moving the chickens ...

Transporting over 500 chicken from the brooding area in our barn to the field is easier than you think when you're related to two people that have done it twice for the last five years ...

The chicken was getting too big for the brooding area (this is the area where you set it up with heat lamps, 24/7 light for a couple of weeks, and then gradually introduce the concept of night to the baby chicks, and then switch out the heat lamps for lower strength until you get to just normal light bulbs), so we put them in these crates and hauled out to the field. We had to make a few trips so that the chicken can travel comfortably and have some elbow room for the one mile drive out to the field that N and M rented.



In these pens approximately 80 to 90 chicken are placed in each pens - we have 6 pens so that they have plenty of room to walk around. Food and water are cleaned and provided twice everyday.


This is a crucial part of the concept of healthy and "organic" chicken (the quote marks is because N and M's farm has not been certified organic yet, but all process and policies follow the organic concept) - the pens are moved once everyday so that the chicken have fresh grass to eat everyday, and so that they don't walk around in their own manure, which is a major issue in regular chicken raising factories - they get all these diseases from standing around in their manure for too long. The pens only require two people to move it (this photo shows a family who is helping a student that has a contract with M to learn chicken farming), one with a dolly, and the other one with a rope pulling the pen over the field slowly (the chicken learns to move with the pen).

This is a bonus for the field because the manure fertilize the field, for future crops.

Hope y'all enjoy this mini lesson on chicken raising ...