Brad Burbaugh

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Pastured Poultry Systems

• Brad Burbaugh
• Duval County Extension Service

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Overview

• Alternative Production
• Choosing Meat Breeds
• Equipment
• Alternative Poultry Systems
• Supplies
• Predator and Disease Control
• Processing
• The Business of Pastured Poultry

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Alternative Poultry Production

• Pastured Poultry
• Moveable pens
• Several options
• Free range poultry
• Non-confinement system
• USDA definition out-of-doors for 51 of their
  lives
• Organic poultry (very difficult)
• Begins with day old chicks
• Feed, pasture and processor must be certified

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Elements of Pastured Operation

• Production, processing, and marketing
• Chickens forage for food
• Fresh grass portion of diet
• Fresh pasture offered daily or weekly
• Fresh air and exercise when foraging
• Manure is spread evenly onto the pasture

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Pastured Poultry Pros

• Can start small and grow
• Poultry build soil fertility
• Strong demand for pastured poultry exists
• Can be run by one person kids can help
• Provides sustainably produced meat
• Low capital investment to get started
• Poultry can attract customers for other products

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Pastured Poultry Cons

• Labor intensive especially on-farm processing
• Mostly seasonal
• Limited support system of suppliers, contractors
  and suppliers
• Weather-related stress and predation
• Reliable processing facilities hard to find

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Choosing Meat Breeds

• Unlike with layers, there are limited options
• Cornish X
• Other hybrid varieties (Barred Silvers.etc)
• Dual purpose varieties (Buffs, Barred Rocks)

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Cornish X

• Advantages
• Grows out in about 8 weeks.
• Lower feed costs than some other breeds.
• Larger breast meat.
• Disadvantages
• More leg heart problems.
• Less foraging desire.
• Less flavor.

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Barred Silvers, Rainbows, etc.

• Advantages
• Better foragers
• Fewer health problems
• More texture to meat
• Better flavor
• Disadvantages
• Grow out in about 12 weeks
• Higher feed costs
• Smaller breasts
• More texture to meat

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Equipment for Alternative Production

• Brooders
• Home until sufficiently feathered
• Most critical stage of growth
• First weeks determine long term survival
  development
• Be prepared to check your chicks at least twice
  per day. Pay attention to details!
• Made of many different materials
• Basic brooder holds as many as 250 chicks can
  cost as little as 100 to construct

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Brooder Requirements

• Space
• 1 square foot per bird
• Heat Sources
• 2 light bulbs
• 95o F for week 1 then decrease 5o F per week.
  (need thermostat)
• Litter
• 3 inches of clean dry litter ( No sawdust or
  cedar )
• Avoid slippery surfaces like newspaper
• Keep litter around water and feed dry and clean

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Brooder Requirements

• Water
• 1 quart for every 25 birds (clean and fill daily)
• For large number automatic watering systems work
  best
• Feeders
• Place near heat, but not directly underneath
  source
• Fresh food in front of chicks at all times
• Delivery Day
• Brooder should be up and running 24 hr before
  chicks arrive
• Have them sent overnight
• Show each bird water source

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Pasture Housing

• Protect from rain and cold when first on pasture.
• After about four weeks, chickens can tolerate
  cold or rain, but not at same time.
• Need to provide shade. Broilers can not take
  extreme heat.
• 3 weeks in brooder
• 7 weeks in pasture

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Pastured Poultry Systems

• The Salatin System
• 80-100 birds per pen
• Lightweight, bottomless 12 x 10 x 2 (LWH) pen
  moved one pen length onto fresh grass everyday.
• 1/3 to ½ of the pen has a flat sheet metal roof
• Most common water system is gravity fed bell
  waterer
• Cost 130 (Lowes)

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The Salatin System

• Advantages
• Low cost unit
• Prevents build up of manure
• Grass cover is not destroyed
• Poultry protected from flying predators
• Disadvantages
• Pens need to be moved everyday
• Nighttime predators
• Hard to reach in pen to get birds
• May not be enough shade during hot periods

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Day Range Systems

• Poultry house on skids ( 8 x 18 ) moved to
  field at beginning of growing period
• Bird on pasture during day and shut in house at
  night.
• Moved on weekly basis
• Pasture activity controlled by electrified
  netting.
• 400 birds per acre
• Cost is variable
• 160 electronet poultry fence 160
• Electrical source variable
• Poultry house 400

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Day Range Systems

• Advantages
• Better protection from nighttime predators
• Provides non-wet grounds and protection from rain
• Easy to catch birds
• Disadvantages
• More expensive
• Exposed to flying predators
• House needs to be cleaned in between batches
• Care of birds is required in AM and PM
• Grass can be damaged if fence not moved often

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Chicken Tractors

• Bottomless, portable shelter-pen that fits over
  garden beds
• Many designs
• Mostly commonly used with fruit and vegetable
  production
• Popular among sustainable production enthusiasts

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Chicken Tractor

• Advantages
• Can be moved very easily
• Insect control
• Source of fertilizer
• Used in urban areas
• Disadvantages
• Ground can become barren
• Semi-labor intensive
• Not made for a large amount of poultry

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Feeders

• Hanging System
• Raise and lower to bird height
• Outer lip level with birds back
• Prevents spillage and spoilage
• Trough Feeder Systems
• Chickens more susceptible to disease
• Taken out of pen before moving
• More chickens can feed at once

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Watering Systems

• Five-gallon bucket atop the pen
• will gravity feed a bell waterer
• Mesh screen across top
• Attach to pen
• Hoses can be used on nipple
• waterers
• Daily water consumption at 90o F
• Chickens8.4 gallons
• Turkeys..120 gallons
• Water intake varies greatly

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Predator Control

• Type of control depends on system
• Salatin and tractor nocturnal predators
• Place pens well inside pastures instead of along
  wooded fence lines. Predators reluctant to travel
  across open territory.
• Dogs, traps, motion lights, bungee cords
• Free Range flying predators
• Have as little tree cover as possible. Poultry
  have a sixth sense in open air.

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Disease Control

• Disease rarely reported in pastured poultry
  systems
• 10 mortality is normal
• Most common loss due to getting wet in rainstorms
• Parasites not a problem because of grass rotation
• Poultry disease flow charts in production section

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Processing Equipment

• Kill Cones
• Scalder
• Plucker
• Stainless steel table
• Running water
• Plastic tubs
• Sharp knives
• Ice
• Bags

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The Business of Pastured Poultry

• Labor
• 80 hours to build one pen, raise, process and
  market 100 birds
• Average 20 hours a week
• Costs
• Feed is 2/3 of production costs
• Income
• Typically, producer nets 50 of sale price
• Chickens 1.75 per pound _at_ 3.5 pounds
• Turkeys 3.00 per pound _at_18 pounds

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Questions

• References
• Free Range Poultry Production and Marketing A
  Guide to Raising, Processing, and Marketing
  Premium Quality Chicken and Turkey and Eggs, by
  Herman Beck Chenoweth
• Success with Baby Chicks, by Robert Plamadon
• The Chicken Health Handbook, by Gail Demerow
• Grit!, bimonthly newsletter published by American
  Pastured Poultry Producers Association (APPPA)
• The Dollar Hen The Classic Guide to American
  Free-Range Egg Farming, by M. Hastings and
  Robert Plamondon
• Profitable Poultry Raising Birds on Pasture by
  Sustainable Agriculture Network
• Pastured Poultry Research by Truman State
  University