Millennium Feathernet - Polyface Farms
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ค. 2024
- A few weeks ago I got a chance to look at one of Polyface Farms' Millennium Feathernets. The Feathernet comfortably holds 900 laying hens and the attached feed buggy holds up to 2 weeks worth of feed. This video goes over both their feed and water systems, as well as the shelter and electric poultry fencing they use.
With the feed mass-stored in one of Polyface's feed buggies, feeding the chickens is simple: scoop a few 5-gallon buckets full of feed, walk to the chicken feeders, and pour half-a-bucket per feeder. The water is equally as simple using the underground system the Salatin's have in place. Just plug the hose into the tap on the pressurized system and the water flows up into the bowl where it is regulated by a cattle float-valve.
The Millennium Feathernet is built on a strong X-frame to create a solid base for the structure. The sheet-metal/tin is peaked, but positioned low to avoid any issues with high-winds. Roughly 90 nest-boxes are needed for the 900 birds.
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Custom made by my brother Timothy (remember him from our early videos?) these sheaths are built to withstand years of farm use.
- Genuine Leather
- Real, Repurposed Firehose
- Handmade
Designed for Leatherman Wave and Surge multitools, but can be resized to fit most tools.
Knife slides into the top of the holster and is held tightly in place by a rare-earth magnet. This keeps the knife from bouncing out in any situation.
Available on Polyface's website at: polyfaceyum.com/product-cat/m...
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Polyface Farm's is one of the leaders in sustainable agriculture and the local food movement. Joel Salatin has written a number of books on the the food system and health as well as a number of how-to's including You Can Farm (my personal favorite), Your Successful Farm Business, and Salad Bar Beef.
You can find them at polyfacefarms.com
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brother continu ur service for us u explain very well i sure
Good informative video..
Thank you.
I’ve always loved this design but it doesn’t work in my context. We have Great-Horned owls that will pick off the chickens and the guard geese… so everyone has to be locked up at night. Also, my pasture is so compacted and after its first year of pastured poultry… it’s improved… but has a long way to go… one of my biggest questions with these types of mobile coops is how the heck can the pasture hold up to that many birds?! I’m in Oregon and have flocks 7 tractors with 60 each. If I don’t move them every 2-3 days, they will ruin the pasture… even in these small flocks. I also used to run each one in two 165’ nets because I loved giving them the space (and it’s less moving of nets). But I found that made it even easier for hawks and owls to show interest. So I think smaller is better and they each have one 165’ net now. My wish is that over time, the pasture will improve and I can build tractors that hold 400 birds. I cannot imagine 900!! I also really have a lot of questions about flock stress. To keep my pullets safe, I kept them in two flocks of 180 and 120 first. They were soooooo much happier when I split them into their flocks of 60. So I’m just not convinced on these huge flocks. I really need to see them in-person! Really appreciate the video🙌🏽
I bought Joel’s design book based on your recommendation. It’s an awesome book, and worth the money! One question regarding the roofing. The instructions say the each side of the roof is 13’ long from bottom to ridge. Most stores only carry 12’ long roofing panels. I don’t see any seems in the model in your video. Can you clarify if you are using 12’ panels, overlapping two panels, or are you buying custom lengths from somewhere? Thx!
12" roofing would be fine. You can also overlap at the top, I've done that a few times on different projects. Depending where you get your steel you may be able to get longer pieces or a custom length cut.
How much feed per bird are you feeding per day? I had a poultry nutritionist tell me to plan on .28 lbs per layer at maturity per day. With 900 birds that would be 252 lbs per day?
Quick question, how are y’all related to polyface farms. Also, timothys leather work is amazing, just ordered my second from him.
Tim has worked for Polyface as an Intern (now called Steward), Apprentice, and now Contract Farmer for a few years. The rest of us have only visited Polyface and worked with them for a couple weeks every year.
Have you checked out Tim's channel? Its at th-cam.com/channels/XEabeNMAQBWG4R10v7raHg.html
Will this work for broilers too ?
What’s the process for moving the hens into winter housing?
They come out with a flatbed trailer and a bunch of chicken crates after dark and catch them all, then they bring them into whatever hoop-house they are using for the winter and just set the crates inside with the tops open. The chickens will all be out by morning and they can go back and collect the crates.
Are you interning for Polyface or just doing a tour?
I was just there visiting. One of my brothers went through their program and now works for Polyface and another worked with them over last summer.
Can you elaborate on the skids?
The skids are just two 4" heavy walled pipes that run from the front to the back. On each end they have a piece of ⅛"-¼" steel welded on the underside of the pipe and bent up to prevent the pipe from digging into the ground.
The pull-chain is hooked to the pipe and runs forward to a bar that keeps the chains from trying to pull the skids together and wrecking the frame.
Each of the "X"s for the main frame is bolted to the skid using an L-shaped plate welded to the pipe.
Let me know if that helps, or if you have any more questions.
Do you know what is the lenght of the nets?
They are full length. I believe its 150 feet per net.
@@BasicSkills Thank you. Did you said they use 3 nets for 900 birds? I am trying this system, I had 2 nets for 190 chickens and they started to peck their feet
They use a few nets. Just make sure they have enough feed and move them often and they should be good.
Let me know how it goes!
Predator protection?
The poultry netting will deter most predators. They had also used guard dogs for predator protection and geese for protection from birds of prey.
@@BasicSkills Thank You