Moving Day

We have about 100 Cornish Cross Meat Chickens in two separate brooders in our garage.  They are a couple weeks old and are growing rapidly.  In fact their physical growth is directly proportional to their smell!  It is time for them to be moved out of the brooder and out to the pasture.  I like to get them on pasture as soon as possible.


Brooder #1 (Popeye's Brooder)

Brooder #2 (KFC Brooder)

The only problem is we don't have any room in either of the three chicken tractors out on the pasture.  Our 100 laying hens roost in two of the tractors at night and we don't want to move those girls and mess up their routines.  The other chicken tractor contains the first batch of meat birds (47 to be exact).  They'll need to be moved out first to make room for these guys.  They are getting pretty big and will be butchered in two weeks.  But where to put them?  

6 week old meat birds about to have a new home

I have an idea.  Some of my ideas work and well, some don't.  I'm not too proud to say I'm wrong and I'm not afraid to try new things.  We'll give this a go and see.  I went to Tractor Supply and bought three hog panels whose dimensions are 16 feet long by 34 inches tall.  That is perfect for my needs.  My plan is to fashion together a movable pen using hog panels to put the bigger meat birds in.  Let's get going.

A hog panel

In the picture above, you can see how the spaces in the wire panel are smaller at the bottom.  This is perfect for keeping the chickens in the cage and keeping some unwanted beasts out.  We pulled down the temporary fence in the sacrifice pasture as I'll need the step-in posts and wire for this project.  I showed you that exercise yesterday.  I have three 16 foot hog panels and the first thing I'll do is cut one of the panels in half with a grinder.

Wear protective glasses, of course

Then we'll begin to assemble the pen with the step in posts.  The pen will measure 16 feet by 8 feet and I'll move it every couple of days so the birds are always on fresh grass. 


Measuring the footprint of the movable pen

 You can see the progress below.  What I've done is I have wired the four corners together with tie wire.  Then to add stability, I've put a step-in post on all four corners and one in the middle.


Three sides done

Below is a picture of the (almost) completed pen.  It took no time to put together.  What I'll do to move it is this:  I'll pull the 6 step-in posts out of the ground and place them to the side.  I'll pull the feed and water troughs out and place them to the side as well.  Then, I'll drag the pen forward slowly, so as not to run over any of the chickens. 

Ready for the tenants to move in

I got in the chicken tractor that contains the meat birds and reached over and set a chicken on the top rail of the panel and gently pushed forward.  As I did this, the bird jumped to the ground.  I repeated this cycle until the job was completed.  I counted them and sure enough, 47 birds.  It was 72 degrees and by the time I had chased 47 birds around in the chicken tractor, I was worn out.

A chicken round-up

Benjamin told me, "I think they like their new pen, Dad."  I echo Benjamin's thoughts - I think they do too.  The birds happily walked around checking things out as we added the feed and water troughs.

Then I went to the brooders in the garage and moved all 100 birds to the chicken tractor on the pasture.  They definitely like the extra space to spread their wings out.  They ran around excitedly, pecking at grass and bugs on the ground.


Home Sweet Home

I added a blue tarp across the top 1/3 of the pen to shield them from sun and rain and wired it to the panels.  I also tied an 8 foot galvanized post from side to side and clamped two heat lamps on it.  I think our job is done!  Rosie and Daisy, nosy as ever, come check things out.  That is why I pulled down the fence around the sacrifice pasture yesterday and you can see below, I've set it up around the perimeter of the chicken tractor and new broiler pen to keep the nosy cows from trying to eat chicken feed. (Believe me, they'll get after it!) 

The building inspectors arrive



Close up shot showing the blue tarp and heat lamps

Fat and happy birds, sunning themselves on a beautiful afternoon

But our work is not quite finished.  Now I'll have to go in the garage and scoop out all of the chick's poop from the brooder and put it on the compost pile.  Everyday we sprinkle fresh wood shavings on the floor of the brooder and every day, they "fowl" it up.  (Sorry, I had to do it.)  This picture tells the tale of why our garage was stinking so bad.


Brooder full of poop

Today was a productive day.  I got a lot done.  I'll sleep like a baby tonight.