Moving Day for Meat Chickens

The Cornish Cross Meat Chickens that have been living in the brooder in our garage for two and a half weeks, are moving out to the chicken tractor in the pasture today.  They are just too smelly.  Every time you open the back door to go into the garage, the smell is over-powering.  We had to push the chicken tractor close to the fence in the pasture and run an extension cord from the back patio to the tractor. 


Cornish Cross Condominium

Then I moved the heat lamps.  This is very important.  You don't want the birds to get cold or they will either freeze or pile up on top of one another and suffocate.


Heat lamps

As I was carrying the waterer and the feed troughs, I had the 'hood' up on the chicken tractor.  Of course Daisy came to check things out.  Russ blocked all the gaps between the bottom of the tractor and the ground where the little birds might escape with pieces of 2 x 4.  You don't want little birds escaping with cats and dogs and other predators lurking around.

You can see where the North side of the tractor is covered with tin, whereas everything else is covered with chicken wire.  I stapled some feed sacks over the chicken wire on part of it to keep the wind from blowing on the birds.  I left part open to air and sunshine to give them a choice.  This is temporary - sort of like a canvas top on a jeep.  If the weather is nice, you can take it off.


Makeshift windbreaker

Finally time for rounding them up and moving them out.  I used an empty tub and found that I could put 25 birds at a time to carry them out to the tractor.  It will take two trips.

Packed like sardines in a can

Here Russ is dumping them out in their new, spacious accommodations. 

More room to roam - on grass to boot!

I'm showing you the empty brooder.  You can see why it stinks so bad.  All of that stuff in the bottom is poop.  Every day they poop and everyday we pile more hay and leaves on top, but 49 birds eating all day and then pooping is more than we can keep up with.  We'll move the poop/hay out to the compost pile.

The brooder needs to be cleaned out.

All 49 birds are spaced evenly on the grass and that tells you the temperature is comfortable for them.


Some birds are already pecking away at the grass

There is only one small problem as I look at the birds positioned under the heat lamps.  I think they will get too cold set up as is.  At this stage of their development, they need the temperature to be 90 degrees.  It was 31 degrees last night outside.  I have to figure a way to move the light closer to the chicks.

Comfortable now, but what about tonight?

This arrangement isn't pretty, but I screwed a 1 x 12 to the 2 x 4 roof support.  This allows me to move the heat lamp in closer proximity to the chickens, keeping them warmer and using the protein they're eating to grow muscle versus try to stay warm.  As the birds grow, I'll have to adjust the lamps upward so they don't get too hot.


Not pretty, but it works.

I need another feed trough so that all the birds can get feed at the same time.  They've grown and some are being crowded out, so I went to get a pan that was on top of the other chicken tractor to use as a second feed trough.  It still had ice in it from the cold night.


Jack Frost nipping at your nose...

While the others are scratching away at the fresh grass, two birds have made it to the buffet line.


Our Maker's Acres All U Can Eat Buffet

I walked out at night just to check on the birds.  They were huddled underneath the lamps and appear to be doing fine.  We'll check in on them tomorrow morning, but I think they like their new living arrangements. 

Warm and Toasty