How many birds per tractor?

[Tre3hugger]

"smaller breeds such as cornish cross" - a bit of an oxymoron, no? This person has apparently slid through the crack in the door from the laying hen area into the xxx room. When it comes to stocking density, tractors are a completely different animal, as are meat birds.

Yeah, just figured I'd throw some legit sources out there. In case anyone else "slides through the crack."

 

[EmmaRainboe]

https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/content/dam/pubs_ext_vt_edu/2902/2902-1083/2902-1083_pdf.pdf
This states 1.5-2 feet for Cornish X.
So does this...
https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/content/dam/pubs_ext_vt_edu/2902/2902-1083/2902-1083_pdf.pdf

Hey, I don't think @nuthatched meant any harm, I think they were just telling the OP how many they would put in that amount of space.

How many birds you put in a certain amount of space can depend on the individual. I don't see it as false information, just a personal preference.

 

[Tre3hugger]

Hey, I don't think @nuthatched meant any harm, I think they were just telling the OP how many they would put in that amount of space.

How many birds you put in a certain amount of space can depend on the individual. I don't see it as false information, just a personal preference.

Stating cornish x are a small breed and they require AT LEAST 4 feet, up to 8, in a tractor is misinformation. Sorry. I have posted my sources, as well as pertinent personal experience. That's all I have to contribute to this thread I think so...

 

[EmmaRainboe]

Stating cornish x are a small breed and they require AT LEAST 4 feet, up to 8, in a tractor is misinformation. Sorry. I have posted my sources, as well as pertinent personal experience. That's all I have to contribute to this thread I think so...

I have no problem with you stating your sources and providing your personal experience. I think that is highly valuable and will surely help the OP. I just think you could kinder in informing nuthatched in whatever they got wrong instead of bashing them for it.

 

[Tre3hugger]

I have no problem with you stating your sources and providing your personal experience. I think that is highly valuable and will surely help the OP. I just think you could kinder in informing nuthatched in whatever they got wrong instead of bashing them for it.

Point taken. Kindness is always good. I definitely don't consider simply stating something as misinformation as bashing though. While kindness is important, so is tough skin. And accuracy for that matter. Nut reiterated her bad info as good husbandry, then left the thread without rectifying. I'm not trying to hurt feelings. But i'm not going to walk on eggshells either. In the future I will try to be less brash I suppose. Also, in the future this is probably something better addressed in a PM. Thanks for the unsolicited, non chicken related advice tho!

 

[sfchixn]

I have 6x6 tractors (more manageable for one person) and put 12-15 per tractor. At 12 it puts me at 3 sf per bird. At 15, less than 3 but more than 2 sf per bird

For me its more about the number of birds in my tractors. I've only ever done straight run CX so always have a mix of roos/hens. This time I plan on separating the pens into roos vs hens.

 

[nuthatched]

"smaller breeds such as cornish cross" - a bit of an oxymoron, no? This person has apparently slid through the crack in the door from the laying hen area into the xxx room. When it comes to stocking density, tractors are a completely different animal, as are meat birds.

Please don't quote me then address everyone else but me while mocking me, at least allow me the courtesy of explaining why I've never done less than 4 sq foot per meat bird. We had a 16x16 run that we could rotate around a central pole for our cornish xs, we'd usually get 75-85 since we also raised meat for other families as well as our own use. The chicks did great, they had heated camper shells to run under when they wanted, they ate game bird feed (30% protein) and throve on it. we butchered them at 46-50 days old since that many birds took a whole weekend. They dressed out, on average, just under 2 pounds.
Then came the big y2k scare.
We had larger orders, so we ordered 130 birds, same set up, same feed. None dressed more than a pound and a quarter. Since we were paid by the dressed pound, that was not ideal, we tried the same numbers again the following year, same result, low weight. We switched back to less birds and the weight went up.
Maybe having the benefit of a 'real' tractor style coop is key but higher birds didn't work out for us. It would have probably been better we had more grass but we didn't. What do you think is oxymoron?

Point taken. Kindness is always good. I definitely don't consider simply stating something as misinformation as bashing though. While kindness is important, so is tough skin. And accuracy for that matter. Nut reiterated her bad info as good husbandry, then left the thread without rectifying. I'm not trying to hurt feelings. But i'm not going to walk on eggshells either. In the future I will try to be less brash I suppose. Also, in the future this is probably something better addressed in a PM. Thanks for the unsolicited, non chicken related advice tho!

I'm terribly sorry, I didn't mean to leave you in the lurch, I didn't know you needed me. I had to make dinner and has other things to do and I don't get emails for quoted posts, only tags. If you needed me, why didn't you tag me?
I didn't meant to give op misinformation, I forgot how short a cornish gets to process weight, for some odd reason, I was thinking 6 months, not 6 weeks, I apologize. I don't want anyone to feel like they need to walk on eggshells around me, if I'm doing something wrong, I want to be told about it so I can study and learn. especially when it comes to my birds. I could have used instruction instead of abashment. But you were right in what you said.
I agree, it would have been more polite for Emma to pm you privately but I hardly call her advice unsolicited. When we post something on a public, international community, it's every one's right to also respond in turn, on a puplic, international community. She's just trying to be a peacemaker and soothe flare ups. We all need to remember that tone is very important with written communication.
Have a great day and enjoy your birds to the fullest!

 

[nuthatched]

I have 6x6 tractors (more manageable for one person) and put 12-15 per tractor. At 12 it puts me at 3 sf per bird. At 15, less than 3 but more than 2 sf per bird

For me its more about the number of birds in my tractors. I've only ever done straight run CX so always have a mix of roos/hens. This time I plan on separating the pens into roos vs hens.

You can buy sexed cornish xs? That sounds like a great set up, I'd like to do meaties again someday. How big do you make the coop part?

 

[sfchixn]

Yup, many sites will sell you sexed CX. I guess people prefer the males in this case since they grow larger -- and as opposed to layers, the male CX will cost more.

I don't have any coop in the tractor/pen since the CX prefer to sleep on the ground. I pull the pens to fresh ground daily so they have clean fresh grass to lay and nibble on.

 

[iwltfum]

Please don't quote me then address everyone else but me while mocking me, at least allow me the courtesy of explaining why I've never done less than 4 sq foot per meat bird. We had a 16x16 run that we could rotate around a central pole for our cornish xs, we'd usually get 75-85 since we also raised meat for other families as well as our own use. The chicks did great, they had heated camper shells to run under when they wanted, they ate game bird feed (30% protein) and throve on it. we butchered them at 46-50 days old since that many birds took a whole weekend. They dressed out, on average, just under 2 pounds.
Then came the big y2k scare.
We had larger orders, so we ordered 130 birds, same set up, same feed. None dressed more than a pound and a quarter. Since we were paid by the dressed pound, that was not ideal, we tried the same numbers again the following year, same result, low weight. We switched back to less birds and the weight went up.
Maybe having the benefit of a 'real' tractor style coop is key but higher birds didn't work out for us. It would have probably been better we had more grass but we didn't. What do you think is oxymoron?

I'm terribly sorry, I didn't mean to leave you in the lurch, I didn't know you needed me. I had to make dinner and has other things to do and I don't get emails for quoted posts, only tags. If you needed me, why didn't you tag me?
I didn't meant to give op misinformation, I forgot how short a cornish gets to process weight, for some odd reason, I was thinking 6 months, not 6 weeks, I apologize. I don't want anyone to feel like they need to walk on eggshells around me, if I'm doing something wrong, I want to be told about it so I can study and learn. especially when it comes to my birds. I could have used instruction instead of abashment. But you were right in what you said.
I agree, it would have been more polite for Emma to pm you privately but I hardly call her advice unsolicited. When we post something on a public, international community, it's every one's right to also respond in turn, on a puplic, international community. She's just trying to be a peacemaker and soothe flare ups. We all need to remember that tone is very important with written communication.
Have a great day and enjoy your birds to the fullest!

I am sorry that I asummed you had never raised meat birds. Sometimes people like to venture over to the meat bird forum that have no intention other than to rag on people for killing birds and not raising them in a "humane" way - ie too dense. The oxymoron I was referring to was when you referred to cornish x as a "small breed" which I thought was funny because I think of them as a large breed. Light yields can come from all kinds of reasons. Stocking density is definitely one of them, but I have raised more than a handful of 50+ bird batches of cornish cross and can confirm that they can do perfectly fine in alot less than 4-8sqft per bird. I know we're not here to discus your flock from years ago so I wont try to parse it out. I do apologize for being so quick to judge. I've obviously been jaded by other posters... cheers