Meat bird tractor setup

[Ikarus1]

Built this 10x12ft Salatin style meat bird tractor to replace my old 8x10 cattle panel hoop coop. It is much Iighter and stronger, and with the right dolly (not yet built) this is easily moved in 60 secs or less.

This build all but required the use of a decent tablesaw, and I got a great deal on a 10" Metabo aka Hitachi jobsaw earlier this year from Lowes. Ripping 12ft 1x6" treated was so much easier than trying to use a circular saw.

I used plans from the Polyface Designs book but modified it a bit. Because 48"x12ft aluminum is stupid expensive and hard to find, I used vinyl panels throughout. I also enclosed the entire perimeter with wire even behind the side vinyl. I DO highly recommend the Plasson commercial type gravity water setup, since Cornish Cross meatbirds drink ALOT of water. It keeps the water supply clean and out of the coop which means healthier birds. This is only my second batch this year but this watering setup is much less work. Pour water in the bucket and you're basically done. I just added a cheap lid to keep trash out

My current homestead poultry production plan is never to buy eggs or chicken in a grocery store again. And possibly sale sail cell some excess since we can raise and process 1000 a year without govt inspections.

 

[kcult]

My current homestead poultry production plan is never to buy eggs or chicken in a grocery store again. And possibly sale sail cell some excess since we can raise and process 1000 a year without govt inspections.

And I'm sure several on here would buy by bi some from you, myself included.

Nice set up. I'm especially interested in a better water option than I currently have.

 

[cubrock]

Nice setup. How much acreage are you moving them around on and what frequency do you move them? Are you supplementing with feed or are they foraging for everything?

 

[Squanchy]

Do they just lay eggs on the ground and you pick them up whenever you move the tractor?

 

[hp468]

Do they just lay eggs on the ground and you pick them up whenever you move the tractor?

Them birds are meat birds. Most people slaughter them before they reach egg laying age. Not sure about his particular variety but from my understanding without a strict feeding limit they will get outgrow the weight carrying capacity of their legs prior to reaching sexual maturity.

@Ikarus1 are you hatching your own crosses or ordering chicks from a hatchery? Were considering doing the meat bird thing as well.

 

[Moylan]

I'm obviously not the OP, but we've done pastured meat birds for something like 7 years now in our own semi-Salatin-style tractors, so I'll say they never lay because they're killed at about 7 or 8 weeks, and no they definitely can't forage for very much food at all. I've moved our birds twice a day in the past, though this year I bumped it down to once per day. They eat whatever bugs they may find, and they certainly chow down on clover and other forbs in their patch of grass. But Salatin estimates that the pasture cuts down by maybe 15% the amount of feed they need. Meat birds are so super-charged in their growth that they just need massive amounts of high-protein feed, and mostly they just lay around near the feeder and eat.

It takes very little acreage to do pastured meat birds. They don't go out on the field until 3 weeks or so, depending on weather etc. Ours usually have less than 5 weeks on the pasture. If you move something the size of the OP's pen (10x12) every day for 5 weeks, it comes to 4200 square feet if you don't repeat the placement. But bear in mind that you can fit an awful lot of meat birds in a 10x12 pen. Salatin puts about 75 birds in each. So a smaller pen with fewer birds can take up a lot less room.

 

[MacEntyre]

If two people eat one whole chicken once a week, year round, how many chickens should you keep? Do you buy a half dozen chicks per month and harvest the oldest and largest? I have not seen chicks for sale year round... do you have to breed yer own?

 

[Moylan]

It's apparently pretty difficult to actually breed the Cornish cross, because I think there are at least 2 generations involved? It's been awhile since I looked at the process, but anyway it seems complicated. Easier to buy them and have them sent in the mail. You can also find them at Tractor Supply during chick days, which seems to happen for a few periods per year. For meat birds, you definitely want the Cornish Cross (which is very different from the Cornish breed). Cornish birds go into the Cornish cross blood, but they're different. We've ordered from Valley Farms Hatchery the last two years and we've been happy, but there are lots of hatcheries that will deliver the birds for you.

We do ours all at once, usually starting in late April. We get the birds on the pasture in mid-May once they're feathered out and the nights aren't too chilly. We kill them in early June. Give or take. FYI, Stokes County has processing equipment you can rent for $50. You don't have to be a Stokes resident. Check your local extension office for similar equipment rentals. If you're doing more than 10 or 12 birds, the equipment is worth it. We do about 60, and doing it without the rental equipment would be totally miserable.

How many--like I said, we do about 60. We've currently got 5 people at home full time. 60 is probably too many birds for us, but we like to have plenty so we can give some away, but also because we cut the birds up, all but about 5, and do boneless/skinless breasts, legs/thighs, wings, and then bag up the carcasses for stock. We cook a lot of recipes with boneless/skinless breasts, so we like to have plenty. We run out of breast meat by March or April. The rest of the meat is too much for us. So it's a bit of a balancing act. I'd suggest starting with 25 or something and seeing how it goes, but on the other hand I don't want the responsibility of making suggestions. The first year or two we raised meat birds, we just kept them all whole and roasted them. That's nice, but it really cuts down on the chicken recipes you can make unless you want to use that nasty grocery store garbage.

We raise ours all at once instead of in smaller batches because of the costs involved (it's cheaper to do it all at once) and also because it's nice to have the additional chores for a few weeks, and then not to have them anymore. Meat birds are a fair bit of work for us, especially dealing with the water. I like doing it for the 1st few weeks they're on pasture. The last week, I'm ready for them to go.

 

[MacEntyre]

What an excellent description, @Moylan. I like that approach a lot.

What do you do to supplement the pasture foraging?

 

[Moylan]

Thanks. We just feed them chick feed, starting with 24% protein. I think this year we dropped it to 20% protein pretty early because feed wasn't as available as usual. The birds were a little smaller than usual, but we also processed a few days earlier than usual.

We do full feed. Some people suggest taking the food away for 12 hours a day, but I don't share that view. To me, the whole point of meat birds is for them to grow fast, and in order to do that, they need food. So I keep the feeders full all the time. Never had problems.

 

[Ikarus1]

@Moylan summed up the way we do it almost exactly, but we tried to book the Stokes county this past May (Jill's Dad lives in Pinnacle so not an out of the way drive from us) and it was booked SOLID until June 30th so I just decided to buy my own plucking machine. Supposedly Cabarrus and Rowan was going to buy one for use but honestly I like having my own ability to do it. $429 for a Yardbird machine will be written off on taxes. And no I don't loan, lend, or rent my farm equipment.

If two people eat one whole chicken once a week, year round, how many chickens should you keep? Do you buy a half dozen chicks per month and harvest the oldest and largest? I have not seen chicks for sale year round... do you have to breed yer own?

The Cornish Cross is for sale at Welps Hatchery nearly 24/7/365. You basically would need to have 100K chickens to breed the Cornish Cross the way commercial hatcheries do it. It's just not feasible for the layperson, and wouldn't be as good as the Iowa hatcheries since they've been doing it for 70+ years. I pay $2.xx per chick and roll to the Post Office twice a year to get chicks. Spring and Fall, mainly because I have pork and beef and deer in the freezers taking up space nearly all year. Protein ain't getting any cheaper and I prefer to eat my crickets filtered thru a chicken (sorry Klaus!) or a turkey.

If 2 people eat a whole chick once a week, there's 52 weeks a year, you need 60 chicks. So we break ours up into 2 batches spring and fall, and this year I raised 65 birds (minus around 10 for mortality - it happens with this racecar chicken!) so 55 puts us right there.

However....it's also possible to make at least 150% profit or my favorite, trade chicken for other needed things. Just traded a few leg quarters and breast me for about $250 worth of masonry supplies to build my well house foundation

Nice setup. How much acreage are you moving them around on and what frequency do you move them? Are you supplementing with feed or are they foraging for everything?

So here we are 20 days later and all my birds are in the cooler. I processed 23 in 2 days (about 5hrs total) with a little bit of help and my plucking machine.

To answer your questions, we have about 4 out of 11 acres cleared to pasture, but they don't require even a half-acre of pasture and we move them daily. They were in the brooder for around 3 weeks. We do supplement with a locally-milled non-gmo 21% protein starter feed and 19% protein non-GMO feed after 5 weeks. Compared to the first go-round in spring, these birds were MUCH healthier and active than when we used Nutrena 'Meatbird' 22% commercial feed. Lots of grasshoppers in the grass and they were chasing them any chance they had. I used about 12 bags of Nutrena for the last batch of 35 which costs me around $300.

This time, we used 4 bags of feed and it cost me $80. The total cost per bird (not including enclosure built) was around $8, down from $10. We are basically at $1 per pound for the best chicken I've ever seen, cleaned or tasted.

 

[Shady Grady]

Would you mind going into more detail about the watering system and how you have it connected?

What is your plan for watering when we get freezing temps?

Great looking setup.

 

[Leadchunker]

I’ll chime in on my watering system. I have a 10 x 16 shed. I have gutters front and back. The downspouts are connected in series with two 275 gallon caged totes. Ran out of water once when using only one tote. The totes are raised two and a half cement blocks. Gives about 4-5 psi when the totes are full.
I installed a feed line from the totes to the chicken run.
I built a manifold for the chicken run. It has 10 chicken nipples installed in line across the bottom.
The chickens learn how to use it pretty quick. Never have to water the chicken again until winter.
In the winter I drain the lines. It will all freeze and bust. I put two water setups on cement blocks inside the coop during the cold spells. A 40w light bulb between the blocks prevents freezing.

 

[Leadchunker]

Ikarus1 would you happen to have a video of you processing your birds?

 

[kcult]

Ikarus1 would you happen to have a video of you processing your birds?

@Ikarus1

 

[Ikarus1]

Ikarus1 would you happen to have a video of you processing your birds?

Not really, I havent gotten around to documenting on video, mainly because I am the one busy gutting chickens. I recommend watching youtube videos of Justin Rhodes, Melissa K Norris, Joel Salatin and a few others.

I tell people if you can gut a fish then you can eviscerate a chicken. Except I keep the good guts ie: heart, liver, gizzard.

Here are the finished whole birds bagged and ready for cell sail sell.

 

[MacEntyre]

Whaat must you do to sell sail cell them in compliance with the law?

 

[Ikarus1]

Whaat must you do to sell sail cell them in compliance with the law?

If you raise and slaughter on-site, you can sell up to 1000 without USDA or NC interference er I mean inspections. You must use sanitary methods of cleaning during the processing. The label has to have the P.L. exemption number and safe handling instructions. Pretty straightforward stuff

 

[MacEntyre]

If you raise and slaughter on-site, you can sell up to 1000 without USDA or NC interference er I mean inspections. You must use sanitary methods of cleaning during the processing. The label has to have the P.L. exemption number and safe handling instructions. Pretty straightforward stuff

where are the sanitary methods of cleaning specified?
what is the P.L. exemption number and where do you get it?
where area the safe handling instructions specified?

 

[Ikarus1]

where are the sanitary methods of cleaning specified?
what is the P.L. exemption number and where do you get it?
where area the safe handling instructions specified?

So the exemption is just a number found on the NC extension website that you put on the label. You dont have to apply for it, it is basically just a disclaimer. Same with safe handling instructions ie: dont eat raw chicken, wash hands, cook to 160° internal temp. Basic stuff

Sanitary methods during processing are found in this book and others like it. Google "processing meat chickens". Basically using clean sanitized working surfaces; ones you clean in between birds. We use cutting boards and antibacterial dish soap, with bleach spray nearby in case of a manure or other contaminant leakage from the carcass. The birds then soak in an ice bath, then seal in shrink bags that are dipped in 180° water then frozen. We have killed and eaten lots of wild game that we have processed ourselves so this is 2nd nature to my family

 

[lonehunter]

I have thought about doing this on a smaller scale. How do your home grown chickens stack up to store bought chickens for flavor?

 

[kcult]

I have thought about doing this on a smaller scale. How do your home grown chickens stack up to store bought chickens for flavor?

He said this...

We are basically at $1 per pound for the best chicken I've ever seen, cleaned or tasted.

 

[Jp8819]

Cool setup. I saw one the other day that looked neat as well on Youtube. Guy had used 4”pvc the lighter drainage pipe to build one. Big Benefit to it would be no rotting where it contacts the ground.

 

[Ikarus1]

Cool setup. I saw one the other day that looked neat as well on Youtube. Guy had used 4”pvc the lighter drainage pipe to build one. Big Benefit to it would be no rotting where it contacts the ground.

PVC is more expensive than treated wood, is brittle when exposed to sunlight and can't easily be fixed/repair/patched like a 1x3 (ripped 1x6) or 2x3.
These aren't really sitting on the same ground all the time so rotting would be really slow (since the organisms that "rot" wood wouldn't be static) as compared to a stationary coop. This has so many triangles in the design with lightweight and strong materials I am not sure you could improve it unless it was all-aluminum tubing. I saw some very small tractors made from aluminum at the HOA conference, and they were thousands. I could build 5 of these for what they cost.

Mr Salatin says in the design book that he has seen them made from all kinds of material, but the wood and aluminum covered structures have lasted more than 10 years, thru multiple snow and windstorms, and are cheaper than just about any other construction method. YMMV.

We toured his farm last week after the Homesteaders of America conference in VA........they have ALOT of these running simultaneously, so I tend to err on the side of listening to over 50 years of experience

 

[Ikarus1]

I have thought about doing this on a smaller scale. How do your home grown chickens stack up to store bought chickens for flavor?

the difference between store bought tomatoes and homegrown heirloom tomatoes. Or store bought eggs vs same day farm eggs.

In other words, the difference between east and west

 

[DurhamDad]

PVC is more expensive than treated wood, is brittle when exposed to sunlight and can't easily be fixed/repair/patched like a 1x3 (ripped 1x6).
These aren't really sitting on the same ground all the time so rotting would be really slow (since the organisms that "rot" wood wouldn't be static) as compared to a stationary coop.

Mr Salatin says in the design book that he has seen them made from all kinds of material, but the wood and aluminum structures have lasted more than 10 years, thru multiple snow and windstorms, and are cheaper than just about any other construction method. YMMV.

We toured his farm last week after the Homesteaders of America conference in VA........they have ALOT of these running simultaneously, so I tend to err on the side of listening to over 50 years of experience

Wow, would love to see his farm some day. What were the most useful things you took away from the visit?

 

[Ikarus1]

Wow, would love to see his farm some day. What were the most useful things you took away from the visit?

Well first off, it's a working farm that is open to the public. This kind of transparency leads to accountability in the highest sense.
When we pulled up, there was one other truck in the 'public' parking area, and Joel walked out of his house smiling and waved at us before leaving. The ladies in the farm store were super helpful, and showed us a map and where to see things. I was familiar with the layout because we had seen drone footage and commentary by his son Daniel during one of his presentations at HOA. It's an absolute gorgeous location, and it's quite obvious that their farmland is much more productive than the surrounding neighbors. Lots of farms have no clue on how to rotationally graze animals even though they live right next to the High Priest of the Pasture himself.

Joel said in one presentation at HOA that visitors shouldn't expect to see white picket fences, and the animals are the stars of the show. He is right. A single electric wire held up by all manner of fence posts, tree limbs, etc is what separates the cows from the access road and it worked just fine. The mantra of "if it works good enough, then it's perfect" is evident. The on-farm sawmill is centrally located, and they were even moving laying hens on grass in a similar tractor right behind the house. Lots and lots of moveable infrastructure is the key. Lots of premier1 fences and solar energizers were in the lower pastures. We saw the 'millenium feathernet' setup that holds up to 900 layers, which provides the majority of the farm's eggs. They were drawing down all operations for winter-time, so my wife and I will probably revisit in the late spring next year.

 

[Snal~]

This so cool! I could get into raising meat birds!

 

[Ikarus1]

This so cool! I could get into raising meat birds!

I never imagined it would be this good honestly. I used to hate driving past traditional 'poultry farms' and sucking in that chicken scat smell. When you run em on grass, they barely even smell like anything, and that super rich fertilizer goes right into the dirt while your grass gets a nice trim. If you run them behind ruminant animals like cows, then they eat the fly larvae, scratch thru the cow patties, and generally do the light tilling and dethatching that good pasture needs.