Pastured Poultry Ventures

Ok....... maybe not in central Mn this time of the year, but the chickies are in movable pens the rest of the time. Here is a photo of my large hopefully mobile chicken greenhouse I built 3 years ago above. I made some modifications to it or move the furniture around so to speak since this photo. I will get a picture of it now with my feathered friends in there. It works really great in the winter. Yes it does get really cold it when we go way below zero, but the chickens do really well and when the sun comes up and they are moving around it is quit comfy in there. Today it was over 30 degrees really sunny and nice out so, I let my little feathered friends venture out to dig and lay under the bunny cages on the south facing side.

As you can see the sides are loose I can roll them up for air circulation in the summer. Believe me it can get really hot in there. In the winter I tie them down good and stack straw bales all around the sides for insulation purposes and cuts down on drafts too. I hope this summer I can get it out in my near by field so the chickens can fertilize, clean-up the bugs, and eat plenty of grass.

I also built six 4'x10' chicken tractors I modified the original plans from the book 'Chicken Tractor'. Instead of one 4'x10' lid to open on the top I made it into two 4'x5' lids. Less likely a chickie will fly out and you will have to chase it around the yard to get it back in. Believe me unless they think you are the greatest thing next to a frog snack it isn't any fun. Unless they are big pets like most of mine are and like the attention. lol

 

Here is a picture of one of my tractors with some residents in it. I like the tractors best for raising broilers and layer chicks, but not for laying hens. I start out with 20-30 babies and as they grow I thin out each pen to 20 then 10 birds. The hens don't work as well because they really dig and scratch in the ground. There are several holes in the yard from them finding grubs or worms. Also during rainy periods we have a muddy lawn, muddy chicken feet, and muddy eggs. lol

Broilers are lazy really and the young layers haven't got the scratching thing down to a science yet. Eventually after at least 8 weeks I start letting the layer chicks out to run around the yard by propping up one end of the pen. They really enjoy that by this time they are big enough my cats don't bother them and smart enough to hide in the pens or under a spruce tree. At dusk they happily go home to the pen to roost and I let the house down. To help facilitate them going back I keep their food and water in the pen.

I wouldn’t raise my chickens any other way the best tasting chicken you will ever eat and the best for you also. The same with the eggs they are fluffy, really yellow, and tasty nothing like the store bought.

Love and light
Liana