Joel Salatin walks through his pastured broiler operation. He goes over the most common errors as well as how to set the system up. Filmed at Polyface PIDS 2015.
I've watched a ton of videos on mobile and immobile chicken coops. They are always incredibly expensive or overly complicated. It takes an old farmer to give the perfect solution. Fantastic video.
Yes I am aware it has been a couple years(first time for me). Very relateable guy. Very knowledgeable. I truly enjoy his way of relaying his knowledge.
I've never been able to listen to Salatin before, I've only been able to read about him! This is wonderful! I love, "Everything is just made just STRONG ENOUGH!"
Everything that exists is information, and everything that is informative also exists. Very nice, simple and low cost practical method with details over much needed basics for beginners like me. Thanks from Pakistan
Dealing with foxes. Foxes will try to dig close to the frame. If you add a 6-9" apron of 1/2" wire hardware cloth, parallel to the ground all the way around the bottom, it will deter the foxes. When you put your dolly under, and lift to move the frame the apron should not interfere with the move. Once set back down, your fox digging deterrent is back in place.
Thought about this. Could easily put frames on hinges with hardware cloth and strap them up when moving. Wouldn’t take long to flip the edges up and back down when moving if you do have a fox problem
To elaborate a little further on the chicken wire solution. The chicken wire is placed along the outside perimeter of the pen laying flat on the ground. It extends out from the wall 2 feet on the ground. When the varmint tries to dig under the wall, it is standing on the chicken-wire and scratches into it (it can not dig into the soil) This is used on many stationary pens where the owner will lay the wire into ground covered with a few inches of soil. There are solutions to concern when using large mesh wire as a flooring damaging the chickens feet, eg smaller mesh size, chasing the chickens into the roost and keeping them there while moving the trailer, & so forth. Where there is a will there is a way.
Eryn, you know wheels were thought of. The problem is that raising the pen off the ground invites accidents with chicks, and even worse; it invites predators.
I'm raising chickens for the 1st time this year, using tractors. Second night (between 4am -5am this morning) they were out I had a fox dig under one of my tractors and wiped-out 40 birds. Half my birds gone. Going to fortify my other tractor and maybe get more chicks to help recover my losses. I hope others have better luck than I'm having!
Jamie, sorry to hear about this. That's got to hurt... Did you have blocking jammed into any depressions in the ground around the tractor? Joel talks about them around 14:50 in the video.
There were no depressions. I will be laying out 2 foot wide fox wire on the ground around the remaining tractor, weighted down to see how that works. Will make moving the tractor a bit more work but I can't afford to lose another thousand bucks. :(
My dog is an inside dog... as an 80-pound boxer he'd be up to the task but it is illegal to have dogs loose here and the fencing cost would be prohibitive. :( So far nothing but a curious crow has been caught on my trail cameras. I'm more and more convinced thinking back that what I saw was a coyote and not a fox. Sure wish it would come back around when I'm home and armed... He'd make a nice hat.
what a great farmer! i know they last longer but surprised he uses pressure treated wood with the added chemicals to the material. i guess it's safer now than they used to be but everything we build for our garden like raised beds or chicken runs uses non treated wood. that being said, they definitely need repaired more often.
Not that you need to make this any simpler, but if you suspend the feed, or somehow attach it to the side of the pen you can move the pen without removing the food first. Also, add some wheels to the pen and you dont have to lift them every time and potentially hurt your back. :) Great video
+Eryn Harlow I'd thought of some way to make the feed attach to the shelter so you wouldn't have to move it. Maybe he doesn't do that so he can fill the feeder without interference from the chickens? Not sure. It does seem like a rather slow cumbersome additional step. As far as adding wheels, Joel built an early version of the chicken shelters that had wheels, but it tended to require both increased cost (2 wheels x 30 chicken shelters...) but also made it easier for critters to get under the shelter unless you added blocking every move or had (expensive) wheels that could be lowered/raised on every move. But if you have to raise/lower the wheels on every move, you're not really saving time. If you have to add in blocking every move, you're not really saving time.
Thanks for posting these videos Jeff. We had a great time with Joel and Daniel then. I'm glad you videoed it. Do you have any video of the chicken processing and when we went up to the pig pastures?
+bigdpw I posted all the videos I took. I would have loved to get the pig pastures, the cattle gate, the hay barn, the ponds, the sheep, the hog trailer, the water line hardware... but my iPhone battery wouldn't allow it all. Joel did just come out with the Salatin Semester from Acres USA, so if you want to spend $250, you can get a replayable wealth of information on all aspects of Polyface. www.acresusa.com/the-salatin-semester-dvd-book-set-pal-969 You can also use code YOUCANFARM to get $25 off.
I was there with you but I may go back next year and take my wife. We have about 200 acres that could use a good "pigerating" job done on it and I would like to get a more in depth look at his pastures again.
+bigdpw I'm trying to think of all the guys there without spouses... Were you the tall guy with the shades and the cowboy hat? Or the guy there with his son? Or the older guy from Wyoming? Or...?
I am the guy on the left side of the video at 2:14. And that is my son next to me and our partner is the big guy right where Joel's hand is. If that helps.
Hey I have a question. I saw a video where Joel is talking about using a goose to protect the free range chickens could you please tell me if I should use a male goose or a female goose or does it matter?
I'm not sure. I'm assuming it would be a gander (male goose) because they're the aggressive ones that are actually dangerous. A female goose isn't very dangerous and I don't see her being much of a guard. I could be wrong, though.
Jeff Gray Jeff Gray I don't know much about geese but if geese are anything like ducks you do *not* want that horny bugger available to violate the females among your free range flock. *Edit* I take it back I do know one thing about geese- they mate for life. I suspect a gander won't be as... 'aggressive' as a drake
Brendan Keane These broiler pens don't normally follow the cows. (Although they follow them to the extent that the cows have been there recently enough to keep the grass relatively short.) The egg mobile is the one that follows 3 days behind the herd.
Thank you very much for posting this! Very helpful. Do the chickens stay in those all night? or are they moved to coop at night? Oops, just heard him say they are in there at night. Extremely helpful. Geese for guardian; never would have thought. So these are meat birds I suppose. Any input on winter months? We just rescued 23 hens and 1 rooster from neighbor that had to suddenly leave. Have appx. 4 feet of snow and still coming. Struggling with dusting and how to let them scratch. Any input appreciated.
+Beth N Once the chicks are large enough to go into those pasture shelters they stay in there (day and night) until they are ready for slaughter. They sleep tucked back in the aluminum-sided corners.
Excellent. don't they lay eggs? Sorry, very new to all this and we are 6 months into living off grid since the Lord said "go by faith alone" and so we have but MERCY...SO much to learn.
These shelters Joel's showing are used for broilers (i.e., meat chickens). They only spend a few weeks in there until they reach slaughter weight. Now you COULD use these type shelters for layers if you have limited acreage. You'd just have to have far fewer birds in each one, add in nest boxes, and move them every day. Joel did that for a few years until he went to the "Millennium Feathernet" model (using an open, mobile coop with a Premier1 electric poultry net around it).
+Beth N Hens don't lay until around 6 months, but it looks like Joel is raising meat birds, which would be processed for eating prior to being old enough to lay eggs. Also, you mentioned about dusting and such: put some ash from your wood stove, or diatomaceous earth (food grade) plus sand in an old litter box, if you're using a mobile shelter like this one, or if your coop is fixed, you could just put a pile in a clean corner not under the roosts. They'll dust themselves. If they free range during the day, find their dusting spots, and add some ash or diatomaceous earth to their favorite dust area.
One person can move 60 cages holding 75 birds each = 5,000 birds in 1hr. 10x12 by 2ft high. They start at 3 weeks old and they are processed 5 weeks later. Each cage puts down 200lbs of nitrogen each day per spot so they have to moved daily.
if you ever had chickens you would know that you have to clean the feeder regularly. chickens have bad manners. if you attach the feeder then you have to unattach it to clean it. mr joel has the right idea. watch and learn. fellow organic free range farmer
It depends on the feeder, if your using the type that they can make a mess on then you'll have to clean it, I use a large bin with 90degree elbows in the bottom that is suspended from the roof. It's a set and forget, all you have to do is fill it.
Ur Mom depending on the weather. It is possible to time a batch such that you can get them into the tractor between one and two weeks old. Particularly a batch hatched in late May is highly viable here
Basically trying to keep things more hygienic. He staggers them so that the furthest one forward is always lowest on the slope. That way, if it rains, the poop runoff from the pens higher on the slope won’t run into the pens on the lower slope.
Awesome video! What I’m interested in is how snow, ice and sub freezing temperatures affect Mr. Salatin’s livestock operations. Can anyone give me a link to info on this? Thank you.
Check out Sean on Edible Acre. His chickens are for laying but they’re in Northern NY. For meat chickens depending on where you are you may have a somewhat shortened season. Chickens are pretty cold hardy but snow on the ground wouldn’t be good.
At 1:40, Joel exaggerates a bit with his comment that using steel roofing "...adds 200 pounds of weight". In fact the total weight of using steel roofing is around 80 pounds. I'm not sure of the thickness of the aluminum he uses but at its lightest it would be 35 pounds making the difference, if using steel, a maximum of 45 pounds. Heat transfer issue is maybe a better argument for aluminum. In my area Aluminum is just not readily available so I'll be adding a 1/4" sheet of foam insulation under the steel roofing. I hope it works!
A back yard 6x8. 24 birds per. 2 cycles a season. All the Chicken (or Duck) a small family needs on small acreage. One bird a week for dinner, give or take. Hella lighter. 1/3 the cost. You can do this, folks.
Joel Salatin Lives in Virginia 20 miles from my 2 kids and younger brother they live in Staunton Virginia. I'm planning a trip to stay with my kids and brother while I make daily visits to Joel Salatins farm to work and at purchasing a section of his farm to work it like he does. Anyone want to volunteer when I go let me know by sending me an email pastorwilliambarhorst at oohay spelled backwords.
Hello! If there are long periods of rain, for example 4-5 days, and the pasture is soaked, how do we keep the chickens from getting wet and sick while in the chicken tracktor? If we don't have a dry shed built nearby, is there a solution related to the construction of the chicken tracktor?
Buenos días, me gustaría conocer más de su sistema, tienen literatura o videos en español, los felicito me ha encantado su sistema y quiero hacerlo lo antes posible en mi granja en el Huila, Colombia
Joel keeps his in a separate house just for brooding chicks. But he started farming with little brooders that he built up off the ground. I use 60 gallon metal drinking troughs and just hang a heat lamp in there and put a piece of chicken wire over the top of it. Doesn’t have to be fancy; the chickens don’t care.
We've got bull snakes in our area that are the biggest problem we face. If a rooster fights back the snake strangles him. Eats eggs keeps em stressed. Mice here also but they just eat some of the food. I think a smaller chicken wire might be good. Not sure.
After I move my tractor through the pasture I sprinkle daikon radish and winter rye seeds into the Pelosi the chickens leave then emulsify the Pelosi and seeds and inject them into the ground with a needle jet on the garden hose. Works great
I gotsta know, where my place is in north central Texas we have sugar sand top soil for 12-24", and fire ants love it. I've also got a fair amount of copperheads and rat snakes. How does a system like this work with challenges like that? Also, I saw where you had a deep bedded chicken and rabbit deal going. I think that's cool too, but I've noticed that those pesky fire ants in my area tend to like mulched beds as well. When I was a kid we had rabbits, and I lost my prized show bunny to them and my sister lost two of hers as well. They mound up really quickly and can appear out of nowhere it seems like. I'd like to get the farm productive instead of continuing with our prize winning sticker crop, but I'm worried about those stupid ants getting my birds and rabbits.
Fire Ants hate Cinnamon! My mother lives in North Texas on 2 acres. she has almost completely killed off all of the fire ant hills by just dusting the ant hills with Cinnamon.
Small stumps and small bush would make moving that troublesome. I'm thinking same model but about 5 inch's elevated achieved with permanent back wheels.
I suspect if you had one of these in a suburban backyard, the city raccoons would learn quickly to go through the roof, since they've learned to take the lids off garbage cans.
Yes, they stay in the chicken tractors until they’re ready to be slaughtered. Overnight too. I’ve had to put a skirt of hardware cloth sticking out from the edge of mine in order to keep possums and raccoons from reaching under and grabbing a chicken leg, but otherwise it works fine.
wood is cheapest 8 x 8 lengths. make it 8 x 16 if u need slightly bigger & put a metal piece strip underneath your 2 by 4's floor so it will slide easier when u want to move it. A slightly larger lifting utility attachment with bigger/wider wheels will offset any weight issue. make the mechanism do the work. But, he's got what works for him & others I understand that. A blessing to learn from one who actually does it. And he doesn't see the predator because they don't stay to get caught just eat. He's only fooling himself about predators getting his livestock not being a problem. 99% of all predators will dig under with no problem. They just aren't living or desperate enough to need his livestock yet. provide enough other food options is your best bet. But, it doesn't matter if they want those chickens there going to get them!
Awesome! If you’d take time to get a metal frame welded right such as the 10’ x12’ and the chicken wire welded on the side and adding a 3” slope to one side of your cage then welding the roof and adding a door you can be sure that it will last for a long time....
You are absolutly right. But the purpose of doing it his way is that anybody can afford it and make it themselves. Some of those pens are over ten years old and just need a little patching up.
It is about 500 per acre. 75 chickens per tractor, tractor has 120 sqft footprint, tractor is moved daily for the 4th week and then twice a day during the 5th 6th and 7th weeks. That is a total of 49 spots on the ground or 63 if you go an 8th week. For 49 spots on the ground that means 1 chicken tractor covered 5880 sq feet. 7 tractors (or 1 tractor across 7 batches) will cover 41,160 sq feet, just shy of 1 acre which is 43,560 sq ft. 7 tractors x 75 birds per tractor is 525 birds. So under the assumptions of a 120 sq ft tractor containing 75 birds where the birds are in it from week 4 and moved twice a day starting from week 5, and dressed after week 7, you have 525 birds. Change the density of chickens, or make them wait longer till you dress them, or move them more often and it will change the math.
Wait till after the sun sets when the chickens are not moving. lift the entire chicken tractor onto its side. have your transport crates ready. We put them into salitin style chicken tractors with completely removable lids near slaughterhouse with a bucket of water. We use water buckets with nipples on the side rather than the bell waterers he uses
yea... dude i with i'd have watched this video before i built my tractor... AND I even did my research. Designed it in sketch-up, got real-life measurements to minimize waste, bought everything new. had a grand-plan for a beautifully functional and aesthetic tractor, dropped $200 bucks and a day's labor and the damn thing ended up being just too damn heavy to move, even with the too-small-sized wheels which didn't give it enough clearance so it would hang up on anything but the most pristeinly flat terrain. It was too heavy, too long (twisted) and my spiffy, flip-down hinged axle didn't raise it high-enough off the ground as is, and the wheels didn't have enough surface area for the weight so it would constantly bog-down. Eventually, it just wore me down. Daily became bi-daily. bi-daily became tri-daily, then 'well i'll move it every week. I let them free range after-all'. Then the damn hinge broke and i said screw it and stopped moving it. Then it became so gnarly and rancid underneath that the chickens stopped bedding down in it at night and opted to sleep in the damn TREES.
@@chrisbutton7959 I thought the industry standard was minimum 2 square feet per bird. 10'×12'=120 square feet per tractor. 120÷75=1.6 square feet per bird.
@@kevind3185 The industry standard is based around a barn. There are other factors at play, such as having several weeks worth of waste under them. So how crowded they might feel is not the only factor. For this model, they move away from their waste every day. The density here is based on the amount of nitrogen that square footage of ground can handle at the chicken's peak output.
@@imrealserious 2 sqf isn't much space. I realize they are moved daily but less then 2 sqf doesn't even sound humane considering most people buying pastured poultry expect a humanely raised bird that was given space to grow.
@@kevind3185 I have one out back now and all the birds go to the same section to sleep. Maybe ill feel the same when I get to the end of this first batch, but right now I have twice as many in there as I don't have the second pen built yet and it doesn't seem crowded at all. Still early in the batch though and their going to the second pen this weekend
A capon is a rooster that has been castrated before reaching sexual maturity, which improves the quality of the meat; after that, it is fed a rich diet of milk or porridge. [just incase some people did not know] personally I think that's over doing things [castrating]. just harvesting young chickens fed on quality feed, grass, table/farm and garden scrapes gets you about same taste. if you have goat or cow milk and extra eggs this all can be fed back to chickens. I let my chickens clean my honey bee drone filled comb frames. old saying " waste not, want not"
I've watched a ton of videos on mobile and immobile chicken coops. They are always incredibly expensive or overly complicated. It takes an old farmer to give the perfect solution. Fantastic video.
Remember seeing this 5 years ago and I was hooked! My farm is coming soon by the Grace of God!
Thank you Lord :)
@@timgiles9413 jesus is a nhigigeur
Amen
I want
To get back to nature. My maternal grandparents had a small farm and I truly loved it and loved them. Keep up the good work Sir.
Yes I am aware it has been a couple years(first time for me). Very relateable guy. Very knowledgeable. I truly enjoy his way of relaying his knowledge.
I was sold in the first few minutes, but when I found out a guard goose can last 40 years I was in heaven. Sign me up!
I've never been able to listen to Salatin before, I've only been able to read about him! This is wonderful! I love, "Everything is just made just STRONG ENOUGH!"
Mr salatin
Is an example for all farmers to fallow. The way of the future.
👵🏻😂👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻🆒🇳🇱and this prepares the pasture to become a foodforest , genius for simple solutions. The world needs men like you.
Everything that exists is information, and everything that is informative also exists. Very nice, simple and low cost practical method with details over much needed basics for beginners like me. Thanks from Pakistan
Dealing with foxes. Foxes will try to dig close to the frame. If you add a 6-9" apron of 1/2" wire hardware cloth, parallel to the ground all the way around the bottom, it will deter the foxes. When you put your dolly under, and lift to move the frame the apron should not interfere with the move. Once set back down, your fox digging deterrent is back in place.
Just get 2 or 3 great pyrenees, no more foxes
@@cbr1thou wonderful dogs!!!!👍👍👍👏👏👏💞💞💞💕💕💕😘😘😘
Thought about this. Could easily put frames on hinges with hardware cloth and strap them up when moving. Wouldn’t take long to flip the edges up and back down when moving if you do have a fox problem
Jeff this was a great video, it helps to learn from one of the masters.
That was great. I learned a lot from this video. Thank you. Peace:)
Thanks for posting this video. I've been wondering Joel's view on predators. Cheers!
Great lecture.
Thank you for the video.
Excellent job and video
Thanks for a great vid! Subbed for sure.
i like what you said right at the end... "a balance ecosystem... so there is enough food/prey to feed the carinvores" - great idea !
That's permaculture.
Wow, this guy is a fount of knowledge.
To elaborate a little further on the chicken wire solution. The chicken wire is placed along the outside perimeter of the pen laying flat on the ground. It extends out from the wall 2 feet on the ground. When the varmint tries to dig under the wall, it is standing on the chicken-wire and scratches into it (it can not dig into the soil) This is used on many stationary pens where the owner will lay the wire into ground covered with a few inches of soil. There are solutions to concern when using large mesh wire as a flooring damaging the chickens feet, eg smaller mesh size, chasing the chickens into the roost and keeping them there while moving the trailer, & so forth. Where there is a will there is a way.
Too much work. How about motion activated thing that makes sound/movement to scare things away. Solar power
I did an identical process as Joel in UK as a Hobby on a piece of land for Eggs and Meat + Fertilise the land. Fantastic Eggs, fantastic vegetables.
How do you collect with this style coop.
Eryn, you know wheels were thought of. The problem is that raising the pen off the ground invites accidents with chicks, and even worse; it invites predators.
I'm raising chickens for the 1st time this year, using tractors. Second night (between 4am -5am this morning) they were out I had a fox dig under one of my tractors and wiped-out 40 birds. Half my birds gone. Going to fortify my other tractor and maybe get more chicks to help recover my losses. I hope others have better luck than I'm having!
Jamie, sorry to hear about this. That's got to hurt...
Did you have blocking jammed into any depressions in the ground around the tractor? Joel talks about them around 14:50 in the video.
There were no depressions. I will be laying out 2 foot wide fox wire on the ground around the remaining tractor, weighted down to see how that works. Will make moving the tractor a bit more work but I can't afford to lose another thousand bucks. :(
+Jamie Smith o man am sorry for your lose sir a guard dog might need to be in the works. they work for food
My dog is an inside dog... as an 80-pound boxer he'd be up to the task but it is illegal to have dogs loose here and the fencing cost would be prohibitive. :( So far nothing but a curious crow has been caught on my trail cameras. I'm more and more convinced thinking back that what I saw was a coyote and not a fox. Sure wish it would come back around when I'm home and armed... He'd make a nice hat.
try solar lights ...motion detectors
This man has it figured out.
This is the way it should be done. Like for the past 200 years.
So much great information. Thanks for this. Im from indonesia and our farmers dont use this farming design but im planning to.
Joel mentions in several of his video's about using aluminum panels. Any idea where to find them, all I seem to be able to find is steel.
did you find them? all i can find is steel.
what a great farmer! i know they last longer but surprised he uses pressure treated wood with the added chemicals to the material. i guess it's safer now than they used to be but everything we build for our garden like raised beds or chicken runs uses non treated wood. that being said, they definitely need repaired more often.
Wood perserving chem when done right is safe. Last forever. Theres houses/temple build 500 yrs ago. Still standing
Love your work Joel. You want it real light, try bamboo!
Not that you need to make this any simpler, but if you suspend the feed, or somehow attach it to the side of the pen you can move the pen without removing the food first. Also, add some wheels to the pen and you dont have to lift them every time and potentially hurt your back. :) Great video
+Eryn Harlow
I'd thought of some way to make the feed attach to the shelter so you wouldn't have to move it. Maybe he doesn't do that so he can fill the feeder without interference from the chickens? Not sure. It does seem like a rather slow cumbersome additional step.
As far as adding wheels, Joel built an early version of the chicken shelters that had wheels, but it tended to require both increased cost (2 wheels x 30 chicken shelters...) but also made it easier for critters to get under the shelter unless you added blocking every move or had (expensive) wheels that could be lowered/raised on every move. But if you have to raise/lower the wheels on every move, you're not really saving time. If you have to add in blocking every move, you're not really saving time.
That is true. Thanks for the response. Planning out our chicken tractors for the spring. Wheels are pretty pricey!
I used the wheels off an old push mower. They are removable so they dont let predators in.
Leaving the feeders removable makes them easier to clean.
you could make a tray for the feeder to rest in for overall ease
Thanks for posting these videos Jeff. We had a great time with Joel and Daniel then. I'm glad you videoed it. Do you have any video of the chicken processing and when we went up to the pig pastures?
+bigdpw
I posted all the videos I took. I would have loved to get the pig pastures, the cattle gate, the hay barn, the ponds, the sheep, the hog trailer, the water line hardware... but my iPhone battery wouldn't allow it all.
Joel did just come out with the Salatin Semester from Acres USA, so if you want to spend $250, you can get a replayable wealth of information on all aspects of Polyface. www.acresusa.com/the-salatin-semester-dvd-book-set-pal-969
You can also use code YOUCANFARM to get $25 off.
I was there with you but I may go back next year and take my wife. We have about 200 acres that could use a good "pigerating" job done on it and I would like to get a more in depth look at his pastures again.
+bigdpw
I'm trying to think of all the guys there without spouses... Were you the tall guy with the shades and the cowboy hat? Or the guy there with his son? Or the older guy from Wyoming? Or...?
I am the guy on the left side of the video at 2:14. And that is my son next to me and our partner is the big guy right where Joel's hand is. If that helps.
Jeff Gray thanks!
"...Millenium feathernet model"
7:20
lol!
Where can we get this floor plan & how to video at? I'd pay you Joe!
Probably in his book
Excellent
Hey I have a question. I saw a video where Joel is talking about using a goose to protect the free range chickens could you please tell me if I should use a male goose or a female goose or does it matter?
I'm not sure. I'm assuming it would be a gander (male goose) because they're the aggressive ones that are actually dangerous. A female goose isn't very dangerous and I don't see her being much of a guard. I could be wrong, though.
Jeff Gray Jeff Gray I don't know much about geese but if geese are anything like ducks you do *not* want that horny bugger available to violate the females among your free range flock.
*Edit* I take it back I do know one thing about geese- they mate for life. I suspect a gander won't be as... 'aggressive' as a drake
thank you
how do these compare to the use of the egg mobile? I thought the chickens follow the cow paddocks and pick out larvae from the patties?
Brendan Keane
These broiler pens don't normally follow the cows. (Although they follow them to the extent that the cows have been there recently enough to keep the grass relatively short.) The egg mobile is the one that follows 3 days behind the herd.
*_"Wheras a goose they'll just keep on goosing"_* ahah
Good stuff just subscribed 👍🏼
Smart man!
What is the combination of species planted for pasture? It would be good to know when living in desert or semi-desert where the vegetation is bushy.
Thank you very much for posting this! Very helpful. Do the chickens stay in those all night? or are they moved to coop at night? Oops, just heard him say they are in there at night. Extremely helpful. Geese for guardian; never would have thought. So these are meat birds I suppose. Any input on winter months? We just rescued 23 hens and 1 rooster from neighbor that had to suddenly leave. Have appx. 4 feet of snow and still coming. Struggling with dusting and how to let them scratch. Any input appreciated.
+Beth N
Once the chicks are large enough to go into those pasture shelters they stay in there (day and night) until they are ready for slaughter. They sleep tucked back in the aluminum-sided corners.
Excellent. don't they lay eggs? Sorry, very new to all this and we are 6 months into living off grid since the Lord said "go by faith alone" and so we have but MERCY...SO much to learn.
These shelters Joel's showing are used for broilers (i.e., meat chickens). They only spend a few weeks in there until they reach slaughter weight.
Now you COULD use these type shelters for layers if you have limited acreage. You'd just have to have far fewer birds in each one, add in nest boxes, and move them every day. Joel did that for a few years until he went to the "Millennium Feathernet" model (using an open, mobile coop with a Premier1 electric poultry net around it).
+Beth N Hens don't lay until around 6 months, but it looks like Joel is raising meat birds, which would be processed for eating prior to being old enough to lay eggs. Also, you mentioned about dusting and such: put some ash from your wood stove, or diatomaceous earth (food grade) plus sand in an old litter box, if you're using a mobile shelter like this one, or if your coop is fixed, you could just put a pile in a clean corner not under the roosts. They'll dust themselves. If they free range during the day, find their dusting spots, and add some ash or diatomaceous earth to their favorite dust area.
Anyone able to find a source for the metal (supposing one can't locate it used - obviously)?
One person can move 60 cages holding 75 birds each = 5,000 birds in 1hr. 10x12 by 2ft high. They start at 3 weeks old and they are processed 5 weeks later. Each cage puts down 200lbs of nitrogen each day per spot so they have to moved daily.
if you ever had chickens you would know that you have to clean the feeder regularly. chickens have bad manners. if you attach the feeder then you have to unattach it to clean it. mr joel has the right idea. watch and learn. fellow organic free range farmer
It depends on the feeder, if your using the type that they can make a mess on then you'll have to clean it, I use a large bin with 90degree elbows in the bottom that is suspended from the roof. It's a set and forget, all you have to do is fill it.
I dunno mine never did a big mess.
He does do it in under a minute - starts at 00:23
new farmer from Greece here. So every day he moves the chickens in a different spot for 8 weeks until they grow enough?
That's basically it. Lots of details in making it work, though-especially around making the pen moveable and keeping it predator-proof.
toure7 Actually more like 5 weeks as the chicks will need supplemental heat for the first couple weeks depending on weather
Ur Mom depending on the weather.
It is possible to time a batch such that you can get them into the tractor between one and two weeks old.
Particularly a batch hatched in late May is highly viable here
why does he stagger the tractors? Do they have to all be one behind the other? Can you stagger them back and forth so the are roughly in line?
Basically trying to keep things more hygienic. He staggers them so that the furthest one forward is always lowest on the slope. That way, if it rains, the poop runoff from the pens higher on the slope won’t run into the pens on the lower slope.
Awesome video!
What I’m interested in is how snow, ice and sub freezing temperatures affect Mr. Salatin’s livestock operations. Can anyone give me a link to info on this? Thank you.
Check out Sean on Edible Acre. His chickens are for laying but they’re in Northern NY.
For meat chickens depending on where you are you may have a somewhat shortened season. Chickens are pretty cold hardy but snow on the ground wouldn’t be good.
I think generally Joel’s not running meat chickens in the winter. Even his egg layers go in the green houses during the winter.
They go indoors
At 1:40, Joel exaggerates a bit with his comment that using steel roofing "...adds 200 pounds of weight". In fact the total weight of using steel roofing is around 80 pounds. I'm not sure of the thickness of the aluminum he uses but at its lightest it would be 35 pounds making the difference, if using steel, a maximum of 45 pounds. Heat transfer issue is maybe a better argument for aluminum. In my area Aluminum is just not readily available so I'll be adding a 1/4" sheet of foam insulation under the steel roofing. I hope it works!
A back yard 6x8. 24 birds per. 2 cycles a season. All the Chicken (or Duck) a small family needs on small acreage. One bird a week for dinner, give or take. Hella lighter. 1/3 the cost. You can do this, folks.
Where is Joel Salatim's farm located?..State, City. Thank you!
Swoope, Virginia
Joel Salatin Lives in Virginia 20 miles from my 2 kids and younger brother they live in Staunton Virginia. I'm planning a trip to stay with my kids and brother while I make daily visits to Joel Salatins farm to work and at purchasing a section of his farm to work it like he does. Anyone want to volunteer when I go let me know by sending me an email pastorwilliambarhorst at oohay spelled backwords.
IN WHAT CLIMATE AND TEMPERATURE IS THAT PREDIO, THANKS
So how much bought feed is being saved by grass feeding the chickens?
Do they have dust baths inside? or how does he handle mites?
move them every day=no mites.
if you fin old pool like a ubuvgrond one tin on it is grant rily lint but strung and wther porof
Feed the predators. Never heard that put in such a way. Seems very wise.
Hello! If there are long periods of rain, for example 4-5 days, and the pasture is soaked, how do we keep the chickens from getting wet and sick while in the chicken tracktor? If we don't have a dry shed built nearby, is there a solution related to the construction of the chicken tracktor?
How do you gather the eggs? Would moving the structure damage layed eggs?
These are for meat birds, not egg layers.
Buenos días, me gustaría conocer más de su sistema, tienen literatura o videos en español, los felicito me ha encantado su sistema y quiero hacerlo lo antes posible en mi granja en el Huila, Colombia
El sistema agrícola de Joel Salatins es revolucionario!
Where do you keep the chickens in the first 2-3 weeks?
Joel keeps his in a separate house just for brooding chicks. But he started farming with little brooders that he built up off the ground. I use 60 gallon metal drinking troughs and just hang a heat lamp in there and put a piece of chicken wire over the top of it. Doesn’t have to be fancy; the chickens don’t care.
Anyome know where he gets them waterers at? I can't seem to find them.
Just what is it with the little white cup?
It was really hot and we were getting water from a cooler on the hay wagon. Using little paper cups.
Jeff, great vid! Can you please add Close Caption to it? Thank you!
Where do I get those feeders?
Tractor Supply or most feed stores
Feeding the predators with the ecosystem around the pasture.. brilliant!
Is permaculture principal.
Can we just appreciate that every lady in this video has beautiful legs. Just beautiful. Gotta love a country girl.
Make them out of 4in pvc drain pipe. Last longer an lighter. Good video.
Falls apart due to UV
We've got bull snakes in our area that are the biggest problem we face. If a rooster fights back the snake strangles him. Eats eggs keeps em stressed. Mice here also but they just eat some of the food. I think a smaller chicken wire might be good. Not sure.
After I move my tractor through the pasture I sprinkle daikon radish and winter rye seeds into the Pelosi the chickens leave then emulsify the Pelosi and seeds and inject them into the ground with a needle jet on the garden hose. Works great
What happens with the shelters when is windy?
Laura M The shelters are heavy and low to the ground enough that the wind doesn’t bother them.
My son used them in Cody Wyoming were the wind got over 50mph. Never a problem.
I gotsta know, where my place is in north central Texas we have sugar sand top soil for 12-24", and fire ants love it. I've also got a fair amount of copperheads and rat snakes. How does a system like this work with challenges like that? Also, I saw where you had a deep bedded chicken and rabbit deal going. I think that's cool too, but I've noticed that those pesky fire ants in my area tend to like mulched beds as well. When I was a kid we had rabbits, and I lost my prized show bunny to them and my sister lost two of hers as well. They mound up really quickly and can appear out of nowhere it seems like. I'd like to get the farm productive instead of continuing with our prize winning sticker crop, but I'm worried about those stupid ants getting my birds and rabbits.
Fire Ants hate Cinnamon! My mother lives in North Texas on 2 acres. she has almost completely killed off all of the fire ant hills by just dusting the ant hills with Cinnamon.
Small stumps and small bush would make moving that troublesome. I'm thinking same model but about 5 inch's elevated achieved with permanent back wheels.
The trouble is that if it’s at all off the ground then predators can reach under and rip the chickens to pieces. (1st hand experience on that one.)
do free range chickens eat less feed? I had chickens and had to give them up cause of feed expense..............................
Yes! WAY less! Plus if you ferment your feed they eat even less and are healthier
Wow what state is this
Virginia
I suspect if you had one of these in a suburban backyard, the city raccoons would learn quickly to go through the roof, since they've learned to take the lids off garbage cans.
You would not do this in suburban area, this is farm scale.
Немања Костић it is also done in semi-rural. Even half an acre of grass could handle one of these once per year (though the turns would be a pain)
How do the raccoons get around the electric fence?
Jody Wall ... little tiny raincoats
Once they are in the tractor do they in them even overnight for the full 5 weeks?
Yes, they stay in the chicken tractors until they’re ready to be slaughtered. Overnight too. I’ve had to put a skirt of hardware cloth sticking out from the edge of mine in order to keep possums and raccoons from reaching under and grabbing a chicken leg, but otherwise it works fine.
@@JeffGray - thank you!
Wish your microphone was better ♥
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wood is cheapest 8 x 8 lengths. make it 8 x 16 if u need slightly bigger & put a metal piece strip underneath your 2 by 4's floor so it will slide easier when u want to move it. A slightly larger lifting utility attachment with bigger/wider wheels will offset any weight issue. make the mechanism do the work. But, he's got what works for him & others I understand that. A blessing to learn from one who actually does it. And he doesn't see the predator because they don't stay to get caught just eat. He's only fooling himself about predators getting his livestock not being a problem. 99% of all predators will dig under with no problem. They just aren't living or desperate enough to need his livestock yet. provide enough other food options is your best bet. But, it doesn't matter if they want those chickens there going to get them!
Awesome! If you’d take time to get a metal frame welded right such as the 10’ x12’ and the chicken wire welded on the side and adding a 3” slope to one side of your cage then welding the roof and adding a door you can be sure that it will last for a long time....
You are absolutly right. But the purpose of doing it his way is that anybody can afford it and make it themselves. Some of those pens are over ten years old and just need a little patching up.
I wish he was louder I have my volume all the way up
Check your speakers. They may be turned down. I had no problem hearing.
How many chickens could be raised per year like this on one acre say. I’ve listened to what Joe said but sure if he meant yearly.
Thanks
It is about 500 per acre.
75 chickens per tractor, tractor has 120 sqft footprint, tractor is moved daily for the 4th week and then twice a day during the 5th 6th and 7th weeks. That is a total of 49 spots on the ground or 63 if you go an 8th week. For 49 spots on the ground that means 1 chicken tractor covered 5880 sq feet. 7 tractors (or 1 tractor across 7 batches) will cover 41,160 sq feet, just shy of 1 acre which is 43,560 sq ft. 7 tractors x 75 birds per tractor is 525 birds.
So under the assumptions of a 120 sq ft tractor containing 75 birds where the birds are in it from week 4 and moved twice a day starting from week 5, and dressed after week 7, you have 525 birds. Change the density of chickens, or make them wait longer till you dress them, or move them more often and it will change the math.
imrealserious thank you very much.. very useful information
What's the best way to get these birds out on butcher day?
Wait till after the sun sets when the chickens are not moving. lift the entire chicken tractor onto its side. have your transport crates ready. We put them into salitin style chicken tractors with completely removable lids near slaughterhouse with a bucket of water. We use water buckets with nipples on the side rather than the bell waterers he uses
Turn audio please.
You have a goose, they just keep on goosen lol
Did he say don't use PVC?
Dr David idk
Yes. He said it was not as easily repaired using PVC as it is using wood.
How many chickens can you have in that space?
75
yea... dude i with i'd have watched this video before i built my tractor... AND I even did my research. Designed it in sketch-up, got real-life measurements to minimize waste, bought everything new. had a grand-plan for a beautifully functional and aesthetic tractor, dropped $200 bucks and a day's labor and the damn thing ended up being just too damn heavy to move, even with the too-small-sized wheels which didn't give it enough clearance so it would hang up on anything but the most pristeinly flat terrain. It was too heavy, too long (twisted) and my spiffy, flip-down hinged axle didn't raise it high-enough off the ground as is, and the wheels didn't have enough surface area for the weight so it would constantly bog-down. Eventually, it just wore me down. Daily became bi-daily. bi-daily became tri-daily, then 'well i'll move it every week. I let them free range after-all'. Then the damn hinge broke and i said screw it and stopped moving it. Then it became so gnarly and rancid underneath that the chickens stopped bedding down in it at night and opted to sleep in the damn TREES.
Use the metal to make a ck house that dont move. Then build a light weight one. I suggest add wheels so u can tow it.
What type of chickens are there
Stephen Lockridge They’re Cornish X (Cornish Cross).
@@JeffGray thanks man I'ma have to get me some
Joel puts the chickens out at 2-3 weeks old (4:45)? I'm wondering at how many he loses at that rate.
Not many when you put 75 in a 10 by 12 spot. They huddle together for warmth
@@chrisbutton7959 I thought the industry standard was minimum 2 square feet per bird. 10'×12'=120 square feet per tractor. 120÷75=1.6 square feet per bird.
@@kevind3185 The industry standard is based around a barn. There are other factors at play, such as having several weeks worth of waste under them. So how crowded they might feel is not the only factor.
For this model, they move away from their waste every day. The density here is based on the amount of nitrogen that square footage of ground can handle at the chicken's peak output.
@@imrealserious 2 sqf isn't much space. I realize they are moved daily but less then 2 sqf doesn't even sound humane considering most people buying pastured poultry expect a humanely raised bird that was given space to grow.
@@kevind3185 I have one out back now and all the birds go to the same section to sleep. Maybe ill feel the same when I get to the end of this first batch, but right now I have twice as many in there as I don't have the second pen built yet and it doesn't seem crowded at all. Still early in the batch though and their going to the second pen this weekend
I don't know much about chickens yet but I do know he wrote the bible of chickens
Do you offer vacations on your property? Boy, I sure would like to come there and enjoy your farm and the chickens. Of course respect the land.
From what I read about his farm maybe you wouldn't like to go there and work for him.
Does this guy produce Capons?
Med Otaku not so far as I know.
Pretty small market for them
A capon is a rooster that has been castrated before reaching sexual maturity, which improves the quality of the meat; after that, it is fed a rich diet of milk or porridge. [just incase some people did not know] personally I think that's over doing things [castrating]. just harvesting young chickens fed on quality feed, grass, table/farm and garden scrapes gets you about same taste. if you have goat or cow milk and extra eggs this all can be fed back to chickens. I let my chickens clean my honey bee drone filled comb frames. old saying " waste not, want not"
you could put wheels on the box too
Good
We had raccoon that actually ripped through the chicken wire. ALWAYS use hardward cloth. Chicken wire isn't strong enough for a hungry critters.
How can we buy directly from you ?
probably stupid question but is that basic grass there eating or you plant some special kind of feed for them to graise on? chickens nd cows?
+I slaughter
No special grass. They just let grow whatever species are native to that area.
I still prefer to just put mine on my garden so they can get all the bugs they can from all around the garden.
Plenty of bugs in that field and they're moved daily. Stop being a drama queen.