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Pastured Chickens

In the fall of 2005 Sarah Brunner and I, Shail Pec-Crouse, started the first commercial pastured chicken operation in California. Our business is still in its formative stage, and our first four months of business have been spent learning from other successful models, experimenting with different equipment, suffering through trials and tribulations, getting our hands bloody and planning improvements to our system. Throughout it all we have been guided by our core values of humane husbandry and sustainability.

We began with a very small flock of 175 birds and decided to try two different models of raising them on pasture to see which model worked the best for our situation. We compared the two models by looking at efficiency, loss to predators, land impact cost, fossil fuel use and mobility which strongly effects efficiency, land impact and fossil fuel use. After working with both models for a couple of months we have come to the conclusion that the Chicken Tractor (CT) model is most appropriate for raising meat Chickens and the Hoop House (HH) model is more appropriate for raising laying hens. The CT is better for meat production because it is more cost effective and mobile and there is less predation. The CT is also important for pasturing laying hens for their first few months since there are less predator risks. The Hoop House is better for egg production because it accommodates nest boxes and roosts.

Our current goal for our business it to primarily produce meat with a bonus of eggs on the side, so it looks like we will be spending a lot of time constructing CTs in the future.

Our Models

Joel Salatin developed a pastured chicken meat production using "chicken tractors" that are 10' x 12', fully enclosed on one end and covered with netting on the other end.

How our chicken tractor differed from the model:

• Salatin’s roofing and siding is made from aluminum. Our CT uses polycarbonate. Aluminum is much more durable and recyclable but is also extremely expensive. The price of aluminum has sky rocketed since the publication of Salatin’s book. Aluminum is also much heavier and we already find the CT a little to heavy for easy moving.
• Salatin used plastic netting on the open end of his CTs. We used 1 inch chicken wire on the roof and quarter inch hardware cloth on the sides. Salatin recommends plastic netting because it is light weight. He also recommends a strip of hardware cloth on the bottom 6 inches of the north eastern quadrant to protect from raccoons reaching in and grabbing the birds. We decided to use the hardware cloth all the way around to be safe. We used wire instead of netting because I was unable to find appropriate netting, wire seemed more predator proof and I like to avoid non-recyclable or biodegradable materials.
• Salatin’s design uses more cross braces to increase durability. We reduced the number of cross braces to reduce weight because the structure seemed to be sturdy enough with the bracing we installed. He also used a wire and turnbuckle to stop spreading on the bottom across the 10ft span. We used a 2x2 instead because we could attach a center support for the roof to it, it acted a perch and was less likely to trip the chickens.
• Salatin’s design contained no roosts. We added 3 10ft roosts to give the birds a place to sleep off the ground. Chickens like to sleep on roosts and it helps keep them dry in the rainy season.

The design after which we modeled our hoop house:

1. a free range operation in Marin County that used an identical hoop house
2. Joel Salatin’s “Eggmobile,” which is a ramshackle coop on wheels, and the same electric fencing he uses.

How our hoop house differed from the model:

• we combined the hoop house with the electric fencing
• Our HH is on wheels, not skids, so that it can be moved by hand instead of by tractor. This allows it to be moved more often.

Chicken Tractor Materials

• 10’x 12’x 2’
• Lumber is 95% recycled, 2%SFC certified 3% new and donated
• Hardware cloth
• chicken wire
• Recycled content corrugated plastic roofing
• Miscellaneous hardware (hinges, braces, etc.)
• Half of the tractor is enclosed in wire and the other half is enclosed in plastic roofing material to protect chickens from the weather and keep the chicken feed dry.
• The CT is moved by sliding a dolly under one end and pulling with a handle on the other end. We are in the process of getting a custom-made 4 foot wide dolly for easier mobility. We still need to install a handle on the dolly side of the CT to make it easier to get the dolly under the CT, and to it possible to put the dolly on either side and pull the CT in either direction.
• During our first trial with the CT we simply watered the chickens with a 4 gallon waterer that sits on the ground. However for more efficient moving we purchased a Bell Drinker which hangs from the roof, and is gravity fed from a bucket that sits on top of the CT. We still need to work on ballasting the bell drinker to have it be fully functional.
• At first we fed the chicks in the CT with a bamboo trough, but it didn't hold enough food. We now use a bucket feeder, but we are still working on refining the feeding system and are considering larger bamboo feeders.
• Cost: $400
• Capacity: 40 adult layers or 85 juvenile meat chickens

Bios

Sarah Brunner

A vegetarian from the age of 12, now turned chicken shepherd and butcher.

Sarah grew up in the suburbs of Marin County, north of San Francisco. In high school she grew disillusioned with the materialism and short-sightedness of the popular culture and applied to Humboldt State University in hopes of finding an antidote. At HSU she became an active volunteer and then highly valued employee (this is written by her former boss) of the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology, a demonstration home for sustainable living. After graduating she worked at Solutions, a retail outlet for all things "green," and while she stocked shirts and collected cash for shoes, she dreamed each day of starting her own business.

In the fall of 2004 Sarah was invited to join a farm advisory committee established by a local developer who sought guidance on planning a farm that was to adjoin a new housing development. It was in those meetings that the vision of a pastured chicken business took form. In the summer of 2005 she invited Shail to join her in developing a chicken farm business.

According to Shail, Sarah "is an extremely organized and enthusiastic partner."

Shail Pec-Crouse

I became a vegetarian at the age of 13 and vegan at the age of 19. My reasons for having a more restricted diet were mainly because of the environmental impacts of animal farming and the atrocious conditions that most food animals are raised in today.

As my understanding of the environmental impacts of an American diet became more sophisticated, I took a closer look at my diet and my reasons for not eating various foods. I started to buy only organic, then as much local food as possible. Eventually I came to the realization that that soy protein shipped from across the country probably had more of an environmental impact than grass fed animal protein grown locally; so I began eating local grass fed beef which doesn’t get fed imported grains that could otherwise be used for human consumption. I have high hopes for creating a local market for pastured goose meat--geese can be raised on a 90% grass diet, while chickens can only eat 20% grass.

Last fall my friend Sarah was tossing around the idea of a chicken farm, and I told her I would be interested in joining her as I have a passion for raising animals and was exited about growing my own food. I still am skeptical about the sustainability and appropriateness of raising chickens in this region because we have no local source of feed. However, I am really exited to be providing pastured poultry products to people who would otherwise buy imported eggs and meat that is grown mainly in warehouses with small dirt or cement outdoor enclosures. Organic standards require access to the outdoors when weather permits, but the area is usually bare and small and in many areas the birds are not allowed out for 4 or 5 months of the year because it is so cold. I have also felt like it is important for me to have more of a connection with my food. If I eat it I feel I should be able to kill it.