Meaties on small patch..

[cockadoodledude]

Hey guys,

Ordered my first batch of meaties and will be receiving 25 started chicks at the end of May.

I would love to tractor them but, simply do not have access to enough "pasture". I had planned to pen them up in a 10x10 enclosure but I am unsure how to deal with what some call "a massive amount of poop" lol!

So, how do you raise your meaties if not in a moveable tractor?

Thanks
C

 

[Dogfish]

Within a few weeks 25 meaties will create a mountain of poo.

How big, you ask? They will eat about 375lbs of feed and consume about 200 gallons of water in 8 weeks, so unless you remove it, they will be standing on a 6" high 10'x10' cake of poo.

Here is the swath of destruction they create.

The 8'x8' tractors are moved once a day, and they have 30 birds in each one. The grass does recover in about a week or so, so you could rotate the areas where you keep your birds.

 

[Farmer_Dan]

Yipes! 25 meaties all pooping in one place w/o moving them? Sounds like a lot of daily shoveling $h!t to me.

If you can even move them back and forth over the same 2 spots of yard, it would be better than just letting them be in 1 place for all 3 months. They make a "MASSIVE" pile o poo.

 

[Two Creeks Farm]

LOL..hope you like dealing with the crap...and lots of it!

 

[NonnasBabies]

Quote:

but Oh so true!!

 

[Dogfish]

....and that big poo cake, it will weigh in at about 1500 lbs.

 

[cockadoodledude]

Ok, seems we are all in agreement. It will be a large amount of sh1t! lol!

I'm still curious to hear from others on how they have done it. Surely not everyone has an 1 acre to pasture on.. or do they?

 

[NonnasBabies]

On a serious note how big is your yard???

 

[cockadoodledude]

Quote:
The property is about 1/2 an acre. However, on that is a house, garage, pool, etc etc....

There is some grassy area (approx 50' x 100') but the good wifey she is, is NOT ok with chicken poop in the yard with 3 kidlets running around.

So, I'm left with what could be st be described as pockets of yard in amongst the forest. I can likely arrange to have 3-4 spots where the pen could be moved to.

 

[NonnasBabies]

Quote:
The property is about 1/2 an acre. However, on that is a house, garage, pool, etc etc....

There is some grassy area (approx 50' x 100') but the good wifey she is, is NOT ok with chicken poop in the yard with 3 kidlets running around.

So, I'm left with what could be st be described as pockets of yard in amongst the forest. I can likely arrange to have 3-4 spots where the pen could be moved to.

That will probably be your best bet. I would move them every couple of days and soak down that spot with a hose because the poop will just stay there caked if you don't. And that way when you run out of room you can start back over in the first spot. Like someone mentioned already the grass bounces back in a week or two. I just processed mine on the 7th and they last spot i had them on is almost green again!! Good Luck!