Open Coop / Meatshaw for broilers

[GriswoldFamilyFarms]

Hello -- I originally posted this in the coop section, but considering this is specifically for broilers, I thought it might be better suited here. I hope that's okay!

I am wondering if anybody has information, success/failure stories, or any advice for a open shelter / meatshaw build for broilers.

For reference, I am basing my build off of Justin Rhodes' videos that I watched.

The design is for broilers/meat birds and not intended for over-winter housing. It is a shelter specifically for broilers during their 4-8 weeks outside. The structure is 8'x8'. The meatshaw can be moved every few days to provide fresh grass as needed. We surround the area with electric netting at all times so they have plenty of fresh grass to range on. They are able to hang out under the structure for shade or to hide from any aerial predators and then the electric netting is intended to protect against any ground predators at night. I've only ever seen deer in our yard at night...not to say other predators don't exist.

I searched around quite a bit and really haven't found any concrete and practical information. I really hate the idea of chicken tractors and want to make this work.

My main concerns are:
- Predators (duh!) -- The broilers seem to want to hang out near the corner of the fence at night, making me nervous.
- Temperature -- We only have 8 broilers. Unfortunately lost more than half due to extreme issues with the USPS. So there is less body heat to keep them comfortable at night. They are 5 weeks old and our nightly temperatures are about 45-50 right now. In hindsight we would probably wait a few weeks later in the season before raising the broilers, but we are working with what we have.

Our broilers:

The meatshaw and fencing area:

 

[iwltfum]

It can work in some areas. The key is keeping the fence hot hot hot. And that is more difficult than it sounds with the size chargers that Premiers sells the most of. How many joules is your charger? I would say you will want at least 4 joules or more. You want that thing to be maxing out your fence at almost 10kW per hit to keep away particularly determined or larger predators.

Personally, I like the peace of mind that a closed pasture pen gives, but you will have to try it to see if your areal predator pressure is low enough to have success with the open style. Once birds of prey find a meal in one spot, they are likely to come back so you may have to switch your management plan in a hurry.

It's all about how willing you are to sacrifice a few birds to nature and also how willing you are to manage predators, and particularly birds of prey (and ravens) by air horn, caps, blanks or some other scare tactic.

I discovered two bald eagles eating a laying hen on my compost pile this afternoon. My hens are free range and I know they get taken sometimes and I just have to be willing to accept that to some degree. That's not to say I didn't send the dogs after the eagles and then I cleaned up the dead chicken afterwards, and I also spend time occasionally chasing off itinerant flocks of ravens with an air horn. Like, multiple times per month. I make sure no large birds make my property a common place to hang out. Cheers.

 

[Ridgerunner]

- Predators (duh!) -- The broilers seem to want to hang out near the corner of the fence at night, making me nervous.

I used the Patriot5 for about five years to charge a 164' section of 48" netting with an additional 50' of netting added in, so 214 feet of netting. It was plugged in to a circuit, not solar powered. It stopped all ground based predators whether digging or climbing. No mountain lions or bears but everything else like dogs, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, possum, and skunks. I don't know that it was ever challenged by weasels or mink but the others did for sure.

I had an owl get a chicken once, it went into an open shelter and took one. One time I had a hawk take a chicken during the day. Not much predator pressure from birds of prey. Electric netting won't help with birds of prey, some people have real problems with that.

I had to take mine down and mow regularly to keep the grass and weeds from growing up in it and shorting it out. I also had issues with wind or a heavy rain blowing or washing debris so it piled up on the netting and shorting it out. It is not maintenance free.

I understand the concern of them sleeping in corners. With regular fencing something could reach through and get one. This is purely opinion but I wouldn't worry about that with electric netting. I'd consider it highly unlikely a raccoon could reach through without getting bit. And if something gets bitten it leaves.

Would they be more likely to sleep under that if you kept the feed under it. That might work better with Cornish X than Rangers.

- Temperature -- We only have 8 broilers. Unfortunately lost more than half due to extreme issues with the USPS. So there is less body heat to keep them comfortable at night.

Again mostly my opinion, but I don't think they sleep in groups to share body heat as much as they just like the company. My experience is with dual purpose chicks, not the meat birds, but I've seen individual chicks keep themselves warm in several different circumstances at a pretty young age. Sharing body heat doesn't hurt but I think it is often overrated, including by me sometimes.

Still you need to hit the right time. You want it warm enough to get them on pasture, you want grass and forage to be growing, and maybe avoid the heat depending on where you are located.

 

[Parront]

I use the same fencing around my ducks. I keep them in locked kennels at night to keep them away from the fence. I have had the fence knocked down by deer and the wild pigs around here - Javalina. They want the spilled duck food, ducks are messy! They left without tasting duck food! Here in dry Arizona, I have to water to keep the fence working it's best. I have 2 net fences, and have not lost a chicken or duck. Coyotes used to walk casually through our yard in daylight before the electric net, no more. I have seen racoon tracks by our creek, I know that they have checked out the fence. With all your green grass, you will have to take the fence down and mow, or mow where you want to set it up when you move it.
I second the HOT charger, I have a Patriot charger plugged in to line power, it is rated for 6 nets. My neighbor has good results with a small solar powered version, but he just hot-wired the small coop and run about 8 x 12.
As you can see from the photo, the chickens graze down the grass, no mowing needed with these girls! This photo shows the fencing, it is called their "goat fence". Chickens can walk through it.