Pastured Poultry

Raising Chickens in a Grass-Based System

Erin Campbell-Craven, Livestock Program Assistant

Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture

What is Pastured Poultry?

Pastured poultry ≠ free range!

• “free range” is a marketing term

• “Producers must demonstrate to the Agency that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside.” – USDA Food Labeling fact sheet

• Outside could be pavement, gravel, rocks, dirt… not necessarily pasture

What is Pastured Poultry?

Pastured poultry ≠ organic

• Feed must be organic

• No use of hormones or antibiotics

• Environmental regulations

• NO pasture regulations for poultry, only ruminants

Pastured poultry are…

• Raised on FRESH pasture for most of their lives

• Given access to sunshine

• Usually frequently rotated

• Less crowded (enclosure space per bird 1-2ft²)

• Fed either non-organic or organic feed – Pastured poultry NEED feed or planted grains

supplementation to thrive and produce (diet is only about 10% grass)

• Often slower-growing, heritage breeds

Types of Pastured Poultry

• Broiler systems

• Layer systems

Broiler systems

• Raise from chick to slaughter in 8-12 weeks

• Usually kept in confined chicken tractors

• Moved often

• Often processed on site

• OK allows home-processing without licensing UP TO 1000 birds/year – only allows sales to household consumers

– must process at USDA-certified plant to sell across state lines, contract with stores, restaurants • Darp Processing Plant – Tahlequah, OK

Layer systems

• More often free-range or surrounded by electric fence & locked up at night

• Need more space – Higher frequency of cannibalism/pecking in layers

– Will be in production for years, not weeks

• Egg-mobiles

• Easiest to sell directly on-farm to consumers – OK laws governing egg sales are stricter than

federal laws!

Why Pastured Poultry?

• Waste control

• Fewer health problems

– Heat stress

– Cannibalism/pecking issues

• Pasture improvement through use of manure

• Health benefits/Tastiness of eggs & meat

Pastured eggs have…

• Thicker albumen (egg white)

• Darker orange yolk

Pastured Eggs vs. Non-pastured Eggs

Pastured eggs have:

• 1/3 less cholesterol • 1/4 less saturated fat • 2/3 more vitamin A • 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids • 3 times more vitamin E • 7 times more beta carotene

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2007-10-01/Tests-Reveal-Healthier-Eggs.aspx#ixzz27LvkfgLn

Other Benefits of Pastured Poultry

• Ethical concerns

• Appealing appearance of flock to customers

You’re not just marketing a product, you are marketing a way of life!

Pastured Poultry Challenges

• Weather

– Heat stress

– Cold stress

• Parasites

– Midges – avoid having poultry near boggy spots

• Predator control

– Electric fence

– Livestock Guardian Dogs

Heifer Ranch Pastured Poultry

• Raised 1000 broilers/year for kitchen

• Processed on site

• Cornish cross shipped at one-day old

• On pasture at 3 weeks, processed at 8 weeks

• Production from early spring to late fall

• Non-medicated feed (chick starter for first 2 weeks)

Kerr Center Pastured Poultry Project

2009-2010 Chicken Tractor

2009-2010 Chicken Tractor

• Can house 6-8 birds year-round

• Easily moved with an ATV or other vehicle

• Generally moved once-twice/week

• Perfect for pulling over beds or rows to fertilize garden pre-planting

2011 “Learning Experience”

• 100 Golden Wyandottes and Dominiques placed on pasture at 8 weeks in June 2011

• Surrounded by electric fence and locked up at night to limit roaming and predation

2011 “Learning Experience”

2011 “Learning Experience”: Problems Faced

• Birds did not recognize the trailers as their place to roost

• Could not be herded into the trailers easily – had to walk up narrow, steep ramp to access trailer doors

• Had to be individually caught and manually placed inside the trailers – Too stressful for birds

• Already over 100 degrees in beginning of June – couldn’t shut birds up inside trailers to acclimate

• Roamed widely as soon as they were placed in pasture – Not trained to electric fence

2011 “Learning Experience”: Lessons Learned

• Start over! • Order 40 chicks, not 100 • Raise chicks in trailers

– “Home base” will decrease roaming

• Put chicks on pasture as young as possible – Acclimate to weather before summer

• Place wire panels on either side of ramp leading to trailer door to herd birds into trailer

• Move trailers frequently to limit roaming, predation

2-day old chicks

Electrolyte/Vitamin Mix - dissolve 4oz. packet in 2 gallons of water – add 10oz per gallon of water for 4-6 weeks – promotes fast feathering

Brooder temperature recommendations

• Week 1 – 95 degrees • Week 2 – 90 degrees • Week 3 – 85 degrees • Week 4 – 80 degrees • Week 5 – 75 degrees • Week 6 – 70 degrees • Week 7 – 60 degrees These are just recommendations – the faster you can wean your chicks off of the heat lamp, the faster they will feather and the better they will acclimate to changes in the outside weather conditions.

2 ½ week-old chicks

Note advanced feathering – use feathering as a guide for decreasing temperature as the amount of feathering a chick has will dictate its cold-tolerance

Look for signs of stress in the chicks to make sure your brooder temperature is not too hot or too cold – these are not stressed chicks!

One-month-old chicks – outside in trailers during the day, inside the barn at night

6-week-old chicks – fully adapted to living outside surrounded by electric fence, put up in trailers at night

8-week-old chicks – moving out to new pasture

Rock Creek Project – chickens move in a 2-3 day rotation behind cows in an effort to scatter cattle manure patties and decrease internal and external parasites in the cattle

Panting to dispel heat – normal in chickens on hot days

Scratching through cattle manure to fertilize pasture and destroy internal and external parasite larvae

Kerr Center Pastured Poultry: Future Plans

• Develop breeding program – Acquire Delaware rooster – breed pure and

Wyandotte crosses

– Use hens for natural incubation

• Cull roaming hens

• Livestock Guardian Dog for predator control

• Fecal egg counts

• Soil tests on improved pasture where hens have been