Joel Salatin Semester - Pastured Poultry Lesson

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[Marialla.]

To those who think farming is cruel: Joel Salatin didn't invent the idea of keeping animals.  He did improve their living conditions and happiness quotient immensely, compared to the lives they would have had in a conventional modern American CAFO.  His slaughtering methods are as humane as any death could ever be, designed to be as quick, sure, and painless as possible with no undue stress to the animal.  The animals' quality of life and death on his farm are second to none.

[Jefferdaughter]

On training the hens to return to the henhouse at night, we used to have a light on a timer set to come on just before dusk.  The light attracted them inside, their was some feed to peck, and then they got on their roosts.  Also, the hens had been condiditoned to come when called for feed or 'special treats' like worms, whey, whatever - and we could call them and shut them in at any time of the day, if we needed to.  Salatin has some great practical advice, but pften we have to 'tweak' things to fit our own situation.

[FeelingShred]

Joel's videos just make me wanna be a farmer, there is more meaning on a farm life than a city life, where you spend most of your day doing things you don't like for a boss who you wanna kill and you can't wait vacation time to get outta there

[MsK-xmvw]

I know people who have excellent success with training layers to roost at night on small acreages. In fact; I have a friend who runs 10 chickens in a small egg mobile built 4 feet across to perfectly fit the width of his garden beds. The hens are moved daily, and he has the best garden in the county. I do agree that it is a waste of time attempting to train them before they are nesting and laying. Everything has to be modified to everyone's individual situation and can be. After all; Joel Salatin himself is a product of his own innovational concepts. Love his concepts, can't get enough of his info, and if I was 20 years younger, would be there as an intern soaking it up! His innovative ideas are changing things for the better, make them yours, take them and run with them. Good luck in your endeavors.

[TheSticks]

Everyone calling Joel "cruel" etc. get real. Animals raised on his farm have lives that far exceed what average "feedlot" or cage raised animals have. The man is a small farmer, not an animal abuser. Go watch a video on how Perdue or Tyson raises and slaughters their birds, then take a look at how Joel does it. Way more humane lives. If  the way meat is produced offends you, apparently your parents never taught you how life works. If you are a vegetarian, I don't understand why you would even want to watch such videos, knowing you will be offended (most, not ALL vegetarians). Vegetarian diets lead to serious deficiencies in vitamins D,  B12,  creatine, carnosine, and DHA, among many others. I say rip out those feathers and pass the BBQ sauce!

[susanpascal]

I live on a 1/4 acre in a subdivision. I have a 12 x 30 run and then another 12 x 12 "dry area connected, Our temp area had to be torn down so our chickens are coop less right now. I have a box with crates for them to lay. We are in the process of building a new coop. And 9 of 13 of my chickens are approaching 2 yrs old right now, and I ended up w/ 2 roosters (thank you TSC). I am thinking of replacing them with 6-10 more chicks right now so I have feathered chickens come winter (S.E. Michigan). The Dry area will be sand. and the run area is going to be composting material. I let them run the whole 1/4 acre every 3 or 4th day to forage (makes the BBQ nights less buggy). So far other than the one rooster crowing too much the chickens are happy, my yard is less buggy, no moles, bare spots are filling in, and the neighbors like the eggs (whom I asked before getting the chickens). Also, my son wants to put a 2-1/2' fence dividing the run into 1/3 rd and add a doe rabbit on each end and a buck in the middle to start raising rabbits with the Chickens This way the chickens can still move throughout the run but the rabbits would be restricted (son wants to do a modified colony raising). Do you think this is too much? What would you recommend?

[JDL]

in response to Boddah Meep - for protection from aerial predators he uses a goose.  One per flock will be enough.

[scrambledeggs]

My experience with hawks is that guardian dogs keep them away.
Free range chooks by definition are always free, so "letting them out" is not negotiable - that is their natural state.
If the chooks are not moved to new areas frequently then they will make a new home.
If they are not moved frequently to a new area then they will destroy their environment.
So if they are roosting somewhere other than where you want them to, they are telling you that you are being lazy.

[EbonPardus]

Will this course be offered again in 2015?

[joelegrand]

Love everything but your 50 acre thingy. one acre is 43, 560ft :3 =14, 520 yards : 400 yards=36.30 circles X 10 acres =363. lots.
To close, then use one circle per acre, making 10 rotations to keep the hen off balance, with no home base.
We had true free range chicken on the farm as a child & no chicken coop, they rested in the trees, we hunted egg & no poop on the porch.

[wendyscott]

A chicken showed up on my back fence the other day. I have no idea where it came from. It actually made a lot of noise for a while, and then it disappeared, hopefully back to where it lives. It was kinda pretty! I must say I've considered getting a chicken for my backyard to take care of bugs and provide some eggs, but would that even work? Even after all the videos I've watched about regenerative agriculture, no one has talked about having just one chicken. I sure don't want 800 of them. LOL

[candidethirtythree]

We just hang very bright lights under the mobile coop for the first week, we eat the one or two who will not go in.

[HerbalPrepperAcademy]

Tim Eaton, I could remark on how personally insulting a person's appearance doesn't make for a compelling argument to your cause, but I'll just say nice try, thanks for the laugh, and try not to hurt your brain thinking about those tasty chickens.

[ssubotai]

Doesn't Joel Salatin use a fence for the layers?

[Avilacrazy]

Hello community! Any tips with this system and coyotes?

[nedhill]

Birds are the easiest to do on a small scale. Next would be sheep and goats. Followed by pigs and then last would be cattle. They come in that order because it has to do with how much land you have and the capital investment you have to make to raise manage and then ultimately slaughter and distribute.

What’s even more mind blowing is when you look at market gardening and you see the kind of money people can make on anywhere from 1/4 of an acre to a small one or 2 acre farm compared to a huge farm used in traditional practices with heavy equipment. Small scale intensive farming is insanely more profitable because it operates on a completely different business model! Actually it’s not just a different business model, it’s an entirely different paradigm.

[nickbacklund]

Great video but what if I was to use mobile electric fencing so that the chickens could only go 50 yards or less from the egg mobile? Would that allow me to use the egg mobile on 10 acres of pasture or do the birds need the 400 yard diameter?   

[jokerstyles]

I’m thinking a 10 acre pig 🐷 farm a few miles from home sounds like a great idea. Don’t need to worry about the smell if I don’t live there

[boddahmeep]

wish this would address hawks. but perhaps thats on another part... also i wonder if a lot of this isn't so categorical and not directly influenced by him and his location, birds, etc. He seems to be saying that free ranged birds will find a better place to roost if they are let out too often, I have not come across this in my reading, maybe he only means in a chicken tractor design and not a stationary always home coop system. Either way I enjoyed the video, thanks!

[tonymaritato]

I have been wondering why farmers don't use the electric fencing with broilers as they do with laying hens.  If anyone knows please share.