my first go around with meaties!

So is it the first 12 days free feeding then? And starting on day 13 its 12 hrs with feed and 12 hours without? So say i feed 8am-8pm and then not again until 8 am next day! is it better to feed throughout the day or at night? Thanks again!
After day 12, I follow the chart posted earlier and put that much feed in the feeders in the AM. I don't take the feeders out at night.
 
We found ours on craigslist. A local guy bought a featherman that he rents out for $50/day. It cut the work by a HUGE margin. He rents it out all spring. I have to book my days out 5-6 weeks in advance or he gets booked up. Honestly, I don't know if I'd raise meaties again without it. The quality of the plucking was better than by hand and the whole day was a lot more fun when you can do 4 birds at a time in about 20 seconds. I'm also going to upgrade my scalding method this year. I was bringing water to 150 degrees on the stove in a big stock pot which slowed us down tremendously as we could only get 2-3 birds scaled before we had to change or heat the water again. I'm looking into building one out of a bog plastic drum with an electric heating element as I've heard the turkey fryer method is slow as well.
 
So
After day 12, I follow the chart posted earlier and put that much feed in the feeders in the AM. I don't take the feeders out at night. 


Soo.... Going to hardware store tomorrow. Would like to start buying supplies little by little. What should I buy? I need to build the coop yet. What should I use for that? Like the ideas of those low to the ground tractors. And also what do you use for a feeder? Any good homemade plans out there? Thanks again!
 
So
Soo.... Going to hardware store tomorrow. Would like to start buying supplies little by little. What should I buy? I need to build the coop yet. What should I use for that? Like the ideas of those low to the ground tractors. And also what do you use for a feeder? Any good homemade plans out there? Thanks again!

Check my profile page. There are building plans for an 8' x 8' salatin style tractor. I improved the wheels and can post that tonight.
 
So is it the first 12 days free feeding then? And starting on day 13 its 12 hrs with feed and 12 hours without? So say i feed 8am-8pm and then not again until 8 am next day! is it better to feed throughout the day or at night? Thanks again!
Birds want to fill their crop when they get up, then again at night before sleep. Depending on the time of year your raising them that 8 pm taking feed away would be after they already went to hunker down for the night. 7am to 7pm would likely work better for late spring birds. Of course in early spring they wouldn't even have full 12 hours of feeding due to lack of daylight. It's really in the summer where limiting to 12 hours pays off. Along the Canadian border we get 15 hours of daylight in summer.
 
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hover your mouse over my name and then click on VIEW PROFILE. Scroll down to my photo collection. There's an album on the tactor plans. Here's a post I did about the updated wheels: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/793526/chicken-tractor-wheels If the photos of the plans are not clear enough for printing, message me with an email address and I'll send PDF's. I usually raise 25 birds in this 8' x8' tractor. I made it 8' because that's the size of roofing tin I had. One year I did 35 birds and by 6 weeks it was too crowded.
 
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So
Soo.... Going to hardware store tomorrow. Would like to start buying supplies little by little. What should I buy? I need to build the coop yet. What should I use for that? Like the ideas of those low to the ground tractors. And also what do you use for a feeder? Any good homemade plans out there? Thanks again!


Low to the ground tractors are a pain....

I make mine a little different, they are much easier to use and I can walk in and feed the birds. Also makes catching them a lot easier for processing. Not to mention I raise turkeys in them as well.

I use plastic gutters mounted to the grams as feeders, works perfect.

400


They are 10x12 and move great with the attached wheels. Total cost is less than $250 and they have multiple uses. They also work great to start tomato plants.
 
do you have plans for the set up you have? id like to make one of those for housing one year.

my plan for butchering...call me crazy! ill be doing them mainly alone, by hand. so I have 12-15 days planned and just do as many as I can before I go crazy! :) my husbands work/school schedule got changed on us, so I'm kinda stuck. I'm sure ill get some help, but it will be a drawn out process.
 

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