Raising Meat Birds in the Burbs- A How To Guide

[reaganFF]

Thanks for this informative post! I agree with @Penpal - You could publish an article in Backwoods Home or Self-Reliance magazines with photos and your setup. Lots of homesteaders start out in the suburbs and don't have a lot of room, so automatically assume they can't raise meat birds. I know I did!

 

[Jo Anne]

Live in the Suburbs? Wish you could raise your own Chicken? This is the post for you. My husband and I have been raising Cornish X meaties now for 2 seasons. and we do it with not much space. This is a how to guide on what steps we took to get there.

I first wanted to raise my own chicken for several reasons.
-They are a perfect closed loop system and I wanted a way to manage the soil in a new garden plot
-I care...a lot.. about how my meat is raised and where it comes from. I have no problems with the local farmer (we have a whole nation to feed) But my religious beliefs really tie into taking care of the land so it can take care of my family. Animals included.
-Backyard chicken taste DELICIOUS omnom!

I currently live in south Arizona, Our local zoning regulations allow me to have chickens and bees on my property with restrictions. No Roosters and up to 26 birds. I am going to admit I do break the rooster rule when it comes to meat chickens (we butcher them before they even have time to start crowing). But defiantly check your local zoning policies when it comes to chickens. Not all states are the same.

When I first started this project I did a lot of research on Meat Chickens( Cornish X to be exact) . I have raised a flock of 7 layers for 5 years now and so felt confident in the basics of chicken raising. There are some big key differences between Cornish X Meat chickens and normal laying hens.

-Cornish are a true ground bird, They sleep on the ground and really should never be given a perch. They could get blisters or break their legs from jumping down.
-They love to eat. I mean LOVE. I haven't seen anything look at another object with the same manic passion a Cornish Cross looks at the food tray when I lower it down in the morning.
-They don't tolerate excessive temps the way a Layer bird can.
-Poop....pooooop...so much poop...did I mention Poop?
-They can be taught to free range like layers but mostly are raised either in a tractor or some sort of smaller confinement.

Okay now on to my setup......

I wanted something not very traditional for my Meat Birds. I have a 12x12 foot shed on the side of my house and a huge 11X17 foot empty space next to it( see pictures) Since I homestead on such a small parcel of land I try and double utilize space the best I can and figured I could create a 3x12 lean-to open air coop with access to the empty fenced in garden plot. Keep in mind I live in a warm climate and this hybrid setup worked well for both me and my chooks. They enjoy lounging in the sun and dust bathing in the garden plot and I enjoy the free fertilizer every fall before I put my plot to sleep for the winter. This is my first year with this rotation. Next season the meaties will be able to enjoy the left over garden from the spring/summer. It's enrichment for them and the left over garden goes back into the meat for us to consume.

First:
We hired a company to remove the concrete the garden plot would be on. We had them leave a 3X12 slab that we would be raising the chickens on. I prefer my chickens on concrete since it makes cleaning the coop a breeze and keeps the smell to almost nothing. I layer a bunch of shavings over the floor for them to sleep on.
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Next:
My husband started to build the frame. We used 2x4's for the main structure
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Then:
We build the access door that leads to the garden for the chooks. I cant remember how big it is but I wanted it big enough to swing open for Turkeys and small enough to have an automated chicken door for the Cornish X. My husband also was able to install the tin roof on this coop in the picture as well.
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Human access door in the front and paint in progress ( I went with Mint green and White)

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He then put up the Hardware cloth. We used 1x1 inch cloth. If a bobcat or any other animal gets to my chickens with this then they deserved them.




Okay so now on to the fencing. We put up out main gate in the front and then my clever clever husband made a removable gate door to give me access to the back of the shed. its removable due it it being so large. I wanted it to not swing on a hinge and prevent me from using the area as more garden space. Now i can lift it out of the way and place it somewhere else. "why not go around the other side of the shed?" you ask.... I have my bees over on the other side #savethebees.
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Finished product (if I could marry him again I would <3 )
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So I do brood my meat chickens in this coop and never bring them in the house. When I get my Chickens it is the beginning of October and still in the 80's to 90's. I start to introduce them to the outside garden area around week 2 for a few hours a day then back into the coop. At 3 weeks or sometimes less I let them out in the mornings full time and lock them up at night. By the time they are 3-8 weeks old the temps swing into the 60-80's.
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I am not trying to glamourize raising meat chickens with my pretty coop. It is dirty work and I use all the poop from the coop in my gardens and the poop in the garden plots is broken down by the microbes I have in my soil. They only have one bad day and that's slaughter day. I spend a lot of time making sure they are as happy and loved as a meat chicken could be. There does come a time when they will not move around as much that's inevitable . But they do move from their food out to the sunny garden plot to just stretch their legs and enjoy life.....before going back to the food bowl and SCARFING down their food like Fat Bastard from Austin powers gnawing on that turkey leg.

-My layers churning the soil after the spot.has been vacant. They live in the orchard on the other side on my yard
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Poop talk: Okay folks. Meat chicken poop STINKS!!!!! It can also be super runny and tan in color from the food the eat. I put my Meaties on a daily serving of Ferment feed. I found giving them fermented feed brings their poop back to a normal solid poop. It also stinks way less. I ferment it in 1 Quart mason jars. Half feed half water. I let it sit out for 3 days and refill the jars without cleaning them with more food and water.


Well... Good luck Folks!!! Hope you enjoyed the read

Amazing coop
How do you know how big of a brooder you need? I am getting12 meat birds

 

[The_Desert_Druid]

Amazing coop
How do you know how big of a brooder you need? I am getting12 meat birds

It depends how long they are going to be in the brooder for. If it's a short time a Tupperware tote should be just fine for 12. If they are going to be in it more than 2 weeks then the general rule is 6 square inches of space per chick then after two you will need a square foot of space per bird

 

[The_Desert_Druid]

UPDATE:
I wanted to share the garden this season from where we raised the meaties. I haven't used any fertilizers except what the meat birds provided. When the garden is spent in the fall I will raise more meaties