Ordering
We fill our freezer every year with 25 roaster chickens. We order rustic rangers in early January from a hatchery for a pickup in mid-May. By then the worst of the cold weather is gone and I can be sure the brooder in the barn will be able to keep the baby chicks warm enough.
The brooder setup
We set up the brooder in one of our empty stalls but a garage or shed with electricity will work. We use 12-inch corrugated paper to make a circle of about 3 feet diameter to start. It is filled with 4 inches of shavings then topped with paper towels which is easier for the chicks to walk on and keeps them from trying to eat the shavings at first. The small size circle will keep the chicks close to the brooder lamp, food and water. It also keeps them from getting stuck in a corner.
We hang the brooder lamp from a chain in the ceiling to be about 10 inches up from the shavings. The temperature should be around 95 degrees Fahrenheit or 35 degrees celsius the first week. I recommend you use a thermometer to check it and to have it all ready to go the day before you bring your chicks home.
The chicks will huddle under the light when they are too cold and move away if it is too warm. We want them moving about comfortably from water to food and under the lamp occasionally to warm up. I also recommend you put the food and water in the night before to allow it to warm up a bit before placing the chicks inside.
Picking up the chicks
On the day we go to pick up the chicks we make sure the heat is right by laying a thermometer on the shavings a little away from the light. The chicks will come in a little perforated box. 25 little puff balls all peeping quietly. Some people order them by mail and the post office will call to have them picked up.
Placing in the brooder
When we get them home we carefully place the beak of each little chick in the water quickly so they know where the water is. We place them one by one into the brooder this way, being gentle and counting them as we go. They should all look healthy and start peeping around the brooder checking out the feed and water dishes. We try to refrain from holding them away from the heat for too long as they need that heater to regulate their body temp. The chicks are very cute at this stage.
Feed and Water
We use small quart/litre size water dishes and long plastic or metal feeders that all the chicks can get to at one time. Add a splash of cider vinegar to the water to help their guts begin to work. We use medicated chick starter feed for the first 4 weeks. It is best to feed enough that it is always available to them. You will be amazed at how quickly they grow.
Second week
By week 2 you will have to enlarge the area by 2 feet. I cover the area with clean paper towels morning and night. This helps keep them clean and dry and able to walk around easily. By the end of this week, you can probably remove the paper towels and let them be directly on the shavings. They now know where their feed is and won’t be tempted to eat the shavings. We also raise the lamp slightly to reduce the temperature. They won’t need it as much as they start to get their feathers coming in.
As we watch them move around the whole brooder we know they are warm enough. If they huddle peeping under the light then we know to lower it slightly. We take into account the outside temperature of the barn or shed we are using. If we suddenly get a cold snap we will need to adjust the heat lamp. The more they move around in the brooder the better it is.
Issues to watch for
Keep an eye on their bottoms as some can develop pasty butt. This is where the manure sticks to their feathers around their bottoms and can seal it closed which stops them from pooping. It can be caused by stress or from being chilled. If it happens we take a wet paper towel, preferably warm and hold it to their bottoms to soften and loosen the manure. We try to be very gentle and patient as the clump can be stuck on pretty good and you don’t want it to rip their skin by pulling it off. We just remoisten it until it can be gently removed then dry them well and place them back in the brooder near the lamp.
4th week and moving them
By the fourth week, they will have a lot of their feathers and lose that puff ball look. If the weather is suitably warm and sunny we can move them to their adult home. They will need more room to move about.
Chicken tractors
We use something called chicken tractors for our meat birds. This is a movable tent-shaped structure built to protect the chickens as they eat the grass around the property. It is covered in hardware cloth to deter predators and covered with a tarp to protect the chickens from rain and give shade. We put feed and water inside and move it 2 times a day so they have fresh grass to eat and sleep on. We use 2 tractors, each one holds 12 or 13 chickens. They are 4′ x 8′ in size. We do this for another 7 to 8 weeks.
Poultry processing
The rustic ranger chicken takes about 11 weeks to grow to about 5 to 7 pound chickens. Knowing this we pre-book a time at a poultry processing plant to take them for butchering. They are government inspected at the plant. Some people do the butchering themselves but we prefer to take them in and have them vac sealed and weighed as well as frozen to be picked up the next day.
Great use of property
By doing this we get lots of pasture-raised chicken to fill our freezers. It is a great way for us to use our property and we like the chickens to go through our orchard as it helps fertilize and remove pests. We have also run them through the pastures with the horses and it helps there too. Depending on how many you want to raise you can do this a couple of times a year starting a new batch every 2 months.
Would you want pasture-raised chickens on your property and in your freezer?