Keeping free range chickens. Chickens in the garden

Organic farms are the exact opposite of chicken farms. Here, chickens spend 85% of their time in freedom, they graze in the meadows and do not know either soybeans or.
They rush and grow naturally, without antibiotics and growth hormones. They constantly migrate from site to site, fertilizing the fields of local farmers.

An example of such a farm is the Stoltzfoos Layers egg farm, which was founded by 15-year-old Delmar Stoltzfoos in 2001. He bought the first chicken coops with friends of his father and put 200 laying hens there.


These eggs were sold under the banner "Free-range eggs". From its humble beginnings, Stoltzfoos Farm has built a trusted name for delivering delicious, healthy brown eggs throughout Lancaster County and beyond.

Delmar began to engage in wholesale and retail organic eggs. Within a year, his farm had grown to 600 hens from 40 to 45 dozen eggs sold per day. The eggs are certified organic.
In 2006, Delmare, at age 21, sold his business to his younger brother, Josh.

Mobile chicken coops

Josh and made them more efficient and self-sufficient. They are transported from place to place so that the chickens always have access to fresh grass, insects and worms, and evenly fertilize local fields.

Mobile chicken coops:

• are 3.5 meters wide and 7.4 meters long.
• Each poultry house accommodates up to 700 hens at night.
• Every hen has access to water and a nest
• Solar battery charges a 12 volt battery that provides light in the coop.

In addition, chickens and chickens in the field are guarded by 2 dogs from various predators.


Every year the demand for free-range eggs has increased. And Josh designed and built more laying hen houses.

In 2009, Josh dropped the "Organic" label because the customer base was more interested in grass-fed, GMO-free, soy-free, laying-friendly hens than the "organic" badge on the label.

Josh officially registered his business in 2012 as a separate independent farm. And he began to live separately from his father, as it became too crowded.

Josh's brother, Clifford, joined Stoltzfoos Layers in November 2012. He helps with bookkeeping and management.

Here is a story of two brothers who make natural eggs.

What do you think about raising free-range chickens?

Do-it-yourself corral:

Reference! According to consumer reviews, eggs and meat from free-range chickens from time to time are tastier.

But this, for example, has not been scientifically proven, we can consider this fact not noteworthy. But what science has proven is 6 times more content in eggs of such a course, 6 times more carotenoids than in the eggs of those hens for which walking is not available.

Types of walking

Chickens are contraindicated in drafts and strong winds. Therefore, you need to place the room on the leeward side. The blank walls of the poultry house will protect the hens from this problem. It is desirable that bushes or a sprawling tree be planted near the chicken coop. Plants will provide additional protection.

Let's finally move on to the types of walking. When is the best time to build a covered paddock? When the territory of the site is not far from the forest, or is not fenced. Closed range is ideally done on the same platform as the poultry house. It has, of course, a roof and fine mesh walls.

This type of walking has advantages and disadvantages.
On the one hand, birds in such a range are not afraid of predators. They can not be afraid, for example, of rats and weasels. But on the other hand, they will not be able to peck fresh grass here.

If possible, an open range should be provided.. It also needs to be fenced with a net, make a full or open canopy. It is better if you protect the birds from the scorching sun. You can do this with a roof or small shrubs. Or - and that, and another. So that the birds can choose.

materials

• if you do not live in the southern part of the country, then you definitely need glass wool in order to insulate the chicken coop;
• bricks;
• optional: chipboard for ceiling and wall cladding;
• sawdust to equip bedding;
• slate to put on the roof;
• boards, their number depends on your layout;
• screws;
• mounting foam;
• nails.

How to build a good chicken coop: step by step instructions

First of all, you need to decide on the number of birds and the type of chicken coop, summer it will be or winter.

If you have decided on these questions, you can begin to build a corral.

How to make a summer aviary?

What is the difference between a summer aviary for chickens? It also consists of a chicken coop (where the birds spend the night), a nest where they will lay eggs. sticks on which chickens like to sit, in some cases - there are nests on the second tier, in order to pick up eggs, you need to equip a ladder.

In order not to open the door every time, you need to equip the grate.Walls can be made from mesh.

Advice! The sun, positive for chickens are very important. It is also important to equip a small reflective flashlight. So that if the chickens fall at night, they can see where to jump.

How long will construction take?

Very fast - it only takes a couple of days. The technology for building a chicken coop has been described above. Let's just say that building a "house" for hens with a range is a fairly quick and easy task.

Paul, by the way, is very desirable in a chicken coop.
The following reasons:

1. No predator can dig and attack.
2. This will keep the birds warm. There are cold nights in summer too. The walls need to be upholstered with edged boards.

Photo

Below you can see a photo of a summer aviary for walking birds.

Are there any differences in the design of poultry houses for 30 or 100 layers?

Poultry houses for a different number of heads differ only in size. If keeping 6-7 hens requires at least a square meter of area, then keeping 100 hens will require at least 16 square meters.

Room care

• Food should be plentiful, but chickens are unpretentious birds. They can also handle food waste.
• Lighting should last almost all day. 16-17 hours a day you can not turn off the light in laying hens.
• Comfortable temperature for laying hens is 25 degrees. Drafts are not allowed.
• Chickens love to bathe in sand or ash. Therefore, it is better that there is a box of ashes in the chicken coop or on the range.
• For nests, chickens need to put some hay in a corner, and they will do the rest themselves. Some chickens find it more convenient to rush in boxes.
• These birds love to perch. It is better to equip it at a height of 1 meter, the diameter of the perch should be about 5 cm.
• Room cleaning should be daily. To do this, you need to shake up the litter every day, clean it of litter, every day you should clean the litter boards.

Last Thursday, before the master class on Russian cuisine, which I talked about, I managed to visit Vladimir region on a chicken farm. Recently, I complained that I often visit different farms, and I have almost no photos of the most popular bird - chicken. Here, I caught it.

The farm of Nikolai Stepanovich Aldushin is located in the Kovrovsky district of the Vladimir region. Previously, there was a farm named after Degtyarev here, but then it was abandoned. "When you make weapons, fuck you Agriculture? Nikolai says.

In general, Aldushin, a livestock specialist, graduated from Timiryazevka, worked for 20 years as the director of an agricultural enterprise. All my life I have been involved in dairy cattle. But when it came to organizing your own farm, the choice fell on chickens, as the least expensive direction.

Now there are 3500 laying hens on the farm. By winter, you need to bring the amount to 4000 in order to achieve the optimal temperature in the chicken coop. The chicken feels comfortable and rushes well from +14 to +28°C.

Despite the large number of chickens, it is still more domestic than industrial poultry farming. The main differences from the poultry farm: exclusively floor keeping of chickens (that is, no cages), natural feed and free range.

In the warm season, chickens freely go outside to graze through holes in the wall.

Chickens not only walk, but also rush right on the street in the thickets of nettles. Of course, collecting eggs on the street is more difficult than in a chicken coop, but how cool!

egg laying close-up. Don't worry, the eggs will be clean on the table.

Nice work!

In total, 3 breeds live on the farm: Loman Brown, Hisex white laying hens of some nameless cross. “Very evil! - says Nikolai Stepanovich about white chickens. “If someone gets hurt, they will smell a little blood, they will immediately peck.”

And by the looks of it, you can't tell. Lovely.

All three breeds are kept separately. Every flock has its own rooster. Here is one of them, black.

Nikolai Stepanovich bought all his chickens at the Kovrov poultry farm, thereby saving him from certain death. “I buy chickens after the first cycle,” says N.S. - Then the chickens begin to molt, it is unprofitable for the poultry farm to keep them, she wants to get rid of them. I buy them inexpensively, the molting passes, and I have adult chickens. I don't have young girls at all." On Aldushin's farm, chickens live in free conditions, eat grain, dig worms and, as a rule, do not die from a knife. A fall of 25% per year is considered normal, for Nikolai Stepanovich this figure does not exceed 16-17%. Sometimes a chicken will eat something wrong in the yard. The day before, two chickens drowned in a puddle. Foxes are operating, again. In general, the harsh truth of life.

“Of course, they are vaccinated at the poultry farm,” Nikolai Stepanovich shares his secrets. “They vaccinate once at the age of four months.” After moving to the farm, no more vaccinations. From feed - wheat, barley, sunflower cake. They also give fish, and of course what the hens dig up themselves. “Sometimes I take compound feed, local, Kovrov. If the protein values ​​in the batch are good. I go, I look myself, ”continues the story of N.S.

Nikolay Stepanovich also told about his plans. Wants to have thoroughbred chickens. Let the egg production be less, but for the soul. And he also has views of the rest of the former state farm. Repair, get cows.

"Are you sure you won't stay?" Nikolai Stepanovich asked in parting. — Otherwise, they would go to the bathhouse, drink environmentally friendly vodka ... Well, no, no. Tempting offer, I say. But you need to go. Thank you. I'm wondering if it's possible to buy eggs for home. Nikolai Stepanovich gives me three packages, and we say goodbye. On the way, I stop on the side of the road and go into the forest for 10 minutes. Butterflies, boletus mushrooms and even mushrooms! But a schedule, a schedule. You need to have time to enter Moscow before traffic jams ...

There is a growing trend in the world to refuse products obtained from the cruel exploitation of animals. In particular, it touches on the topic of laying hens.

Under pressure from the public and animal advocates, one company after another terminates relationships with suppliers who still use a battery system for keeping laying hens, which is by all means too rigid a practice to cover the natural needs of animals.

What is battery content?

The battery containment system consists of endless rows of small cells piled on top of others in 3-4 tiers. Up to 20 individuals can be in one such cage, which does not allow chickens to spread their wings or clean their feathers. Under such conditions, one animal has an area no larger than an A4 sheet.

In addition, nature itself has developed a mechanism in which animals inevitably start to get sick and die if their number reaches a critical level per 1 sq. m. In this regard, birds are given antibiotics from birth throughout their life on the farm.

By the way, on average, a chicken in a poultry farm lives only 2-3 years, compared to 10 years in its natural environment. This is due to the fact that the animals quickly weaken and their egg production drops already at the 2nd year of life. Keeping such chickens is unprofitable for farm owners, which is why the birds are sent under the knife.

How it all began?

The fight against the cruel and unnatural practice of keeping laying hens in cages began in the early 2000s. Due to huge public outcry, companies one after another began to refuse to use battery-fed eggs, a little later they began to avalanche to refuse to use cage-fed products in any form.

Since 2015, a growing number of major campaigns have announced that they are no longer selling or using caged eggs. Among them are such giants as: McDonald's, Unilever, Starbucks, Danone, Nestle, Marriot, Sbarro, KFC and many others.

Who has already supported the campaigncagefree?

In some European countries, the government has given local farmers a time frame within which they must stop using cellular content chickens.

For example, in Austria after 2020, and in Belgium after 2025, a complete ban will be imposed on the cage keeping of animals.

Germany was not left behind either. In 2013, caged hens accounted for only 13% of the total number of layers used in German agriculture.

Will Belarus follow the global trend?

If we talk about Belarus, then we are still behind everyone. Unfortunately, almost all poultry farms, except for one, use a battery system for keeping laying hens.

And local offices international companies are in no hurry to replace caged eggs with a more ethical and healthy alternative. Including those whose head offices have signed the Cage free policy in their countries.

While we are at the very beginning of the transformation of our society in relation to animal rights.

What will be the future of animals in Belarus depends only on consumers.

Studies conducted in neighboring countries show that 52% of Ukrainians and 83% of Poles consider keeping chickens in cages unacceptable. I would like to believe that Belarusians will not be more callous and indifferent to animals than their neighbors

Now it is difficult to predict what will happen after 2025. Animal rights activists will make every effort to keep animals in cages a thing of the past.

However, what happens after 2025 also depends heavily on society. In the past few years, we have seen an increase in awareness among consumers, for whom the conditions for keeping farm animals are becoming increasingly important.

This shouldn't surprise anyone. Philip Kotler, one of the well-known marketing experts, wrote the book "Marketing 3.0" a few years ago, where he notes that when products are very similar in appearance (as in the case of eggs), the only distinguishing and competitive feature for brands will be social problems, ethics, ideology, etc.