

[cassie]

Quote:
We have been putting 25 in it but we could probably put as many as 50 in there. Maybe. By butchering time the stall seems fairly full of chickens, but I keep them longer than most folks because I really like the very large roasters. I am going to try 50 this fall and see how it goes. If it gets too crowded I do have a place to move some. The suggested space requirements are two square feet per bird. There are 144 square feet in that stall. For 50 birds there would be just under 3 square feet per bird so I think it would work.