Need advice = raising chickens

[BigAl]

I will be going down in March to Panama to take a few days off and also setup a chicken Ranch to raise local meat for the island .
I have not been around chickens in 45 years and never knew much to begin with . The man that will be in charge of raising the chickens has worked 7 years on a chicken ranch .
I been reading up on how much room each chicken needs in a coop . It appears that each chicken needs about 1 1/2 sq. feet of space . Bases on this ,to raise 300 chicks I need a 450 sq ft building ? Does that sound right ?
My big concern is keeping the Boa Snakes away from the chickens . I have heard that they will eat them . We do have boas , but they seem to be about 3-4 feet long and not very big around .I would like to be able to turn some loose to eat bugs during the day ,. but I do not know if this is a good idea . We plan to have layers too for egg production .
The 300 chicks will be brought into the island by airplane about once a month . How much can I expect them to grow in a month ?

Question on laying hens ?? Do they lay 1 egg a day ? How long does it take before a hen starts laying eggs ?
I would appreciate any ideas or information .
I have even thought of building 4x12 coops on bicycle wheels that can be moved so we can fertilize new areas as it falls through the floor screen . .

Once everything is up and running a "by product" will be a mix of Chicken crap and "free" sawdust from the small local sawmill on the main island . They are glad to get rid of it . 50 pound empty flour sacks cost us 10 cents each and Genaro says we can sell it for $3 a bag . Believe it or not , fertilizer is a essential need on the islands .That seems like a good idea to me . The feathers will be given to the local indians to make bedding and pillows . The chicken innards will feed the local fish and crabs . Chickens will be processed only after orders are taken and given immediately to the customer after slaughter . Not only will they be fresh but we do not want the headaches of trying to refrigerate meat . Anyone wanting to buy "live Chickens" can also purchase them that way .More than likely this will be the Indians and bush people that live way out in the out islands .

Am I missing anything ??? Jobs are hard to find in the islands and I see this as a great way to get locals employed and keep the money in the local area instead of it going to the mainland . I have no intention of trying to make money out of this but to keep Genaro and a few other locals employed .The tourist industry is really hurting down there and many of the locals are suffering because of it . If it breaks even I will be more than happy . Just seems like if we can order fish or Lobster from the local fishermen and they will deliver it to the house for us still fresh , I don't see why we can't do the same thing with chickens .

Genaro has received pre orders for the entire monthly production from a few local restaurants once we are up and running .


Seriously looking and asking for input from the members here . Just seems like a "No Brainer" to me . What am I not seeing here ???

 

[DaveNay]

Talk to a LOCAL livestock veterinarian and find out what steps you need to take for antibiotics and such (depending of course if you haven't decided to try 100% natural). Birds in general are very susceptible to diseases that can kill of the entire flock.

 

[OhioTC18]

Allen, I didn't see anything about food, what do you plan to feed them and is it readily available on the island?

Sawdust is not good to use around young chicks. They'll eat too much of it. It would be fine if your thought was to just mix it with the "crap" afterwards. They also need some scratch to eat, so turning them loose could be good. Calcium in the food is needed for good egg shells.

Hens start laying around 19-20 weeks if conditions are good.

 

[BigAl]

Talk to a LOCAL livestock veterinarian and find out what steps you need to take for antibiotics and such (depending of course if you haven't decided to try 100% natural). Birds in general are very susceptible to diseases that can kill of the entire flock.

Ok . Good point . We do not have a vet on the island ,so I'll talk with Genaro about this

Allen, I didn't see anything about food, what do you plan to feed them and is it readily available on the island?

Sawdust is not good to use around young chicks. They'll eat too much of it. It would be fine if your thought was to just mix it with the "crap" afterwards. They also need some scratch to eat, so turning them loose could be good. Calcium in the food is needed for good egg shells.

Hens start laying around 19-20 weeks if conditions are good.

The crap would be mixed with the saw dust . We have access to chicken feed from the mainland about 9 miles away . The ferry comes in every day so we would not need to have a large supply of feed in reserve .

We plan to move the coops to give the birds fresh grass every couple days .
I have set aside a couple acres of land for this on the side of my property .
Here is a design of a coop I am thinking about using . They are made from PVC and lite weight .

 

[muleman]

You need some ground oyster shells and other grit for them to work their crops with. Plenty of water is vital. The sawdust is bad. Some wood varieties are toxic as well. Planer shavings are the preferred bedding usually pine or poplar. If you move them on a regular rotation it will help their health. Urea from too much manure without enough airflow is also bad for them. If you keep them off the ground they won't benefit from natural insects and minerals.

 

[BigAl]

You need some ground oyster shells and other grit for them to work their crops with. Plenty of water is vital. The sawdust is bad. Some wood varieties are toxic as well. Planer shavings are the preferred bedding usually pine or poplar. If you move them on a regular rotation it will help their health. Urea from too much manure without enough airflow is also bad for them. If you keep them off the ground they won't benefit from natural insects and minerals.

I should have said that it will be planer shavings that we will use . The lumber all comes from the jungle already rough( Chained saw) cut to size and is ran through a planer .

No pine in the Islands but we do have Laurel wood that is very much like a pine/cedar .I know the damn termites love that stuff . I'll stay away from the hardwood shavings as I think that would be much harder to compost and the bugs /termites hate it .

 

[Melensdad]

All if you eat them when they are still eggs then they won't crap on your lawn.

Other than that, I know nothing about about chickens.

 

[BigAl]

All if you eat them when they are still eggs then they won't crap on your lawn.

Other than that, I know nothing about about chickens.

Geez ???? Thanks Bob !
I just like fresh chicken and that is something you cannot buy on the island unless you raise your own .
I went with Genaro and we visited a few Restaurants and every one of them was excited about being able to buy local grow chicken . I honestly believe we can sell more chickens than Genaro and his group can possibly raise . All I want out of this is fresh eggs in the morning and fresh chicken at night to offset the fish and lobster we eat .

I just hope it works . Genaro is one of the people whose kids I send to school and a great guy . This job would give him the independence that he needs to make a decent living . He is the type of guy that will give back to the community too .

 

[XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq]

Nice pens Al, I was planning on building a pen this year but hadn't thought of using PVC.

 

[OhioTC18]

Could the boas get in under the PVC?

 

[BigAl]

Could the boas get in under the PVC?

I am a little concerned about that so I thought I would put a wire floor in the bottom . I am wide open to any and all ideas .I like the PVC idea as it rains so much in the island and PVC would not be affected .

 

[Bamby]

I've thought about raising some for myself at times, and still may. I'm not sure about your snakes they could be a issue. Most of the movable houses have no actual floor so the chickens can supplement their feed with some greens. The issue would be the snakes would probably be able to get under and in empty, but unlikely to escape once full of chicken. Is Boa and fresh chicken on the menu? Anyway you may pick up a lot of good info here: http://www.motherearthnews.com/search.aspx?search=raising chickens

 

[Treefriend]

I will be going down in March to Panama to take a few days off and also setup a chicken Ranch to raise local meat for the island .
I have not been around chickens in 45 years and never knew much to begin with . The man that will be in charge of raising the chickens has worked 7 years on a chicken ranch .
I been reading up on how much room each chicken needs in a coop . It appears that each chicken needs about 1 1/2 sq. feet of space . Bases on this ,to raise 300 chicks I need a 450 sq ft building ? Does that sound right ?
My big concern is keeping the Boa Snakes away from the chickens . I have heard that they will eat them . We do have boas , but they seem to be about 3-4 feet long and not very big around .I would like to be able to turn some loose to eat bugs during the day ,. but I do not know if this is a good idea . We plan to have layers too for egg production .
The 300 chicks will be brought into the island by airplane about once a month . How much can I expect them to grow in a month ?

Question on laying hens ?? Do they lay 1 egg a day ? How long does it take before a hen starts laying eggs ?
I would appreciate any ideas or information .
I have even thought of building 4x12 coops on bicycle wheels that can be moved so we can fertilize new areas as it falls through the floor screen . .

Once everything is up and running a "by product" will be a mix of Chicken crap and "free" sawdust from the small local sawmill on the main island . They are glad to get rid of it . 50 pound empty flour sacks cost us 10 cents each and Genaro says we can sell it for $3 a bag . Believe it or not , fertilizer is a essential need on the islands .That seems like a good idea to me . The feathers will be given to the local indians to make bedding and pillows . The chicken innards will feed the local fish and crabs . Chickens will be processed only after orders are taken and given immediately to the customer after slaughter . Not only will they be fresh but we do not want the headaches of trying to refrigerate meat . Anyone wanting to buy "live Chickens" can also purchase them that way .More than likely this will be the Indians and bush people that live way out in the out islands .

Am I missing anything ??? Jobs are hard to find in the islands and I see this as a great way to get locals employed and keep the money in the local area instead of it going to the mainland . I have no intention of trying to make money out of this but to keep Genaro and a few other locals employed .The tourist industry is really hurting down there and many of the locals are suffering because of it . If it breaks even I will be more than happy . Just seems like if we can order fish or Lobster from the local fishermen and they will deliver it to the house for us still fresh , I don't see why we can't do the same thing with chickens .

Genaro has received pre orders for the entire monthly production from a few local restaurants once we are up and running .


Seriously looking and asking for input from the members here . Just seems like a "No Brainer" to me . What am I not seeing here ???

Al,

I recommend you contact Joel Salatin for some of that. Sounds like

you're setting up a long term operation.

http://www.polyfacefarms.com/story.aspx

Joel & Teresa Salatin
43 Pure Meadows Lane
Swoope, VA 24479
540-885-3590

Pastured Broilers
We use 10 ft. X 12 ft. X 2 ft. high floorless, portable field shelters housing about 75 birds each to grow these 8-week meat birds. Moved daily to a fresh pasture paddock, these birds receive fresh air, exercise, sunshine, and all the genetically modified organism-free (GMO-Free) local grain they want. Integrating the cows to mow ahead of the shelters shortens the grass and encourages ingestion of tender, fresh sprouts. At Polyface, we want every animal to eat as much salad (green material) as its full genetic potential will allow.

 

[Deadly Sushi]

While raising them.... lift each one carefully as to not drop them

 

[muleman]

While raising them.... lift each one carefully as to not drop them

You been playing with feathers again haven't you!