Our special delivery arrived early Thursday morning. We received our long-awaited call around 7:15 am. Terry hurried down to the Post Office and picked up this wonderful little package all the way from Nebraska.
This tiny little box contained 104 Cornish X broilers ordered from Central Hatchery. This is our first venture into meat birds but we feel very confident that it won't be our last. The meat birds take 8 weeks to make butcher weight. They require a broiler feed that has a higher percentage of protein to support their rapid weight gain. We are currently housing the chicks in a special stock tank turn brooder complete with straw and heat lamp until they can be moved into chicken tractors. 
Terry will build the movable tractors from electrical conduit making them very light weight allowing for easy movement around the pasture with the Rhino. Tractors are used not only for meat birds but layers as well. It allows for them to harvest bugs, worms, and natural grasses which cuts down considerable on feed costs. Stay tuned for upcoming posts on constructing the tractors.
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1 comment:
A chicken tractor has to be heavy enough that it won't blow away. We made our first one with 2" PVC pipes, and we had the chicks out there about two hours when it went flying, and the chicks went running everywhere! We attached cinder blocks to the corners, which made it a pain to move, but six months later, a big wind blew it away and busted it up. Now we make them with wood and put wheels on them.
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