Questions about a chicken tractor and meaties

[rohnsherd]

I am new to Cornish x's. I have 17 right now and living in Michigan with the winter we have had, I shouldn't have gotten them so early. They have had to be in a 4x8 covered pen with 2 heat lights for their first 5 weeks of life. And looking at the forecast I don't see this batch living outdoors at all. I feel badly. Soooo....
I am considering this first batch my starter batch. I had to butcher one already with a broken wing so with it still being early I think I can get a "spring" batch in. I want to build a moveable tractor, probably a hoop house out of pvc and wire mesh. My main question is if i move the tractor each day to a new spot, how long before i can rotate back to the first spot it started in? Long enough I suspect for the manure to water into the ground. I live on 1 1/3 acre. I think I can move it to a new spot each day for about 3-4 weeks before I would have to rotate back to the first spot?

 

[LindaB220]

I am new to Cornish x's. I have 17 right now and living in Michigan with the winter we have had, I shouldn't have gotten them so early. They have had to be in a 4x8 covered pen with 2 heat lights for their first 5 weeks of life. And looking at the forecast I don't see this batch living outdoors at all. I feel badly. Soooo....
I am considering this first batch my starter batch. I had to butcher one already with a broken wing so with it still being early I think I can get a "spring" batch in. I want to build a moveable tractor, probably a hoop house out of pvc and wire mesh. My main question is if i move the tractor each day to a new spot, how long before i can rotate back to the first spot it started in? Long enough I suspect for the manure to water into the ground. I live on 1 1/3 acre. I think I can move it to a new spot each day for about 3-4 weeks before I would have to rotate back to the first spot?

Sounds like a plan to me. You can process starting at 4-5 weeks and just have smaller birds. I like them better that size myself. When you get your tractor be sure to predator proof it. I like the hoop coops that start with cattle panels. More protection. You still need to wrap bottom 2 feet in hardware cloth or something like racks out of old fridges. (Look around for them) You need to attach the hardware cloth the the bottom to make an apron spreading out 2 feet. So many people don't do this and can't understand why their chicks ended up dead. Raccoon and dogs are the big suspects on this one.