The chicken experiment

Saturday it was time to kill and process the eight Cornish cross chicks that I bought May 1.  My best guess of their age is about 7 weeks, since they were about ten days old when I got them.  They had already eaten through a 40 pound and most of a 50 pound bag of feed.  I did not want to buy another bag of feed and it just seemed like it was time.

Raising eight birds required more work than I thought, from tending the chicks in a brooder then in an outdoor pen to processing.  The unexpected hot weather was a huge problem.  After the first 90 degree day I pulled the pen a hundred feet to the shade just south of the woods, or they might have succumbed to the heat in the sun.  Being so close to the woods I was worried about predators getting them but nothing ever happened. On the hottest days I had to change their water 2-3 times a day.  Still, all eight chickens survived. 

Cornish cross chickens are eating machines that have had the brains bred out of them.  All they know is to sit around the feeder, eat and poop.  Each morning I moved the pen it’s own length then removed the feeder for about an hour so they would forage in the fresh grass.  It took them awhile, but in the last week they began to actively graze and forage like real chickens, even with the feeder in the pen.  So it took them several weeks to learn to overcome their genetics and act like chickens.

Since their pen was in the tall grass near the woods I never tried to let them out until a few days ago when I pulled the pen back onto the lawn.  After I opened the door they would not go outside for anything, even when the feeder was set just outside the door.  Curious they are not.   

These birds have a lot of negatives for the hobby farmer.  They have been bred to grow in a confined factory setting.  For the backyard hobbyist a chicken with better foraging abilities and more sense is preferred.   The options are few.  JM Hatcheries sells a meatbird called Freedom Ranger chickens which are developed from the French Label Rouge chickens and are supposed to have more chicken “sense”.  The minimum order is 25 birds, more than I want.  And you won’t find anything like that at the local farm store.

I wanted kill the chickens humanely and use proper hygiene.  I looked on YouTube for videos on processing chickens and was amazed at how many of the videos were totally useless – people with no clue about what they were doing.  Childish really.  You would think that killing an animal that you raised is something  to be taken seriously.

Not counting the startup costs of building the pen and buying feeders and waterers, I spent about thirty dollars on feed and eight dollars for the chicks.  I put in many hours hauling feed and water and moving the pen.  Then there’s the processing, which took me most of Saturday.   For that I got about 30 pounds of dressed chicken – about four pounds per bird.  At two bucks a pound that’s about sixty dollars worth of chicken.  I soaked one of the chickens in Stubb’s marinade and cooked it on the grill.  It was good allright, and tasted exactly like a storebought chicken, no better or worse.  Was it worth it?  I think so, at least for the experience.  Next year I’ll have more experience and the whole process should be less trouble.  I’m going to look for an alternative to the Cornish Cross.

 

Chickens and snakes

The chickens look like they are being chickens in their new home, arguing, sleeping, eating and pooping.  So far they have plenty of space.  One thing I would change if I was building it again is the height of the tractor.  The book about chicken tractors suggested building it three feet high.  That’s way more than is necessary – two feet high is enough – and a lower tractor will weigh less, always important when you have to move it once a day.  But it seems to work just fine. 

After the pen was built and moved into place the chicks were put in their new home.  About ten minutes after moving time I spied a snake about 20 feet away laying in a sunny spot.  As kids we called these black racers, very thin and fast non-venomous snakes.  This one was between three and four feet long, and pointing in the direction of the new pen.  Hmmm I thought.  So I got some pictures.

Now normally these snakes are welcome.  Since I began seeing them last year the moles have become much less of a problem.  In fact this spring there have been no subsurface tunnels in the yard, although the moles are putting up popholes around the yard.   I realized that a snake-chicken encounter was not in anyone’s best interests.  The chickens were already stressed by their change in abode and not yet adapted to the outdoors. The snake might be able to kill a chick, but there is no way it could swallow one, and if it tried it wouldn’t be able to get out of the pen and would probably get pecked to death by the chickens.

   

I guessed that the snake, being cold-blooded, was sunning itself until its body temperature warmed sufficiently for it to make a move.  Sure enough, after awhile in the sun, it moved directly for the pen.  By the time I got off the porch and close enough it was about a foot into the pen, going easily through the chicken wire.  I grabbed it by the tail, pulled it out and flipped it into the yard.  Then I tried to catch it with a rake to take it further away.  That's when I found out that they are very quick indeed.  It escaped under the porch and I haven’t seen it since.   

After several days in the outdoors I'm more confident of the chicken's ability to handle themselves.  Still you never know what nature will throw at you.

Building the Chicken Tractor part 2 of 2

The last post finished with something like “it’s close to being finished.”  Ha.  After building things for many years I should learn not to say things like that.  It’s never close to being finished until it’s done.  Here’s  the completion of the chicken tractor, complete with chickens:

The rest of the chicken wire was stapled on.  For this I used an air compressor and pneumatic stapler – a real timesaver for a tedious job.  The little chicken door at one end was attached with some small hinges.  Then it was time to take the pen off the sawhorses and put on the metal siding, which is attached with special screws that have a rubber washer.  The siding was left over from the pole barn and some other projects.  That’s why there are three different colors of metal siding on this pen.  Although most of the pictures of chicken tractors I have looked at don’t show any covering on the sides, I wanted to give the birds a place at one end that offers some protection from storms.  

Then it was time to make the roof.  Before starting the roof I concluded that the top of the frame needed a crosspiece to rigidify the structure, so I cut a 2x2 the same length as the end 2x2 and fastened it with screws from the top siderails (Note that much of the design I’m making up as I go). The lid, which was built earlier (pic in previous post) was set on top of the pen and attached with two hinges.  Then the metal siding (I guess it can be called roofing at this point) was put on. 

After putting two pieces of siding on the lid the battery in the cordless screwdriver needed recharging, and of course the spare battery was also dead.  I began thinking about a prop to hold the lid open.  A scrap of cedar 1x3 was notched at one end to seat on the top rail, and the other end was screwed to the lid.  Then I realized that the lid needed some protection from a gust of wind lifting it and flipping it over.  I found two rubber stretch cords gathering dust in a minibarn.  Each cord was hooked to an eyebolt in the frame and the lid so it was under slight tension when the prop was in place.  A hasp was put on and a wood handle fastened to the lid.

With the drill battery recharged the last piece of siding was attached to the lid.  I needed a predator proof lock on the chicken door.  Scrounging around the workshop I found some PVC conduit and also some fasteners for attaching conduit or pipe to framing.  Without getting into too much detail, the conduit slides through the fasteners on either side of the door and prevents it from opening.  I’m hoping that no raccoon is clever enough to figure this device out. 

To move the pen two eyebolts were attached to the bottom rail and a length of rope tied to them so the pen can be lifted up and pulled.   I added a second cross member at the top of the frame, that way the waterer and the feeder can each be hung from the top with some distance between them.   I screwed on a dowel near the bottom so the chickens can roost.  The pen was pulled into the yard and the wheels removed.  With the wheels off it was not difficult to drag it over grass to it’s first spot.  Finally I picked up the brooder box with chickens, set it in the pen and turned it on its side:

I think they like their new home.

Building the Chicken Tractor part 1 of 2

It’s unbelievable the rate at which the meat chickens are growing.  They will have to go out of the brooder in a few more days, and I’ve been busy building a movable pen (chicken tractor) for their new home.

I sketched out a design for the pen that should be lightweight but strong enough to withstand being moved around the yard every day.   The pen can be dismantled to the lid and four sides by removing some screws.  In this post I’ll show the construction of the basic frame.   The first pic shows the pen after I stopped for the day.

Now for the construction.  The two long sides, which are mirror images of each other, were built first.  Most of the pen is made from 2x2’s ripped from 2x4’s, except for the bottom rails and the corner posts which are 2x4’s.  The bottom 2x4 rail is red cedar, since it is rot resistant and will be in contact with the ground.  The remaining wood is made from premium eight foot 2x4, which cost about $2.50 apiece at the local lumberyard.  They look like Douglas Fir, and should be stronger than spruce.  The side panel is about 7’ long.  The bottom rail is extended on one side about 5 inches.  A wheel will go there.

The corner posts of the side walls are notched with a circular saw at the top and bottom to fit the horizontal frame members.  Fastening the horizontals into the notch makes for a very strong attachment.  Mostly the frame members are fastened with screws, although I used a few nails the first day after I ran out of 3” screws.   The pics below show the notched endpost. 

I was planning to square the sides with the metal siding, but since the siding is put on last I thought it best to get the long sides at least close to square before assembling.   This is where using screws instead of nails is really handy.  I cut a short diagonal 2x2 with 45 degree bevels using the miter saw, put a framing square into the corner of the wall,got the wall close to square, and screwed the diagonal into the corner post with a cordless driver.  Then I checked the wall for square again and screwed the other end of the diagonal into the top rail.  Good enough for a chicken coop although a larger structure would require more careful squaring.

Next the ends were built.  For these a 2x2 corner is fine since it will be attached to the 2x4 corner post of the long side.  One of the ends has a second 2x2 a few inches below the top rail.  The purpose of this is to leave an opening at the top of the wall for venting, while the rest of this wall will get siding.   

The walls were laid out on the driveway for assembly.

The sides were then screwed together.  This was the easy part and took about 10 minutes.

I’ll point out here that I made a mistake.  The corner post in the pictures above and below should have been fastened 1 ½ inches in from the end of the bottom and top rails.  That way the bottom rail on the long side could be fastened directly to the bottom short side rail.  At this point I wasn’t about to change it, and I think the attachment will be plenty strong anyway.  I had to check and see if I had designed the inset in the plans, and yes I did.  So the plans were OK, the execution not so much.

The lid, which will be attached with hinges, was built from 2x2’s and set aside.  It will get metal roofing that was left over when the pole barn was built. 

At that point a thunderstorm was moving in fast, so I put away my tools for the day.  Today I finished up the framing for the chicken door, stapled the rest of the chicken wire on, and attached the wheels.  The wheels are below the level of the frame, but I couldn’t justify moving them any higher or there would not be enough wood above the axle to support the weight.  Note that the 2x4’s in the wheel area were angle cut.  I found the pen can still be dragged quite easily with the wheels off because of this taper.  I’ll probably put the wheels on when the pen has to be pulled over rough ground some distance.

Tomorrow I’ll take the pen off the horses and finish it. I’m reposting the picture at the top of the post to help the viewer picture how it got from A to B.  I’m a little concerned about how much it will weigh once the metal siding is on, but at this point the weight is very manageable.  I’ll have to come up with some raccoon proof latches for the chicken door but it’s close to being finished.     

Chickens

What’s a place in the country without some chickens?  I planned to get some egg layers and built an A-frame mobile chicken coop last winter to house them, then had second thoughts.  I want to do some traveling this fall and with a flock of hens to take care of that will be impossible.  Besides there’s a farm just down the road that sells nice big eggs for $1.50 a dozen.  Then I hit on what seems the perfect solution – meat birds.  Raise them for 10 weeks, butcher and put in the freezer. 

A week ago I picked up eight Cornish Cross chicks at Tractor Supply, brought them home and put them in a brooder I made from a box.  They were in pretty bad shape when I put them in the brooder, just laid there and trembled, probably stressed from the trip.  I had some doubts that all of them would make it through the night, but the next morning they were all active and chirping.    

The clerk at the store said they were about 10 days old when I bought them, so they should be about 2 ½ weeks old now.  I really don’t know, since I haven’t been around chickens enough to judge their age, but I suspect they are a bit older.  It’s amazing how fast they have grown in one week.  It won’t be long before they go outdoors into the movable pen (chicken tractor). 

The Cornish X chickens are bred for efficient fast conversion of feed to meat in a confined setting.  The downside to this is they don’t forage as well as older breeds or have much chicken sense.  They also develop leg and heart problems because they grow so fast.  One way to slow the growth rate is to give the chicks a feed with a little less protein content.  This may add a week or two for them to reach finished size, but will allow their systems to develop in sync with their meat.   The chickens will also be able to forage.  I’m building them a chicken tractor, essentially a 4’x7’ cage with a metal roof and no floor that can be moved every day.  In a future post I’ll describe how the pen was built.