Salatin style meat pen finished (PIC A Little Heavy)

[randyandmegs]

My latest pen design. Dont have to mess with the dolly anymore.

 

[anthonyjames]

Bigred

I am trying to make one of the dollies you have. Can you tell me the following?

Size in Height and width?
What angle your bottom brackets are at since that seems to be key?
What size tires you are using?
What size tube steel you are using?

And I am guessing that the the top angle does not matter much as long as it is opposite to it does not catch on the ground.

Thanks

 

[randyandmegs]

I agree with the 90 birds per pen also. I did that all last year and it worked great. Plenty of room for birds, grass eaten down at the correct level and nitrogen levels worked out just right.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

I'm glad this post came back up because I wondered how the pen held through consecutive moves. Even though I love Salatin and everything he stands for, the longer I do this for a living I'm learning his way is perfect for him... But not everyone. For example his choice of wood 1x2s, works great for him even if he is replacing boards every year and he also has a bunch of employees and apprentices to do the job. Not to mention he has a saw mill and all the logs to make the boards out of. It is a highly efficient farm thats way ahead then most of us.

He can do that, I can't, I hate doing things twice around here and don't mind moving a heavy pen as long as it's sturdy and will hold up more than just a year. I disagree with the stocking densities too... 90 birds is way too many and is borderline commercial. I just built a 10x12 Salatin pen and modified it a bit to fit my farm. I only put 75 birds in it and they are doing much better than last years birds that had 90-100 birds per pen. But to each his own.

I would like to see the other pen styles.... Craig is that your new style? I thought you were going to try a different style?

For wood I used cedar and man is it light. Fortunately I hooked up with a farmer that is extremely innovative and willing to trade labor so he has been helping me make these new pens. He has a saw mill and we are sawing up old cedar telephone poles for the 2x4s. They are just as light as a pine 1x2. I have two built and I'm still trying to work out the kinks but will update as the season progresses.

I have built a pen out of 1x2s and it barely lasted us a half season.

 

[jeanniejayne]

I love the look of the pen built of steel or aluminum tubing (which is it?) -- very clean-looking, and the wheel mechanism is genius. My hubby and I are just thnking at this point. I have never raised meaties, but have a small (12) mixed flock of layers. My question is, don't all chickens crave the dust bath? And, if so, where do they do it if the pen is moved daily? Has anyone tried PVC tubing? I'm thinking it would be much easier to put together.

Also I am imagining that if the birds get a lot of excesize they will be tougher. Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

[randyandmegs]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=454217

That is the link to my full page of building a metal pen. I have a dolly for my 1 year old pen and that is what was putting so much strain on it that is going to force me to rebuild a lot of it this year. That is why I went with aluminum. All of the material came from Lowes and most of it is chain link fence material.

 

[randyandmegs]

Quote:
Just keep looking on here or look at www.apppa.org for PVC designs, hoophouse designs. Everyone has their own opinions and will be happy to share what works well for them. I dont think any particular setup works for everyone. I cant take all the credit for the wheel design. Jaku on the forum build a pen from 2X4s and it was nice (heavy but nice) with a similar wheel design. If you dont rasie meat birds I wouldnt suggest this style of pen. Most (if any) meaties dont roost and dont need the taller style pen. I would not think any egg laying type chicken would work well in a Salatin sytle pen. That is why he made the Eggmobile. The cornish cross birds are a different breed for sure unlike any egg layers I have ever raised.

 

[rickerra]

Here's my take on a smaller, Salatin style tractor. I only wanted to raise a dozen or so at a time... just for the family... smaller yard, etc.

I was able to build all this from recycled material and a some leftover hardware cloth from building my coop.

It's only 3ft x 5ft... so per the 1.5sqft/bird recommended density... should only hold 10 birds. I have 9 meaties almost ready to go in it in another week or so.

My only concerns are that I have too much open end. It's 3ft covered/surrounded... and 2 ft open.
If I see all the birds crowding in the covered area... I have some extra tin I can close in some of the open end.

And I won't need a dolly for this one!

Cheers!

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
It is 6' Wide and 5' Tall. I think it could have been a bit shorter, but I wanted the additional leverage that length would give me. Angle is 45*. I think the tires are 10" (not 100% sure on that one. They where off an old "big wheel") Tube steel is 1"x1". This thing works great. Putting running gear on every tractor would have gotten expensive. My neighbor charged me $45 to build this one, which will eventually pay itself off, as it can be used for many tractors (I still need to build 2 more). Placement of that angle piece is key, as it determines how far inside the tractor the wheels run. As you can see, the angle is attached above the highest point of the wheel, ensuring it clears.

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
That'still my old ones. Tractor building hasn't reached the critical point yet(but it will this weekend), so I'm working on other things of that are already at that stage. My baby and mamma goats have been making things crazy busy. I've been playing around with ideas, but haven't come up with anything I really like as well as the Salatin model. Every design I think of ends up having a drawback. If you have a pic of your prototype, please share.