Myrtok
Hatching
- Feb 17, 2015
- 2
- 0
- 7
I've been considering getting started with a small flock of broilers in a chicken tractor. As I cruised the web for information, google kept pointing me to answers in this forum, so I thought I'd go the more direct route and make an account here. I have a bit of a plan shaping up, but I wanted to run it by some experts so I can be sure about what I'm getting into.
As for my previous experience with chickens: I've barbecued them, boiled them and baked them. I've even chopped them up real fine and put them in enchiladas. However, I've never owned a chicken that had feathers or even a head on it. I've occasionally owned one with the giblets neatly packaged and stored inside the carcass. That's about the extent of my chicken history.
I'm not really interested in layers. I don't know why, but I'm just more intrigued with the idea of raising some chickens for meat. Besides, I've never tasted a chicken that wasn't from the grocery store, and now you've all got me super curious about how much better tasting my own tractor chickens could actually be. The chicken tractor idea looks neat to me. No shoveling of chicken poop. No changing of bedding. I'm just not sure if it will work in my situation.
We're a family of five. We live in a very small town. Our back yard has around 1/2 acre of open space (full acre total lot size), surrounded on 3 sides by tall trees. It has ordinary grass of some kind or another growing in it. It's not a manicured lawn by any means. I generally have it sprayed for dandelions each Spring and mow it when I have to. Other than that, it's just whatever ordinary mix of grasses and weeds that you get in a little Central Illinois town. I'd like to start with around 25 chickens - the ones that grow in under two months. From what I've read, I should count on several of them dying, so I'm really aiming to end up with 20 or so.
Is it reasonable to drag a chicken tractor with 20-25 chickens around a yard that size? I understand they will still need regular chicken feed, but will a mowed lawn serve as well as a pasture? I've read that the people who do this on a professional level say it's actually better to let cows mow down the pasture before putting chickens on it, so am I crazy for wanting to do this on a mowed lawn?
If I move the tractor every day, will the chickens destroy my lawn? Like I said before, I'm not really that particular about perfect grass or anything, but I don't want to have it destroyed and left with bare spots that are going to grow up in weeds before the grass can fill back in.
I have three kids who like to play in that yard. I keep reading that the chickens will poop A LOT. How "contaminated" is yesterday's location for the tractor going to be, assuming I'm going with 2 square feet per bird? What about the location from a week ago? How long after the chicken tractor has been moved will that area need to be off limits for playing in order to keep my kids healthy?
How much stink are we talking about? Will it be something you notice only when you get close to the chickens, or something that makes town people wrinkle their noses from a couple hundred yards away?
So, heat is a problem, except when they're young and actually need heat lamps. So, what if I buy my chicks around the end of July when it's likely to be over 90 degrees anyway and plan on harvesting around the end of September? Good plan or no?
Thanks in advance to whoever finds time to answer some of my newbie questions!
As for my previous experience with chickens: I've barbecued them, boiled them and baked them. I've even chopped them up real fine and put them in enchiladas. However, I've never owned a chicken that had feathers or even a head on it. I've occasionally owned one with the giblets neatly packaged and stored inside the carcass. That's about the extent of my chicken history.
I'm not really interested in layers. I don't know why, but I'm just more intrigued with the idea of raising some chickens for meat. Besides, I've never tasted a chicken that wasn't from the grocery store, and now you've all got me super curious about how much better tasting my own tractor chickens could actually be. The chicken tractor idea looks neat to me. No shoveling of chicken poop. No changing of bedding. I'm just not sure if it will work in my situation.
We're a family of five. We live in a very small town. Our back yard has around 1/2 acre of open space (full acre total lot size), surrounded on 3 sides by tall trees. It has ordinary grass of some kind or another growing in it. It's not a manicured lawn by any means. I generally have it sprayed for dandelions each Spring and mow it when I have to. Other than that, it's just whatever ordinary mix of grasses and weeds that you get in a little Central Illinois town. I'd like to start with around 25 chickens - the ones that grow in under two months. From what I've read, I should count on several of them dying, so I'm really aiming to end up with 20 or so.
Is it reasonable to drag a chicken tractor with 20-25 chickens around a yard that size? I understand they will still need regular chicken feed, but will a mowed lawn serve as well as a pasture? I've read that the people who do this on a professional level say it's actually better to let cows mow down the pasture before putting chickens on it, so am I crazy for wanting to do this on a mowed lawn?
If I move the tractor every day, will the chickens destroy my lawn? Like I said before, I'm not really that particular about perfect grass or anything, but I don't want to have it destroyed and left with bare spots that are going to grow up in weeds before the grass can fill back in.
I have three kids who like to play in that yard. I keep reading that the chickens will poop A LOT. How "contaminated" is yesterday's location for the tractor going to be, assuming I'm going with 2 square feet per bird? What about the location from a week ago? How long after the chicken tractor has been moved will that area need to be off limits for playing in order to keep my kids healthy?
How much stink are we talking about? Will it be something you notice only when you get close to the chickens, or something that makes town people wrinkle their noses from a couple hundred yards away?
So, heat is a problem, except when they're young and actually need heat lamps. So, what if I buy my chicks around the end of July when it's likely to be over 90 degrees anyway and plan on harvesting around the end of September? Good plan or no?
Thanks in advance to whoever finds time to answer some of my newbie questions!