Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - Re: [permaculture] free-range chicken farming

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Mark <mpludwig@facstaff.wisc.edu>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] free-range chicken farming
  • Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 09:48:57 -0500

a few thoughts come right to mind
1. beware predators! This is the best way to get wiped out in a hurry. If you don't have a good hot (6 Joule or better) low impedance electric fencer, buy one before the chickens go out. Keep it around your birds religiously and test it regularly, you should have at least 3000V, 5000V is better still. Try to find out from local folks what the major local predators are and adapt you're system accordingly. Be wary of domestic dogs as well, they can knock out a whole flock, esp. city pooches who don't see poultry and will get very excited. The birds will need to be wire trained, so you may want a fencer with a high and low output, train with the lower shock, preferably before the birds are ranged.

2. In the US we have to deal with the Cornish rock (AKA hybrid broiler cross), a very fast growing and needy animal indeed. It does have a fantastic feed conversion ratio however. The may develop leg problems and at large sizes get heart attacks as the body may out grow the heart. IF this is what you will be growing I would recommend getting female birds for your first time. The are slower growing, more forgiving, and the chicks are cheaper.

3. Pasture should be mostly legumes and should be low growing (15cm).

4. Water is best delivered with a nipple system, eliminates all water cups and greatly increases sanitation. Val is an excellent brand, I am not pleased at all with Ziggity equipment. Val is at www.valproducts.com I think.

5. Forages will only form 10-35% of the diet, the rest needs to be concentrates or bugs (mobile concentrates).

6. Egg birds general forage much better than the meat breeds, the egg biz may be a better deal in many ways to meat, minimal processing, steady income, more durable birds etc.

Thats all for now, good luck.
At 11:28 AM 4/11/02 +0200, you wrote:

Hi

I am going into free-range chicken farming (to be evolved, within a year, into a food forest project) soon, initially on about 1 acre north of Pretoria, South Africa (bushveld). Can anyone perhaps point me to some good chicken info sources on the net, and publications? Any thoughts will also be appreciated about pitfalls, possibilities, guilds, etc.

Christo

Mark P. Ludwig
Poultry Research Lab
University of Wisconsin -Madison
608-262-1730 WK
608-846-7125 HM





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page