raising meats on wire

[chickenjoe]

I have my layers in a tractor and because the ground isn't even and they get out some times. As for the chicken have room to move, meaties son't seem to move that much any way. WHen we raised them, they were either huddled around the feeder or water container.

 

[the simple life]

Mine move around, they come running up to the door every time I go near them and they also roam around on their own.
I have stood their watching them and in my observations they like to go out and look out the screens and see what is going on.
I also open the door to their pen when I go out in the mornings to feed them and let them come out if they want, you would be surprised at how many will want to walk around outside, especially the younger ones, you can't keep them in if you tried.
I like seeing them get exercise.
I raise mine to have a different life than they would at a commercial broiler house and that includes moving around.
If you don't use a tractor then a pen can be successful if you just put down thick shavings and clean them when they get dirty, I have no problems with using shavings and keeping their pen clean.
I put an extra thick layer of shavings in the area that they like to huddle under the brooder lamp and sleep to keep them comfortable and clean.
I keep the feeder and waterers across the room from the brooder lamp so they have to get up and walk around to get to their food and water anyway. Brooder lamps in one corner, feeder in another corner and water in another.
If you take their food away at night they will be more inclined to get up and walk around in the morning before you bring out their food, mine are all over the place when I go in to feed them in the mornings.
Its better for them if you can get them to move around a bit.

 

[jaku]

Figure about 10 pounds per bird live weight. That's a lot of weight on the wire, and you definitely won't be able to move a tractor style coop. They say wire is bad for the birds feet too, although I brood on wire without much problem. Another problem is that ideally, you'd need several different wire sizes. When they're small, their feet would slip through the larger gapped wire, but when their bigger, the smaller gapped wire would just catch their poo in a short time. This will DEFINITELY happen, as I have to scrub my brooder wire with a broom to clear a bunch of trapped poo several times a day.

 

[CedarRidgeChicks]

As I posted earlier we raised 48 in two pens on wire with absolutely no problems. We did move the pens around and there was no problem with the manure getting through the wire. We processed them at 8-10lbs before butcher.They were very clean and healthy. They were in these pens for 6 weeks. I would not consider this method for much longer than this. We did consider the tractor method but opted on the pens because we were having a lot of rain causing excessive mud.

 

[jaku]

Quote:
How the heck did you move them?!