Freedom Rangers

[greyfields]

Well I'm still 50/50 wether I'm getting Freedom Rangers next year or breeding my own. Likely, though, I'll do a bit of each.

My typical meat bird schedule varies slightly by season:

3 weeks in brooder
3-4 weeks in tractor on grass, moved every 1-2 days
Once they get too poopey and need moved more frequently than every day I....
Open the tractor up and put up portable poultry netting and let them out during the day. This means I only have to move the tractor every 2-3 days instead of every day.

Tractors don't excite me that much, but it does mean they are on grass instead of mud/crap you would get with a stationary coop. But, I'm too soft hearted and let them out of the tractor once they're big enough. My portable electric is 162' long, so that gives them about 1600 SF every few days to soil.

Moving the tractors is a drag. My advice is to only build onces you can pull by hand. I built one and I use my tractor to drag it. But, I'm lazy and hate starting the tractor up everyday just to pull a tractor (although I move the layers weekly with the tractor).

Also, be patient. I found my birds arriving in June could easily be on grass at 3 weeks, whereas those you get in April and May don't have the weather and you're stuck dealing with a poopy brooder longer than you would like to. I will have some mortality the earlier in the year I do the meat birds, so be patient and wait for best results!

 

[eaemnc]

Greyfields,

How is your portable electric fence powered? If you move something that big do you use an extension cord? Also, how do you protetc them from predators such as hawks from overhead? Is it covered?
Thanks

and Happy Holidays,

Ann

 

[greyfields]

I run all the portable electric off my electric fence charger. I use polywire or alligator clips to tie into the nearest run of high tensile. They do make battery/solar chargers, but they honestly don't do the job for the netting.

Here is the netting:

http://www.premier1supplies.com/fencing.php?mode=detail&fence_id=30

And an example charger:

http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=397&cat_id=54

And then to be honest, once the birds learn it will shock them, I only have it on about half the time when the birds are further down the field closer to coyote country.

I live on an island with immense populations of bald eagles, golden eagles, vultures, buzzards, osprey, great horned owls, barn owls, lower columbian white tail deer (endangered species), racoons and too many coyotes.

I do not cover the top of the netting, because at 3 weeks the birds are genereally big enough not to get picked off my crows (who can't swoop in easily because the netting is a small contained area). I may or may not have ever lost a chicken to any of the above predators. I only know once that I lost a goose to a Great Horned Owl. I guess my philosophy is grow more than you need, live and let live.

But with the abundance of wild waterfowl and fish in the river, none of these predators seem to give me too much trouble... except the coyotes which got in and killed a lamb last week. I'm ordering some predator lights:

http://www.niteguard.com/

which a neighbor farmer alleges stopped all his problems once he installed these.

 

[eaemnc]

Greyfields,

I have been looking at the netting and the chargers and am thrilled about the idea of having the meat chickens on range all day and night in the electric net fencing. I'll move it frequently so I need to know what if anything you use to for protecting the chickens for blocking the wind? I'll use fishing line tied accross the top to keep hawks out unless you have another better idea?
One other question I've been wondering about and that is power to the charger and what you use because if moving the pen around ever 4 days or so I'll need to have a long, out-door extension cord or something that won't short out in the rain. I'll plug into the barn that is near and the area I'll move around in is 40' by 40' in the Orchard and if I move them into the yard sometimes I'll need to plug in so that the cord and charger reach the netting in other areas. What do you do with yours for an AC charger to have power that is movable? Is an extension cord ok?

Thanks in advance and I'd Love to get your e-mail address so that I can communicate with you regularly about this. You have such good ideas thanks again and Happy Holidays to you and yours!! God Bless you now and always!

Ann

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
I'm obviously not greyfields

but I would like to suggest that if you don't already have extensive electric perimeter fencing to tap into (which is what it sounds like greyfields does), the best thing is to keep the charger in one place and use a length of double-insulated electric fence burial cable out to your migratory fence. (Not buried, just loose on the ground or along an existing fence - it is just *called* burial cable since that's what it's usually for).

You really do not want to be moving the charger as that would necessitate pounding in whole new ground rods in each location, which would be *nuts*, plus I suspect it would be unwise to plug a charger into an extension cord.

You NEED to use double-insulated (not single) wire sold specifically for electric fencing, btw, not any sort of household wiring product (which won't hold up under the very high voltages of fence charger - like, 5,000-10,000 volts, as compared to 120 v for house current!)

Your farm store will have it or can order it for you.

Only thing is I do not know how long a run of burial cable you can use before encountering problems with the resistance of the length of wire sapping your fence's strength. I'd be pretty confidant that a hundred feet or so would be ok if you had a good charger, but beyond that I have no idea whatsoever. The people at Premier1 Fencing could probably advise (not only do they sell the electronet but they do good customer-service advice about your whole fence setup).


Pat

 

[theMickster]

Hey Ann,
I used Premier's net fencing with my egg layers this past summer and had zero losses to predators. I used the portable 12Volt battery charger for the fence. I had no problems with the ground because we are on clay which holds moisture for a good ground. If you were on very well drained soil you might have to drive a rod for the ground.
Hope that helps.
Mick

 

[eaemnc]

Mick,

Thanks for that I am also in Ohio. Did you keep your egg layers in the fencing 24 - 7 or just during the day? Being in Ohio you also have hawks, did you string fishing line in rows over the top of the netting? That would be my biggest concern if using the netting (hawks).
Also what did you use for wind protection and shelter say on a hot day in the summer? I want to range the egg layers so they can eat grass and bugs and such for great egg quality!!

Thanks for the post and please keep in touch I can learn lots from you.
You used a portable charger? How often did you have to change the battery? I figured the AC would be cheaper and last longer in the long run.
Someone suggested using an insulated electrical wire that runs along a fence or under ground and use an alligator clip to attach to the netting and another to attach to the ground post.

Thanks again Peace Joy and Blessings now and always Happy Holidays to you and yours.

Quote:

 

[eaemnc]

One other thing. If you put your egg layers in their coop each night how do you get them to the coop from the netting without having them run all over the place?

Thanks again,

Ann

Quote:

 

[theMickster]

Here's how we did it:
Afrer the birds feathered out we moved them from the brooder in the garage to a Tractor in the soon to be garden. They were surrounded by the net fencing from Day 1 outside.

When we started letting them range inside the fence we also started moving the tractor every few days. When they were about 12-14 weeks old some of them were getting out by jumping off the tractor roof which was only 3ft. tall.

At this point we started letting them free range during the day and closed the fence and turned it on every night. I think I've only charged the battery 2-3 times. As far as Hawks go, we had a small Sharp-shinned hawk harassing the chickens every day for about 2 weeks. I was finally there to scare him away personally.

There were racoons fighting in the hedge row almost nightly and no problems from the local 'possum either. This spring I'll use the fence and tractors for the meat birds and most likely just let my one-year-wiser egg layers range. Now if I can just keep them from going into the neighbor's yard.
Mick

 

[SillyChick]

Just felt good about not being alone on keeping cornish X's! I thought nobody here has them.......They are nice birds, but quite irritating because when I feed them they get sooooo excited and when they demand for more water they will knock the waterer down and throw it out of the cage for me to fill up. I found myself being under them.......mine are looking bald because their body growth is faster than their feather's. They're huge, nonstop eating and pooping machines(because they're meat birds). I have 2 Rhode Island Reds and they're much sweeter than the cornishes. When I have to stir up the shavings they will go up the roost so I won't hit them and make things easier; very sweet, unlike those cornishes who will peck me and at the stick and will attempt to go out of the cage! Thanks for making me feel better, Grey! Oh and your cornishes sound healthy and happy!