Right off the bat lets get this out there - We live in North Missouri, We are expecting our second child the first of June. I'm wanting to raise a batch of meat chickens before the baby gets here.
Does the following sound like it would work?
In order to get the birds to butchering weight on time I'd have to start the first week of March with mail order peeps. I'm pretty sure that I'd have to brood them to start with in the house in order to keep them warm enough. Not sure that I could get the temp high enough in the barn. So if I kept them in the house for two weeks and then moved them to the barn we have a 5X10' room out there that we would use as their permanent residence. The room has a concrete floor so I was thinking about putting a deep bed of pine shavings or straw down. We don't have time or materials for building an outdoor tractor or putting a run outside the barn room. We free range our laying hens without any confinement except for closing them in their coop every night. I would like to let the meat birds out of their room to free range as well. Would I be able to do that? Are they smart enough to go back in? At what age would you recommend trying it? If it isn't advisable to let them out to range, then is their room going to become rediculously filthy??
How many birds would you try to raise in this manner and with this space?
Thanks for whatever help you can give!
Does the following sound like it would work?
In order to get the birds to butchering weight on time I'd have to start the first week of March with mail order peeps. I'm pretty sure that I'd have to brood them to start with in the house in order to keep them warm enough. Not sure that I could get the temp high enough in the barn. So if I kept them in the house for two weeks and then moved them to the barn we have a 5X10' room out there that we would use as their permanent residence. The room has a concrete floor so I was thinking about putting a deep bed of pine shavings or straw down. We don't have time or materials for building an outdoor tractor or putting a run outside the barn room. We free range our laying hens without any confinement except for closing them in their coop every night. I would like to let the meat birds out of their room to free range as well. Would I be able to do that? Are they smart enough to go back in? At what age would you recommend trying it? If it isn't advisable to let them out to range, then is their room going to become rediculously filthy??
How many birds would you try to raise in this manner and with this space?
Thanks for whatever help you can give!