Pasture raised chooks

[wbvs58]

I think I've educated you fellas previously as to what chooks are but for those a bit slow on the uptake and newer members, they are chickens. My daughter Jo has been looking for a base income stream so that she can give up her day job and pasture raised egg laying hens have always interested me because of the benefits to the soil and pasture but have not wanted to commit to the time and work involved with them. Well anyway it looks like I'm going to be involved.
Jo has been busy preparing our biosecurity and food safe plan to get an accreditation number so the eggs can be sold at farmers markets and specialty shops like delicatesans and fruit shops. In the meantime we have been dipping our toe in the water with 50 hens we bought from another producer and some eggs we have hatched out. I converted a small cattle box for the back of my utility into a mobile henhouse and built another portable coop.
I have now started on building the first of 3 chicken caravans. These will be, I'll talk in imperial for you people, 16'x8'x8' high on a single axle. The idea is the hens go into the caravan on dark and are let out at first light in the morning. They have a yard made of 220 yards of electrified netting to protect from foxes. Roll away nest boxes will be hung from the centre to help keep the eggs clean. The hens have to be replaced every 12 months as older hens are more prone to salmonella. Each caravan will house 300 birds and a new batch will come in 3 times a year so will be staggered for continuity of egg production. Anyhow her are a couple of photos of the start of the first one. The drawbar and chasis is complete and is on the ground. The frame on the trestles is one side with ventilation at the top.





I'm not a good welder but I am a good fabricator. I get by with my welding. I have trouble judging the depth of field with my double vision these days so try to set things up so they are level and in front of me. I have given away using galvanised steel, I think it has affected my lungs over the years. I like building things light yet strong, the steel I am using for most of the frame is 40x40 x1.6 square hollow section (11/2"x11/2"x as thin a wall thickness as it comes in). I find it is a very usefull size and have enough experience using it to not blow too many holes in it.
Anyway as things progress I'll keep updating the photos.
Some of you may remember the covered boat trailer I built for the grandkids 29er sailing skiffs I built a few years ago. It is a resounding success and I could have gone into business building boat trailers with all the people asking my daughter if I could build one for them. Maybe that is something my grandson could get into, he asked me for a welder for his 18th birthday a couple of months ago. I bought him a multi function, mig/stick/DC tig welder. He is looking to do an apprenticeship as a boilermaker next year.

Ken

 

[Texasmark]

"..... as older hens are more prone to salmonella." Interesting comment. Didn't know that. Interesting concept for egg hatchery. Nice work. Optometrist can solve your Astigmatism with glasses.....does mine.

 

[Redgully]

Looks good. Yeah had galvanise poisoning before where even milk didn't help, not a good place to be. These days i mostly use a mig, so easy on the light steel but i reckon the finished weld isn't as strong as arc. I found the best method at fox proofing a fence it to bury two foot of mesh away from boundry fence, only a couple of inches deep. That way they are standing on the wire they are trying to dig under. Never had a fox figure out it needs to move back a couple of feet to start digging. What breed of chook, one of the hybrids or a pure bred. I just can't see you getting the production out of pure breds. My sister ran a small egg business once, only small, about 60 chooks but people came from everywhere for her eggs. Problem was she didn't charge enough and the feed cost was not much under her income.

I gave her a hand with it all and made some infrastructure for her and always thought if she had more room, like ten acres, we could have kept the chooks fed soley on insects. We've all had plagues of insects so i thought if we could artificially manage the environment to produce plagues of insects it could be done. The trick would be a consistent supply of insects so no drop off in production. Tagasaste trees are meant to drop a lot of seed chooks love, could grow some sunflowers easy enough. Really the options are endless.

So the older birds, do you have crocodile farms near by to take them or what is the plan there? There is a market for two year old birds as 'rescue' hens but probably not enough to move big numbers. I have to laugh, my next door got some 'rescue' chickens and posted it all over facebook about how great an act it was. They spent most of their time in our vege garden or on the road until our other neighbours dogs shredded them. Funny they didn't post that on facebook!

 

[wbvs58]

Red, the aim at the moment is to try and sell them as laying hens, quite a market for them here at the moment, maybe people are trying to amuse themselves being self sufficient with this covid business. If they are in reasonable condition some of the old Italian women in town will apparently buy them to kill. They seem to just love plucking chooks.
My brother in law had a cattle dog that would occaisionally get out and bring home one of the neighbours chooks. John would keep a supply of frozen chooks in his freezer and when the dog brought one home John would take over a frozen Steggles chook.
Yes Red, there are a lot of expenses with it, especially the accreditation. I have set up a shipping container with large stainless table and sink with hot and cold water for the grading, a grading machine for about $5000 down the track, a mobile coldroom for storage and transport to markets. We dodged the bullit with our water, the test of our bore water came back perfect, no coliforms, just slightly acidic, very soft so we don't have to put in a water treatment plant. We get the Coop to mix up a laying feed with lots of corn. We just buy 1 ton at a time at the moment and I have a bin that holds it so free from vermin. Jo gets up to $7.50/ dozen for the larger ones.
We are going to have a go at bees as well. We have some country up along the border that the bees would do well in. Honey would be a good fit at the farmers markets with the eggs. Might even look into our Angus beef as well.

Ken

 

[BFE]

"You people". Can't say that over here anymore, I'm offended!

You might consider Great Pyrenees or some other LGD. They do a great job with chooks, as "you people" say. Oops, I did it too!

 

[Dave]

I have a friend from way back in high school doing that. Pasture raised eggs and fryer chickens. I couldn't begin to tell the details of his business. But I do know that he told me one time that his wife and daughter sold 200 dozen eggs one weekend at farmers markets for $6.00 a dozen.

 

[wbvs58]

"You people". Can't say that over here anymore, I'm offended!

You might consider Great Pyrenees or some other LGD. They do a great job with chooks, as "you people" say. Oops, I did it too!

Jo is considering Maremma's but so far things have been good the electric fences seem to be working and the hens are locked in of a night. The caravans have 2" weldwesh floors so nothing can get in. We also have a carnivorous marsupial called Quolls here that are very savage on chooks as well.
I am trying to discourage the guard dog thing as I know around here it will become a pet around the house rather than guard.

Ken

 

[farmerjan]

If they are fenced with a good electric netting, a guard dog will only be guarding the outside area as the actual area for the hens is too small for extended periods of time. Great Pyrs are NOT the dog to get as they wander much more than other breeds. They "decide" the area they are supposed to guard. But regardless, a LGD needs perimeter fences to assure they will stay put.
I agree with discouraging the dogs if the fencing is working well. Most guard dogs also are oriented to their "people" as part of their flock or herd, and it is imperative to have some constant interaction with them.
I understand the idea of rotating out the flocks, but to me the 6 weeks or so molting out the hens, to have bigger eggs the second year will outweigh the negatives. Salmonella should be a whole lot less a problem if they are regularly moved and rotated. And that will save the output costs of new hens, but you know the area better. I raised approx 150 in free-range conditions, no elec fencing. Lost a few to foxes but it wasn't that many. Locked up each night and let out in the morning after about 10 so that 2/3 of the days eggs were mostly laid already. Problem I got was with the "friendly neighborhood BALD EAGLE" that decided that it was an easy way to get his daily meal. Tried letting out later, sitting up there for a few hours to discourage them, you name it. Caught one with a bird on the ground when I made a random stop and it stood it's ground with me. I didn't want to get torn by those talons... and it finally took off... Lost 123 to that eagle that year and gave it up. A dog might have helped for that but without electric fencing, they wouldn't stay there as the perimeter fence was mixed field fence, barbed wire, etc.. Neighbors all "loved to see the eagle" and then bitched about the cost of free range eggs... You can't have it both ways.
Pasture raised would have meant electric netting and such... I couldn't do it with working full time too.

 

[wbvs58]

Jan, moving them on after 12 months is a requirement for the food safety accreditation. We would like to keep them longer but that is what you have to do to keep your accreditation which you need to be able to sell at the farmers markets and in retail shops.
We have the wedge tail eagles here. The hens are pretty much aware of what is above them and go for shelter. They also like to swoop and the fence does put them off a bit. So far they haven't been a problem but I keep an eye out for them. I don't think I would have a problem with any that turned up for a daily feed.
Ken

High side complete with door frames attached , other side is ready for door frames to be attached.

Ken

 

[BFE]

If they are fenced with a good electric netting, a guard dog will only be guarding the outside area as the actual area for the hens is too small for extended periods of time. Great Pyrs are NOT the dog to get as they wander much more than other breeds. They "decide" the area they are supposed to guard. But regardless, a LGD needs perimeter fences to assure they will stay put.
I agree with discouraging the dogs if the fencing is working well. Most guard dogs also are oriented to their "people" as part of their flock or herd, and it is imperative to have some constant interaction with them.
I understand the idea of rotating out the flocks, but to me the 6 weeks or so molting out the hens, to have bigger eggs the second year will outweigh the negatives. Salmonella should be a whole lot less a problem if they are regularly moved and rotated. And that will save the output costs of new hens, but you know the area better. I raised approx 150 in free-range conditions, no elec fencing. Lost a few to foxes but it wasn't that many. Locked up each night and let out in the morning after about 10 so that 2/3 of the days eggs were mostly laid already. Problem I got was with the "friendly neighborhood BALD EAGLE" that decided that it was an easy way to get his daily meal. Tried letting out later, sitting up there for a few hours to discourage them, you name it. Caught one with a bird on the ground when I made a random stop and it stood it's ground with me. I didn't want to get torn by those talons... and it finally took off... Lost 123 to that eagle that year and gave it up. A dog might have helped for that but without electric fencing, they wouldn't stay there as the perimeter fence was mixed field fence, barbed wire, etc.. Neighbors all "loved to see the eagle" and then bitched about the cost of free range eggs... You can't have it both ways.
Pasture raised would have meant electric netting and such... I couldn't do it with working full time too.

Some do, some don't. Just like any dog, they can use a little training. In my experience females stay put much better than males. My GP's and the GP's at the place where I got mine don't roam. I have seen others that will though.

 

[farmerjan]

I agree that training is imperative. But knowing people that have had various different breeds, they all say that although the GP's are about the friendliest dispositioned, they are the hardest to keep "home" . Here there are several places with them, and the GP's are the ones that are always out and about. No sense for the roads either.... But again, not saying that others don't roam some too, or that all GP's are roamers. The one we had wouldn't stay with the sheep, and we went back to llamas and donkeys for them. My German Shepard was a great "guardian dog" but the chickens were not at the house so I couldn't leave her there with them. She was "my" buddy.

Ken, I was "this close" to disposing of that d#@#ed eagle.... but they microchip alot of them, and I was not about to wind up under the jail.....besides all the neighbors were watching his "beautiful soaring". Just recently there were 2 bald eagles that were shot and killed in a county just west of us. They are considered a real menace there and are referred to as the "white headed buzzards".... they will kill as many newborn lambs as the miserable coyotes.
Amazing that they require you to get rid of them every 12 months.... guess you have to follow the rules.... If you can sell them to others for family flocks that isn't too bad since they do lay really well into their 2nd year.
Good luck with your project. Maybe you could come over here and build me one of them..... :lol: ;-) :nod: :nod:

 

[wbvs58]

We are still going on the chicken caravan. A lot of little stuff to do now, should finish the last nest box tomorrow, here are some photos.
My chief marker outerer.The nest boxes are gimballed in the centre so they can be levelled up when on a slope so eggs will roll away properly
Ken