I want to be prepared before I jump into meaties. My Questions...

[goldfinches]

I've been so busy, I got so many great replies and have missed them. Thank you all! This kitchen is nearing an end, I hope to have a functioning sink and range by tomorow! I live nearly to the beach, so hagarstown and Fredrick are a far drive, buy I could make a day trip of it. I think I saw an add on craigslist for a processor out there, wonder if it's thr sane one. $2 a bird seems like a great price to me. I'll email you, Dan.

I'm really not comfortable keeping them so far from me at an unocupied house. If I built a 4x8 tractor, started with 10-12 cx birds and used my yard, moving it a few times daily, how messy would it make the ground? I'm going to try to attach pics in a few minutes of my yard. (I have little children who like to play outside and a dog who lobes to eat poo, trying to avoid either of them getting into it.)

 

[goldfinches]

Here's my backyard...

Potentially could move them over near the clothesline sometimes.



Here's the center of the yard, I could probably fit the tractor between the back of my run and the field.



And, probably enough room in front of the shed, (which you can't see in my picture, but it's in the left corner), without getting too close to the swingset?

 

[Tracydr]

Quote:
4x8=32 square feet. Why do meat chickens in a tractor need 4 square feet per bird? 1.5 square feet is adequate, IMO. We aren't talking about egg layers here. I keep 13 red broilers in a 4x8 tractor. You can see photos of it in post #9 here . The birds are almost full grown and I could easily put more in. I'm thinking I'd cap out with another 5 birds, but could probably fit more. I move the tractor daily, sometimes twice daily. I have no issues with aggressive birds or canibalism.

So I can speak from experience and tell you that a 4x8 tractor will comfortably hold at least 13 broilers - if not more.

I also wanted to add a response to this quote:

Quote:
My grass has been recovering pretty quickly. As the birds have gotten older they are producing more poo, yes...but what helps is some raking. As soon as I move the tractor over, I rake up their last spot before the poo gets matted and hard. Fluffing up the grass and breaking up some of the poo wads helps the plot recover faster.

How do you like the red broilers? I've been thinking about trying them. Are they crowing before they're ready to butcher?