Raising meat birds over the winter

[lonesomerider]

Back a few years, I moved from ND to OK in response to my son's propaganda as to how wonderful it was. That's a whole 'nother story, but in December of that year, we both started craving the taste of home raised chicken, so I got 25 Cornish X chicks from Ideal. They did fine, though probably eating a little more food than they would have in the summer time. However....they were NOT raised in a tractor......

The coop was 25 X 15 X 12 feet tall....a lean-to on the side of a metal shop building. I built a chicken wire/2 x 4 framed pen along one side that was 5 x 12 x 5 feet tall. To start with, the chicks were in a 42" x 30" x 15" hi welded wire rabbit cage, suspended from the ceiling of the pen, with a hunk of tarp on the floor of the cage to keep the shavings in it. That rabbit cage was insulated on top and all sides with some of this aluminum sided bubble insulation.....comes in 4 foot width and 25' rolls.....roll costs about $50 at Lowe's . A heat lamp rested on the top of the cage, with a corresponding opening in the insulation so it could shine into the cage. Started with a 125 W heat bulb, and then went to a red 100W bulb when they got older. The fit was not 100% neat, to allow for heat escape and ventilation. Cornish X are rather hot blooded anyway, so allow for some leeway.

When the chicks got to be well feathered, they were put down on the floor of the pen, with a couple of heat lamps suspended, using 100W red bulbs, and the rabbit cage removed. Their bedding was again pine wood shavings, which was added to every couple of days, since they are pretty much the dirtiest animals on this earth. By the time we processed them....10 weeks or so, the bedding was about 18 inches thick, and made excellent fertilizer on the garden that spring.

There were approximately 35 adult standard breed chickens....Wyandottes, Langshans, Cornish, etc......in the main coop next to the pen, and they helped keep the temperature within tolerable levels in the entire lean-to. They were also bedded with wood shavings.

Since "bubble butt" Cornish X's do not hanker for exercise, they were quite content in that pen, and we were very happy with the meat when we processed them.

It all depends on how bad you want some chickens to eat, and how much work you're willing to go through to raise them for 8 - 10 weeks. It also depends on what your temperatures are in the winter time. I don't know how cold it gets in Virginia in the winter time.....that will have some bearing on how successful.....or not....such an operation would be in your location.

But it is probably possible.

 

[litterbitt]

I'm in Georgia, and I am just finishing up some CornishX, they are doing fine as the temps have been pretty moderate. They are dirty, but fine. 2 weeks left on them. I have another 20 Freedom Rangers in the brooder, just got them this week... they can go out into the rest of the coop when the meaties are gone (I have a removable divider between the brooder box and the rest of the coop. I scrape out the hay/bedding every two days and replace it. There is a light available in that part of the coop as well. After a couple more weeks, I open up the door during the day, so they can go out to a 20 x 20 outdoor area. Hoping it will work. We don't get too much freezing here, some in February usually. We shall see!

Liz

 

[TimG]

From my experience and what I have read, meat birds don't grow well in summer heat either, their better suited to spring and fall.

The Freedom Rangers seem to feather normally, you wouldn't have to provide them with heat any longer than you would normal breeds.

None of this is meant to suggest that tractoring meat birds in the northeast US during January and February would be a good idea.

 

[Dogfish]

I have been giving them hot water in their waterer for the past few days. Not super hot, just 90-110 degrees, and I've been doing this twice per day. There is still some water/ice when I change the waterers, but they have been going through 2-4 gallons at a whack for 25 birds every 12 hours. I'm using 5 gallon buckets and a planter base for waterers, so they hold the heat for a while longer.

 

[Dandelion Acres]

I am in WI and decided a batch of Cornish X would make some decent gifts for family and friends, They are tractor-ed, outside. The tractor has a extra heavy duty tarp,and is pulled back 1/3 on "warmer" days, and left down in our typical weather. We will hit 8 weeks next friday 12-3-10. Here is what we have learned from doing them summer and now winter.

1) They do not like cold weather. Period. At 8 weeks, the birds will be about 1-2 pounds less. We will let them go an extra week or 2, and butcher just before Christmas.

2) Seems like there is much more difference between the "runts" and the strong. We saw a little of this in the summer, but now it is really noticeable. It is ok though, because my boys are hell bent on "having a whole little chicken on our dinner plate for lunch some day". LOL

3) When we move the tractor, we definitely do a "clean Up" and put it in the compost bin, then our laying flock usually hits the fresh raked grass and looks for any tasty tidbits of feed and ??

4) This is a pretty mild winter, there is no way I would do them in the winter again without giving them a portion of our heated coop.

So, will it work in tractors, Yes. But, it takes a little more time, the tractor definitely needs a cover and supplemental heat. As far as grass I am really not too worried about it dying, it's grass, in Wisconsin, it will be back.
Next year we will be doing 2 batches of 50, one batch freedom rangers, and one batch cornish x's. There will also be some tests with some different organic feeds. It should be interesting. Oh and we will be doing a very small group of turkeys as well just for a trial. Yes we have enough land to keep them separate. God help us......

 

[eKo_birdies]

Quote:
We come out of a frozen February into a swampy March. There's an inch of mud and manure on top of a foot of ice in the ground. The rain tends to wash the manure downstream. Not only do we lose it to leaching, we pollute downstream.

The farmers applying manure in the winter in Illinois do it because they're not busy doing other things. It's not the best time, just more convenient. The microorganisms in the soil are dormant. The worms are deep. The grass is dormant. Nothing is actively metabolizing the fertilizer as it was in the summer. If you burn the grass off in late fall or winter you may have 5 or 6 months of bare dirt staring up at you. The root system may persist but you're going to have some amount soil loss. At least in Illinois we would. Colorado may just be under snow pack the whole time. On our farm, winter is time to let the soil rest. Chickens are less efficient at converting feed in the cold lowering our profit margins. We celebrate seasons and natural cycles by taking some time off to read and play scrabble.

this is all very true... very good information!

i guess i should have clarified that what i was referencing is done here in the northern colorado front range.. where we are MUCH more arid than most other places. it's not just the frozen ground, but the lack of irrigation that makes this applicable for our situation. the freezing/thawing helps break down the manure and then in the early spring the farmers can go back in and incorporate it.