"Pastured" poultry refusing to scratch -> leading to matted manure

[jedidja]

I've got 35 White Rocks in an 8x8 pastured poultry pen (Salatin model). They are 4.5 weeks old and have been outside for 5 days, with no signs of scratching at all. They occassionally pick at the grass (and maybe insects) but that's it.

As a result, the manure is just getting matted onto the grass and I'm worried that:
a) even moving the pen twice a day may not b enough
b) it's going to start to smell and the neighbours will complain

I ran across something in another post where someone mentioned raking it yourself, so perhaps I will try that.

Any suggestions? Is there anything I can do to entice them to scratch as well? I'm cutting the grass as short as I can to try and help with the matting issues.

 

[JohnL11935]

It seems to me like you are experiencing something very common to keeping 35 chickens in an 8x8 pen.

Not that there is anything wrong with what you are doing its just that 35 will produce a lot of manure.

They way to combat the build-up is to move the tractor at least once per day - just as you are planning. I'm sure raking will help but exposure to the elements will probably be enough to keep the bulk of the smell down.

In my experience, chickens raised on crumbles that are in ready supply will not eat grass - there is no reason to! I've heard some people will mix fresh grass on top of the crumbles to train the chickens to develop a taste for grass, but otherwise they will be satiated with the crumbles.

I guess its kind of like eating your pie before the broccoli.

Sounds like you are doing just fine with you plan. Keep at it.

 

[flakey chick]

Have you tried any treats? If I throw raisins in the run, they will tear through it looking for more. At 4.5 weeks I recommend that you dig up some grass for them. They will tend to eat the roots if given a chance. Also a tub of loose dirt should help them develop a taste for dust baths.

 

[patandchickens]

As far as odor, you have to remember that's not something Joel Salatin is worried about in the way he does things

They may just not be *going* to scratch around much. No particular reason for them to, you know? You could try to encourage them to develop the hobby by scattering scratch all over the area right after you move the tractor, but, that may not be enough to keep them going once the scratch is all found and eaten.

Basically, meat chickens DO poo a lot and kind of stink. One way to reduce the dimensions of the problem would be to process some of them as soon as they are eating size (if these are commercial broiler chicks, which are sometimes sold as 'white rocks', that would be now-ish; if they are purebred actual white Plymouth Rocks that won't be for a couple more months but you shouldn't be having too dire a poo problem yet either)

Grass will come back from a surprisingly considerable coating of manure, so you are probably not actually killing the grass.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[jedidja]

JohnL11935: Salatin's stocking density was almost 90 birds in a 10x12 pen. I thought i was leaving plenty of space

I had fed them cut grass/dandelions when they were in the brooder and they went crazy for it; I thought that meant they would get it themselves outside. Apparently not

I will try putting some on top the crumbs to see if that helps too.

flakey chick: I have never heard of giving them raisins

Will definitely give that a shot as well as providing dirt for a dust bath.

patandchickens: I thought from reading his book that Joel was very much about keeping things un-smelly. I believe he writes something along the lines of "if there's a smell, you're doing something wrong".

I also realise he was using Cornish Cross, the book is now +10 years old, and the chickens themselves have probably got lazier since then.

-----

Thanks everybody .. very great ideas

I realise I have a ton to learn and it's so great there is a forum with such helpful people!

 

[mamaKate]

Umm.. I've seen repeated posts that call for 4-8 sq ft of run space per bird. Maybe the size is the problem. Also, scattering scratch grain encouages them to dig around.

 

[jedidja]

I'm pretty sure that is for layers, not broilers. Believe me, the broilers currently have more space than they know what to do with. They just sit all day long and eat.

Also, note that this is a movable pen, not a run. They are on fresh grass twice/day now instead of tearing up the same strip over time.

 

[Peregrine]

I also have a tractor, and I find that it cuts down on the smell A LOT if I move the coop, then spray the old area with the garden hose (set on "jet" to break up the clumps). It also cuts down on the flies, and it can't be bad for the grass, either!

I have five not-quite-full-grown chickens in a 6x6 area, but I only move it every 2 or 3 days.

 

[mechagrue]

I have the same problem but on a much smaller scale. I have 4 layers living in a chicken tractor, which I move every day. Some days they seem to scratch more than others - whether it's the weather, or the terrain they're on that day, or just their mood, I can't say.

When they're farther out on the property, I don't particularly care. I live in the Pacific Northwest - if there's one thing I know, it's that it will rain soon, and wash the poop away. But this month they're right in my front yard, and the caked poo is... unsightly.

My fix is to hose down the grass after I move the tractor. A good soaking with the sprinkler will do the trick. If I'm feeling impatient (or it's really bad) I'll switch to the jet nozzle and really blast the poop around. It doesn't take much of a soaking to distribute all the poops and wash it into the surrounding lawn. 5, 10 minutes tops.

(I just came inside from doing this, actually. Yesterday was a big day for poop, and it was looking pretty nasty, and the flies were getting bad.)

 

[jedidja]

Just as a followup - I have been moving the pen twice a day (5:30am and 6pm) and the situation re smell has been manageable. I've also taken the food troughs away before the second move so they have clean grass for the night.

The grass does absorb what the pen puts down (just a regular front lawn) and you can see how much better / greener it grows back after a couple weeks.

Looks like them not scratching is ok (at least in my situation).