Meat Bird Tractor Update

I had another member of BYC ask a few good questions about my tractor, so I figured I should add that information here as well.

He wanted to know about coyotes, coons and the cost to build.  Here is my reply:

Opossums, hawks and dogs are the only predators I've had to deal with at my location in the past 7 years I've lived and raised chickens here, so those are what I planned for.

A coyote couldn't lift this tractor.  It's too heavy.  It's only movable by skidding it along with the pull rope.  I can move it by myself on dry days, but in mud it takes DH and I both to do it.  It did flip in 70 mph storm winds on Halloween, but that was because a freak storm blew through the N.E. unannounced and I didn't have time to hammer in the storm anchors (rebar) and I unfortunately had it turned facing into the wind.

Coons... I have the bottom half of the tractor outside of the cattle panels (and underneath the tarp) also covered with 2x4 welded wire fencing.  Front and back arch of the tractor are completely covered with it, top to bottom.  If you have a lot of trouble with coons in your area, you could cover the rest of the top and door with it too.  Or maybe even go with something smaller like 1x2 cage wire.

I can't say exactly what the total cost would be since I used mostly salvaged/leftover materials.  Two cattle panels would probably run you $40-$50.  The tarp I paid about $20 for.  Eight 2x4s...about $2.50 each.  32 foot of 3' high 2x4 welded wire, maybe $30.  The door was salvaged off of my old coop and made with scrap lumber to begin with.  Small galvanized staples, a box of wood screws, door hinges/latch and some zip ties...about $15.  It comes to around $135.  After having two of my layer flocks wiped out by stray dogs, it was a necessary investment for me.  I've had no invaders or losses after that.

All good questions, thanks for your interest.

Some of you probably recall the storm I am talking about from Halloween night.  A cold front moved in quickly after a couple of 70 degree days and caused quite a stir.  I had the stomach flu that day and awoke at 4:30am burning up after my fever broke and when I went to open the window to let in some cool air, I spied my 31 meaties all out in front by the road, huddled in a ditch.  So out into the rainy, dark night I went to fetch them, two by two.  They spent a day in my chainlink fenced front yard until I could construct another enclosure.  The tractor took some damage and needs repaired.  They were roughly two weeks from processing day, so they finished out in a stationary fenced area over one of my garden plots.  I did lose one when the tractor flipped, but the rest were fine.  I am just glad I found them before my neighbors had to come knocking on my door!

A note on how my meaties turned out overall this year:  The tractor system was a wonderful success and very ideal for their health and my chicken-keeping pleasure...ha.  I am not sure that the hatchery sent me Cornish Cross though.  They may have been Cornish Roasters instead, which are nearly identical in appearance, but are from a different, slower growing strain.  These birds were very active and ate bugs and grass, scratched, roosted and dirt-bathed in addition to eating their feed.  I've NEVER had CX do that before.  They had no leg problems or unexplained, sudden deaths.  I usually lose 1-3 out of about 40 chicks in the first two weeks.  These grew out about 2 weeks slower as well.

I also tried a new, locally sourced feed mix this year formulated by a pastured CX producer in my area.  It contained cracked corn and whole grains of wheat in addition to soybean meal and some other things.  It was much more cost effective for me since I could buy it in bulk.  I can get it at $26 for 100 lbs., whereas the Dumor 24% chick feed would have cost me around $20 per 50 lb. bag.  She said hers still grew out at 7-8 weeks on it, but mine did not.  There were too many variables for my flock this year...the storm, the feed, possibly not CX...so I did not bother to extrapolate my feed conversion rate or costs.  It wouldn't tell me much of anything useful for comparison anyway.

Most of my birds averaged around 5 pounds dressed weight (I did not weigh them all though.)  I kept a couple a little longer and they were huge.  I have one 9 pound (dressed) bird in the freezer that I will look forward to cooking in the turkey fryer for a special occasion or summer barbeque.  :)

My Rockin' New Chicken Tractor

I apologize that my posts are so rare and sporadic anymore. That is the nature of my life these days. I am super busy!

But anyhow, I wanted to show you my new chicken tractor...the chicken tractor I have dreamed about for the past year or so and only now had time or reason to build.

My next batch of Cornish X meat birds will come in August, but for now I have some 8 week old Easter Eggers hanging out in there until I can finish building my new coop.

I tried to put this up as a slideshow from my Photobucket account, but it won't embed for some reason. But if you click through on the picture below, you can go through each picture one-by-one and all the specs are given in the description below the pic.

Click on the image to see all the pics (11 total.)

Two things I learned on this project:  1) Wood screws with star drive bit heads rock!  And 2) Holding onto fence staples with a pair of needle nose pliers is much kinder to your thumbs.

This new tractor is going to make my life so much easier! Raising those CX might even become fun. I love the self-enclosed automatic watering bucket with chicken drinker nipples because the water will never get poopy. That means healthier birds--a substantially lowered risk for E-coli or cocci. And everything moves along WITH the tractor. No stepping into poo to take out the feeder and waterer prior to moving it.

Despite its size, this tractor is very easy for me to move by myself. Note though, it is necessary to pound on the far side of the tractor with your hand prior to pulling it along so that the birds will move out of the way and not get their feet squashed under the frame.

I took my time and really thought this one through. I think this design will serve me well for years to come.

(Read about how my 2013 batch of CX turned out in my tractor update here.)

The Numbers Are In...

 

Rosemary and Honey BBQ Baked Chicken

I am often asked if I actually come out ahead by raising our own chickens for meat.  This was the third year we've done these Cornish Cross meat birds and it was certainly the best year I've had to date as I have figured out a few things along the way and streamlined my management practices significantly. 

There are still a few things I'd like to improve.  Buying my feed in bulk from the local grain mill instead of Tractor Supply is one of them.  I kept meticulous records with this batch and now I know exactly how much feed it takes to raise them to harvesting weight.

We processed the second half of our Cornish Cross meat birds on the Saturday before last and I spent part of last week cutting up chicken and packing it for the freezer.  My freezer is full!  I don't know if I can get anything else in there for awhile.

I didn't take live weights on the birds as I raised them, although those numbers would have been useful.  I'll have to buy a proper scale if I plan to do that in the future. 

I did carefully record the dressed weight.  After tinkering around in MS Excel, the numbers are in -- I do save a lot of money by raising my own chicken AND I get a high quality, pasture-raised meat, free of medications, processed cleanly and humanely.

(Click to see larger version.)

You hear a lot about high bird losses with Cornish Cross; that they are prone to leg problems, heart problems and necrosis in the breast meat from the heavy weight of the birds.  I have experienced very little health problems with mine, other than random deaths when they are under two weeks old.  I have had a "gimpy" or two in each flock, but those seem to have been from injuries rather than overfeeding and all but two have recovered and gone on to make good weights.

I believe a 12 hours on/12 hours off feeding schedule is the best thing you can do to prevent health problems.  They also require a thick, soft layer of bedding as chicks and a very high protein ration to help them build strong legs.

I start mine out on 24% turkey chick feed and finish them off their last two weeks on regular 20% chick feed.  I had to buy a few bags of 16% layer crumbles this time around when TSC was out of the chick starter, but it worked out well.

My shipment of 40 chicks came on February 28th this year and this worked out much better than raising them to harvest weight in the hot days of May.  The heat is very hard on them.  They much prefer the cooler spring weather (although the incessant rain was not a plus.)  Less heat stress on the bird equals better feed conversion.  This also helped to get them done and out of the way before things get too busy in the garden!

One thing I've noted about Cornish Cross is that they are not likely to eat treats or forage unless they are really hungry.  This is another benefit of feeding them 12 hours on/12 hours off.  They'll usually pick around at the clover, grass, bugs, etc. as they wait for their feeders to be returned to them.

I turned my birds out into their tractor at about 4 weeks of age.  The design of my PVC chicken tractor is something else I hope to improve next year.  The current tractor is too cumbersome for me to move by myself.  I also learned the hard way not to secure the tarp too tightly across the top.

I meant to get a picture of my husband plucking chickens.  He has really got it down to a science now.  I timed him and he can pluck a chicken in 3.5 minutes.  That has to be some kind of record!  :D  We had considered building a whiz-bang chicken plucker, but now I don't think that will be necessary.  It would probably take us longer to get one built than it would to just pluck the chickens in the first place.  Ha.

My husband does the "deed", scalds, plucks and removes the feet for me.  I do the evisceration and clean them up and pack them into the chill tank.  Between the both of us, assembly line style, we can process one bird every 13 minutes.  Well, that is if we are focused and getting down to business.  I've found that talking slows us down considerably.

This has been the first year that my daughter has really been aware of what was going on.  She took it very well and even ate chicken livers that same night!  She was interested in these Cornish Cross when they were chicks, but they became increasingly less appealing to her as they got bigger.

So...my bottom line after plugging in all the numbers -- I put up 171 pounds of chicken and I got my meat at $1.77 a pound.  I forgot to check at the grocery store last night to see what whole cut-up chicken was going for there. 

Some folks we know from church sell pastured Cornish Cross chickens at the farmer's market.  The numbers I compared mine with was their pricing from last year.  I will be interested to see what their price is this year, as the cost of feed continues to climb.  I remember buying my chicken feed for about $8 for a 50# bag three years ago.

I still have chicken stock to can and I didn't price the organ meats.  We like the livers and the dog gets the rest for treats.  I didn't factor the price of bedding into the cost of my meat because I get added value out of all the manure they produce for my garden.

All in all, it was a good year.  I have a year's supply of the tastiest chicken in my freezer and now I can move on to other things.

This post is part of the Homestead Barn Hop at The Prairie Homestead.

Take a minute to visit some of these other interesting homesteading blogs!

I've A Feeling We're Not In Kansas Anymore...

Wow.  How about this weird weather?

Sunday was in the 80's and muggy.  Monday we were under Tornado Watch and the wind picked up my chicken tractor and tried to blow my dinner away.  Today, Tuesday, it's in the mid-forties and I've had to fire up the woodstove one...more...time (crossin' my fingers.)

Here's the meaties hanging out after I got the chicken tractor set back up.  A little bit redneck, but it does the job.  It takes two of us to move this tractor (not really happy with the design, but I'll have to work on that next year.)  I had the tarp covering it all the way across the top and had it attached so well with bungees that the wind picked it up and tossed it like a frisbee.  It's over 100 pounds!

I couldn't flip it back over or move it by myself, so I had to completely disassemble it and reassemble it. 

The birds didn't go anywhere.  They just sat huddled around the feeder looking a little stunned.  It took me two hours to put everything back together and round up all 36 chickens.  (You don't want to chase them too hard or give them a heart attack.)

Cornish X are tasty, but they're rather unnatural and not very chicken-like in their mannerisms.  This will probably be the last year I raise them for the freezer.  I want to work on developing a good dual-purpose homestead flock next year, possibly Light Sussex or Black Copper Marans.

Anyhow, while I'm bemoaning my bad luck with the weather, check out my swamp. This is my garden today, April 12, 2011.

And THIS is my garden last year, April 7, 2010...

I am so far behind right now.  I've just had to toss my ag extension garden calendar.  It's giving me nervous fits.  No tilling until the swamp dries out.  The only things I have planted right now are peas, onions (in a raised bed) and a little bit of spinach that was left over from my winter low tunnel experiment.  The renegade chickens ate all of my early lettuce.  Their days are numbered...

This is my lilac bush last year, same date as above.

This year, a week later than that, it still has not yet bloomed.

I am so ready for sunshine, warm breezes and flowers.  Where did spring go?

We've had a lot of unsettled weather this spring and a lot of high winds and a few tornado watches.  My neighbor, Charlie, got tired of picking up all the branches on his maple trees, so he hired some fellas to come give them a drastic haircut.  They'll eventually bush back up again, but they really do look funny right now!

Sorry for the low quality of these pictures.  There was a drizzly rain all day and I didn't want to get my good camera wet, so I took my pocket-sized point-and-click with me instead.  Such a dismal day as it was, there wasn't much the good camera could have done to make it look any better anyway.  :P

All They Do

...is Eat, Drink and Poo.

The next couple of weeks will find me intensely involved in making sure these Cornish X chickens have a clean bedding and that the feeders don't run out during the day.  It's like a sprint to the finish line.

It can be a hassle and a drain.  I can't lie.  But the whole reason I will put up with these freakish beasties over the next month is for the mouth-watering, healthy, wholesome meat they will provide for my family's table.

It really is unbelievable how fast they grow.

Here is their current progress at four and a half weeks of age.  Note how little ol' Mystery Rooster chick is still hanging in there with the big guys, bless his heart.  I'm kind of glad now that I have him, because it does help to comparatively demonstrate the Cornish X rate of growth.

I am studiously keeping notes on their feed consumption and my other costs involved with their care.  On the last batch we did, I kept track of what I spent on feed and weighed each processed bird.  I used those calculations to discover that with a little bit of elbow-grease on my part, I can put hormone-free, preservative-free, superior tasting chicken on the table for nearly the same cost of buying factory produced chicken at the grocery store at the average going price (not sale priced).

The difference in flavor and texture really stands out.  I put mine in a chicken tractor for grow-out and they do consume some greens and weeds which improves the flavor.  I also can't stand the texture of brined poultry. 

Did you know that part of the price you pay for chicken at the grocery store is for a significant volume of salt-water that is infused into the meat?  Brining equals mushy meat, in my opinion.  A well-raised and humanely processed bird will never require brining to "tenderize" the meat.  Store bought chicken nowadays is also Cornish X birds and they are so young at process time, they can't help but be tender anyways.  I believe they mainly brine them to increase water-weight in the meat.

Anyhoo...off my soapbox.  What I wanted to show you is my new watering set up.

An endless supply of water! 
A reprieve for me from the constant chore of filling the water bottles!

I can now leave the house for more than 4 hours at a time and trust that my birds won't be suffering from dehydration when I get back.

This is a $10 stock tank float valve that I mounted to a little piece of 2x4.  I took a square bucket (left over from my horse's supplements) and cut it off at just the right height to allow the float valve to drop, which still leaves the edge of the bucket low enough for the birds to drink from it.  I slid the valve/2x4 assembly over the edge of the bucket and it holds with a snug fit, but it still allows me to easily remove the bucket for a thorough cleaning.  I hooked it up to the garden hose and put it inside the pen.  It sits up squarely on it's own.

I am so happy with this set up now.  (You figure out something new every year, it seems.)  They were beginning to consume 5-6 gallons of water a day.  That will increase as they continue to grow.

The recycled juice bottles I was using work great while they are small chicks.  Forty birds will only drink 1 or 2 gallons of water a day at that time. 

But once they start to grow...the frantic rate of cellular division requires a lot of water to support the energy expended for growth.  Basically, as much as they eat, they will drink. 

Then they poo.

But that's a whole other post...

While I'm at it, I'll go ahead and show you my nearly FREE feeder system.  No $30 plastic feeders from Tractor Supply for me - it cuts into my profits!

I politely beg free food-grade plastic buckets from my local deli or bakery.  They will throw these out otherwise (I would hope they at least recycle them).  As long as the folks behind the counter are not too busy at the time, they usually don't mind to get the buckets for you, as long as you ask nicely.  Make sure you get the lids too.

Then I hop over to the auto parts store or the automotive department of Walmart and purchase a plastic oil change pan.  These will only run you about $2.50 each.

Take your buckets home and wash them out well.  Then cut a series of one and a half inch diameter holes around the bottom of the bucket every two inches apart.  I use a large drill bit to penetrate the plastic at the center of the intended hole, then carefully cut it out with a jig-saw.  You can also use a razor knife, but I've found that to be too dangerous for my fingers.

Set the bucket inside the oil change pan, fill with feed, put the lid on and there you go.

As soon as the weather improves, I will be putting the meat birds out to pasture in my PVC chicken tractor.  I'll show you that too when the time comes.  I had hoped they would be outside by now, but we are having an unusually cold and damp spring.  For now they are stuck in my garage and they are beginning to stink!

Sneaky

What...is...this?

This is not a Cornish X!

This is a "Free Mystery Rooster" which I distinctly remember NOT ordering.  He was not listed on my packing invoice either.

Sneaky!

The poor little guy is a fish out of water trying to hang in there with these big guys.  You can see how much larger the Cornish X are compared to your ordinary standard breed chick at three weeks of age pictured here.

They are four times his size!

It truly is freaky how fast they grow.  Their juvenile plumage looks pretty rough right now.  The only part of them that still resembles a chick is their fluffy, yellow heads.  Their bodies grow so fast, they can hardly stay covered.

I don't know what I'm going to do with this little guy.  The meat birds will be processed and in the freezer by 8 weeks of age.  He'll still be a baby - too small to put in with the layers - and he'll be all alone!

Maybe the hatchery worker should have thought of that before they decided to toss him into the box?

The Not-So-Fun Part of Raising Chickens - Culling

I had to cull a chick this morning.  This is the first time I've ever been home by myself and haven't had my Bright-and-Shining-Farmer available to do the dirty work for me.

The poor little thing was already very small and had a gimpy leg.  If they are getting around, eating and drinking, I'll usually let the gimpies go on.  Inevitably they'll turn out smaller at processing time than the others.  Really, it's more sensible to cull for quality and I know that.

When I went out to tend the chicks this morning, I noticed that this one was weak and it didn't move to the feeders with the others.  It just laid there and panted.  The bigger chicks ran right over top of it to get to the food.  I knew it was suffering and I had to do something about it.

That's just part of good animal husbandry.  You have to acknowledge when you take on responsibility for an animal that times like this will inevitably come.

((Deep sigh)) But that doesn't make it any easier!

I got online and searched http://www.backyardchickens.com/ to see if there were any quick, painless ways to euthanize a chick that didn't involve a hatchet.  After reading a couple of threads full of useless arguing, it became apparent that there ISN'T an easy way to do it, so I went to the basement and got the hatchet.

I don't know why - I've processed many chickens for the freezer before, but when it comes to cute, fuzzy, yellow chicks it was a lot harder to steel myself for the job.

The chick was still squirmy enough that I knew the hatchet would be traumatic for us both.  I was upsetting it just by picking it up.

I took a deep breath.  I set the chick back down long enough to put on a pair of gloves, prayed quickly for strength and with a quick motion dislocated the poor chick's neck.  It died instantly. 

And instantly I was relieved of the burden, knowing that I had done the right thing.

I would have been haunted all day if I had turned my back on its suffering and let it linger.

I've had a lot higher losses in this batch of chicks than I have had in previous years.  This makes six now.  The only thing really different is that I got them a month earlier than usual and perhaps the unstable temperatures have had something to do with it?  Or it could be that the flake pine shavings I bought are too firm and are contributing to spraddle leg? 

McMurray Hatchery chicks have always done so well for me before and losing two or three very young in age has been the average.  I have 35 Cornish X chicks remaining and two more of those are a bit on the small side.

The Nuggets Are Here

 

Saturday as I was setting up my brooder, I had bragged to my husband that we were getting to be old hands at this business of raising chicks.  I had all my supplies clean and ready to go.  I clamped my heat bulb securely to a chain that I had hung from the ceiling in the garage.  It was then a small matter to tape together a cardboard draft shield and fill it with pine shavings.

Email notification was received - my 40 Cornish X chicks were on schedule to arrive Monday morning as planned.  Everything was set up and ready for them.  Check, check and double-check.

I got up at 6:30, got my husband out the door for work, got myself ready, set out some clothes for Ava and decided to do a few dishes as I waited for the Post Office lady to call.

Looking out my kitchen window, I could see dark clouds gathering in the southwest.  The big storm they were calling for was definitely on its way.  We were under a flood watch and a tornado watch, as well as a hail and high wind advisory.

I looked at the clock nervously, hoping they would hurry up and call.  At 7:30am the phone rang and in a few quick minutes I got Ava up and dressed and we hurried out the door.  The wind was starting to pick up.

It is a 15-minute drive to the Post Office and all the way we seemed to be running ahead of the rain clouds, the black skies hovering behind us.

We'd talked about it beforehand and I emphasized that these chickens would be for eating.  The laying hens are for petting.  I told her these chicks would start out as chicken nuggets, then they'd grow and become chicken patties and once they were filled out they'd become chicken potpies, then into the freezer they would go.  That was the best analogy I could come up with for the 3-year-old mind.

Anyway, I had given her a sucker to keep her occupied in the car because she was talking up a storm and the other impending storm was already making my nerves frazzle and I just wasn't in the mood to answer so many questions.  No sooner than I had lifted her out of the car, the wind caught her hair and wrapped it around her sucker.  She began to panic.  I began to panic.

The wind was blowing.  The first rain drops were falling.  The nice Post Office ladies let us in and offered us some water, but with a little bit of pulling I got the dang thing out.

Normally I'll stay and chat a bit, but today I grabbed my chicks and made a run for the car.  We got in just in time.

Being just another few minutes from my dad's farm, I thought I'd go ahead and feed the horse while I was out.  And if we were going to get a tornado, at least I'd not have to worry about it getting me down in the hollow. 

We sat in the car for nearly half an hour as the rain beat down and the lightning cracked over the hilltop.  It let up a little, but not enough to get out of the car in flip flops and wade through the mud so I said "forget it" and turned toward home.

It wasn't raining anymore when we pulled into our driveway, so I got my chicks out and my little chick and headed for the garage to get them set up.

Opening the box, they instantly started peeping and hopping.  They had all arrived safely.  No dead chicks in the bottom of the box, thank goodness.

You take them out, one by one, and dip their beaks in water.  40+ chicks later, I'm starting to feel like a bomb is about to go off.  Words cannot describe the chaos of a peeping box of Cornish X chicks.  They are born voraciously hungry, I think.

 

As I pulled each one from the packing box, it was like dumping a box of ping pong balls on a concrete floor.  They were everywhere; jumping into their water bowl, pecking, pooping, scratching and bouncing off of each other.  You'll scoot one back to get it out of your way and skit-skit-skit - it is immediately right back in the exact same spot you just shooed it from.

Two had fallen into the water bowl and were mobbed by the others, emerging quite wet.  Not a good thing for a tiny chick.  The brooder just wasn't feeling warm enough to me and the wet ones were shivering.  

A sad, wet chick tries to warm up under the heat lamp.

With tiny, incessant peeps punctuating the air, I scrambled like MacGyver to find something to do the job.  Grabbing a box cutter, a three foot scrap of rope, a dowel rod and a zip-tie I diffused the peeping bomb.  I added another heat lamp and covered the back and sides of the cardboard draft shield with an old blanket and a couple sections of OSB.  All the while, I kept tripping over my 3-year-old who was under my feet like a toy poodle and repeatedly begging to hold a chick.

In less than 15 minutes they had already gunned at least a quart of water.  We gathered pebbles from the driveway and put them in the water bowl to keep any others from taking a swim.

With the chicks finally cozy and happy, the peeping slowed and quieted to a tolerable level. 

Once all the excitement was over and a few chicks had been petted, Ava was completely done and begging to go back inside.  I snapped a few pics for the blog, but with all the drama, they didn't come out all that well.



I got us fed (a late breakfast) and settled into my recliner to watch Sesame Street and recover.  Today was definitely one of those days that make me wonder if I'm ever going to get caught up around here, but as it turned out, a nap was definitely in order.

Tomorrow morning I take my daughter to the dentist.  That should be just as much fun...