Housing?

[LuvMyBLR]

I know this seems like a question that should be on the other forum section, but it's specific to meat birds so I thought I'd get better opinions here. If I want to do meat birds, what housing can I give them that's simple, meaning easy to build and clean? Since we would only be raising them for 8 weeks, I wouldn't need nest boxes or anything, so could I see pics of what you other meat raisers use?

 

[suburbanite]

here is what I built for my cornish.
it is 6 foot by 8 foot run, a 2 foot by 6 foot coop
all 2 foot high.

I built it with a hinged lid for the coop to ease in cleaning it, and a hinged top for the run for ease in cleaning, feeding, and retrieving birds
in this pic it isn't finnished, I still had to cut in a couple vents and put shingles on the roof as well as paint it, but you get the idea
my step son is in the pics to show the operations of it, he isn't all too enthused with chickens, lol

here is what would eventually live there

and when they first started living there (out of the garage)

they are huge now, a couple more weeks and on the dinner table they go

 

[bigredfeather]

If it is feasable, a tractor is the only way to go IMHO. Cheap, never needs cleaned, and gives the birds fresh ground everytime you move it. My rule of thumb is 1.5 sqft/bird. It doesn't have to look like this. As long as it offers some sort of protection from the weather and is easy to move, anything will work.

 

[LuvMyBLR]

Wow redfeather, how old are those chickens?

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
Those are 7-8 weeks old.

 

[LuvMyBLR]

Quote:
Those are 7-8 weeks old.

That's what I thought. Nice big birds

That tractor looks great to me. Thanks for the pic!

 

[Denninmi]

Quote:
Those are 7-8 weeks old.

And, the end cometh soon?

 

[LuvMyBLR]

Quote:
Those are 7-8 weeks old.

And, the end cometh soon?

That's what I was wondering too

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
And, the end cometh soon?

That's what I was wondering too

The end cameth long ago and they wenteth in my stomach. They were delicious. That pic is from 2 years ago when I was still running them in my yard. Now no more places in the yard where we need to tell the kids to stay away from or risk slipping in poo.

 

[Dogfish]

Same basic idea as the other tractors,

Light weight, movable requires minimal tools and skill to assemble.