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| We had 500+/- laying hens in the big chicken house. We had 2 brooder houses on skids we pulled up behind the house in early March. A big thermostatically controlled propane heater in each one plumbed into the ranch house propane tank. Those heaters would cook you out of those tight but uninsulated brooder houses in the coldest weather. I can't imagine what it would cost to run those heaters today with $2 propane.
The chicks were started on medicated starter feed and water. Electric light kept on to keep them from piling up. Late April-early May the 2 brooders were pulled away from the yard to the edge of an alfalfa hay field for the summer. Roosters seperated at this time to another brooder that was not nearly as well constructed at another location. Some roosters harvested as fryers, some left for later for roasting chickens. I did and always will prefer fryers! ;-)
Chickens now are all free range at this point. Feed hauled to them in 5 gal buckets in the old Jeep with a 200 gallon gravity flow water tank in it. Waterers were 55 gal barrels outside the brooders rigged with hog watering float valves. Feeders were hung inside to keep away from coons and other varmints. Chickens religiously shut in at night or there would be problems with coons, skunks, or other predators.
In the fall the old laying hens in the big chicken house were removed at night by myself and other neighbor kids and put on a truck destined for Campbell's Soup. Pullets have started laying in nests in the brooder houses. When the old chickens are gone the old wood shaving litter is cleaned out (perfect shovel job for a kid unfortunately!) The masonite interior and concrete floor are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected and new wood shavings spread out. Then the pullets are moved into the big chicken house.
Big chicken house had a water hydrant installed in later years. Before then it was always bucketed from the stock tank in the corral. The chicken roosts had galvanized metal troughs which were cleaned daily into a wheelbarrow. If you neglected to clean the roosts and let it go a week it turned into a major job. The galvanized steel troughs on the roost were a high maintenence item. Dad made them out of valley tin and kept some made up on hand. They installed on the frame between the 2x2 wooden roosts with 2 machine bolts on each end of the roost. Because I was the kid it was always my job to do those 2 bolts against the back wall. ;-(
Ah, the good ol' days! I don't miss chickens, it about wore me out to type about it LOL!
Edited by John SD 9/24/2009 21:07
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Organic Eggs...Prices
