Pastured Poultry
Click HERE to view photos and designs for movable poultry cages.
Raising pastured poultry is a simple way to integrate livestock onto small farms. They are suitable for farms that do not currently have livestock, or they can be raised in a system that includes other types of animals.
This page summarizes our experience with small-scale pastured poultry production on our organically certified land at WSU Puyallup from 2005-2007. We began raising pastured broilers with the goal of integrating them into a vegetable-pasture rotation in our organic farming systems experiment.
Methods:
We use small (5’x 10’), lightweight traveling cages (view photos and plans for cages) for housing the birds on pasture. Each cage holds up to 35 birds and contains two feed troughs and two watering units. Cages are rolled daily onto fresh pasture using a hand truck. We supply feed and water to fast-growing birds (Cornish Cross) twice daily, and to slower-growing birds once daily. We have needed to enclose the pasture areas with a movable electric fence to provide extra protection from predators.
Chicks are moved from the brooder to the field at 2 to 3 weeks of age, and are slaughtered at 8 to 11 weeks of age, depending on the breed. Our birds are slaughtered on farm using a mobile slaughtering unit.
Each bird is weighed when moved to the field, at intervals during their life cycle up to the time of slaughter, and after dressing. We also measure daily and total feed supplied to the flock and determine feed conversion. In 2007 we participated in a project to identify alternatives to chlorine bleach for carcass sanitation, and will participate again in 2008.
We raised Cornish Cross, Kosher King, and Slow Cornish birds in 2005, Cornish Cross in 2006, Freedom Rangers in 2007, and Slow Red Cornish Cross and Cornish Cross in 2008-2009.
Results:
Bird survival and weight, feed use, and feed conversion are summarized in Table 1 and 2. Cornish Cross chickens had much better feed conversion than the other breeds, but otherwise did not function as well in the pastured poultry environment. This was especially true in 2006, when we lost many birds late in the season because of heart attacks or inability to walk. The Cornish Cross also tended to have more difficulty moving with the cages, especially in the final weeks before slaughter. Feed conversion was lower in the spring of 2005 than in the later trials, likely as a result of not switching from chick grit to hen grit after they were moved to the field. Feed consumption and bird weights were down in 2009 due to a 10 day hot period when birds didn't eat or gain as much.
Fast White Cornish Crosses.
| Fast | White | Cornish | Cross | ||
|
2005 spring | 2005 summer | 2006 | 2008 | 2009 |
Received alive |
81 | 78 | 156 | 78 | 78 |
Slaughtered |
69 | 75 | 129 | 72 | 63 |
Small birds (< 3 lb live at slaughter) |
11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Age at slaughter (weeks) |
8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
Average carcass wt (lb) |
3.9 | 5.0 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 4.0 |
Feed used (lb) |
1472 | 1293 | 2408 | 1363 | 875 |
Feed used /bird (lb) |
21.3 | 17.2 | 18.7 | 18.9 | 13.9 |
| Feed conversion lb feed/lb meat | 5.5 |
3.5 |
3.8 |
3.8 | 3.4 |
| NOTES: 2005 (spring): only chick grit was used, other years chick then hen grit in field | |||||
| 2009: very hot period (10 days) where birds didn't eat/grow much | |||||
Table 2. Pastured poultry data summary 2005-2009,
slower growing broiler varieties.
| Kosher King |
CornishX Slow | Freedom Rangers |
Red CornishX |
Red CornishX |
|
|
2005 spring | 2005 summer | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
Received alive |
69 | 67 | 85 | 78 | 76 |
Slaughtered |
52 | 54 | 75 | 77 | 73 |
Small birds (< 3 lb live at slaughter) |
13 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Age at slaughter (weeks) |
10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
Average carcass wt (lb) |
3.4 | 3.2 | 4.8 | 4.1 | 3.3 |
Feed used (lb) |
1336 | 985 | 1860 | 1592 | 1270 |
Feed used /bird (lb) |
25.7 | 18.2 | 24.8 | 20.7 | 17.4 |
Feed conversion lb feed/lb meat |
7.6 | 5.7 | 5.2 | 5.1 | 5.2 |
| NOTES: 2005 (spring): only chick grit was used, other years chick then hen grit in field | |||||
| 2009: very hot period (10 days) where birds didn't eat/grow much | |||||
Below, young Kosher Kings, also called Barred Silver.
Below, Cornish Cross, final size.
Below, Freedom Ranger, (Red or Bronze), full sized, named "Rufus."
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