Salatin broiler shelter as breeders pen

HomesteadNowhere

Songster
Dec 2, 2020
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Ohio USA
I'm going to build a salatin style broiler shelter. 5x6ft, so a fourth of the size. The ground is too uneven here to go bigger. And materials cost for what I can do right now.
I got the polyface designs book and they say 75 broilers for one shelter (10x12ft).
I was hoping to utilize this to segregate some of my chickens as a breeding pen to collect only those hens eggs. I was wondering how many would be suggested to house temporarily for hatching eggs collection? I have 10 freedom ranger hens I'd like to separate and if that's enough hens to leave a cockeral in? It would probably only be for a week or so, enough to fill an incubator.
 
5x6 = 30 square feet.

At 4 square feet per adult that's only enough coop for 7 adults -- and Rangers are BIG birds so they might need more space.

Also, 5x6 is a wasteful use of lumber with lots of cut offs since boards come in multiples of 4 feet, a serious consideration with the high price of lumber right now. 4x8 would give you space for 8 birds but use less lumber because you minimize cuts.

Are you planning to move it as a tractor or to use it stationary? If the latter you can compensate for uneven ground by digging out the high spots and putting bricks, blocks, or pavers under the low spots.
 
I drew up plans to make my own cut list. I'm getting the lumber locally from an amish sawmill and it's much better price point. So that's not a big deal for this.
I would be moving the shelter at least once a day, twice if I can. It will be inside electric netting, there is alot of predator pressure here.
I plan to use the shelter as a brooder and as fattening pen for meat birds. I was just thinking it might work for this temporarily also.
 
I had emailed with freedom ranger hatchery before ordering and they told me a healthy adult weight for the hens would be about 5#. Advised me of course of them not being bred for it etc but they can be kept healthy and lay eggs. They are for a breeding experiment and have been raised with restricted feeding. The cockerals live weight before butcher was 5-5.8# and the hens are a bit smaller so I think they are pretty good. And get alot of exercise.
 

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