From the mini course "Pickin' The Right Chicken", Thursday 1/18 2018 from 1:00-5:00 pm.

1. Housing, Processing and
Cooperatively Marketing Poultry
Meagan Coneybeer-Roberts

2. Housing Your Chicks

3. Artificial Brooding- Methods
• Box/Battery Brooder- fully enclosed, stackable home version of a
commercial brooder, all tools are built in (lights, feeders, flooring etc),
most expensive
• Area Brooder- combines a pen to contain chicks and an overhead
heat source, very scalable and flexible in design
• Hover/Ohio Brooder- developed in 1940s, utilizes an area brooder
system with a “hover” box heat source
• 4 x 4 ft for 200 to 250 chicks
• 4 x 6 ft for 250 to 300 chicks

4. Battery Brooders

5. Area Brooders

6. Hover Brooder
https://web.extension.illinois.edu/hkmw/downloads/46524.pdf

7. Artificial Brooding- Space
• 2.5 ft2 per bird in the brooder
• Roosts- ¼ in. to ½ in. dowels or branches, 3 linear inches per chick
• Never house chicks together if they are more than a week apart in age
Age of Chicks Feeder Space Per Chick
0-4 weeks 2 linear inches
4-8 weeks 3 linear inches
Age of Chicks Waterer Space per 10 Chicks
0-1 weeks 1 quart
1-4 weeks 2 quarts
4-8 weeks 4 quarts

8. Artificial Brooding- Heat
• Starting in week 1, chicks need 95° ambient temperature with a 5°
decrease per week of age
• Chicks can go without heat at 4-5wks and can handle night
temperatures in the upper 40s
• You can move your hover brooder into an outside coop at 2 wks with
many heritage breeds
• Inadequate heat can cause piling and suffocation/crushing death
• Night-use an infrared heat bulb
• Day- use a full spectrum reptile “day” bulb, allows for synthesis of
vitamin D

9. Artificial Brooding- Bedding
• Bedding needs to be absorbent with good traction
• Do not use pine, cedar or other aromatic beddings
• Do not use newspaper, too slippery
• Hardwood sawdust, critter paper bedding, low-pile towels, paper
towels or linens can all be used
• Linens and towels reduce bedding waste
• Paper and sawdust can be composted
• Layer loose bedding to 1 in. deep
• Change often, do not wait for a smell to develop

10. Artificial Brooding- Ventilation
• Protect chicks from direct drafts
• Clean brooders before a smell develops to prevent ammonia toxicity
• Fresh air movement is necessary to reduce humidity and respiratory
illness
• Leave area or hover brooder pens lidless, open the sides of the battery
brooder to prevent condensation and build up of ammonia

11. Artificial Brooding- Feeding
• 0-2 wk old chicks can drown in most waterers, use only mason jar
style or place marbles in the trough of larger waters
• Nipple waterers can be made from small pop bottles
• Specialized chick feeders reduce waste

12. Housing Your Adult Chickens

13. Proper Housing
• Provide adequate space- prevents cannibalism, boredom and disease
spread
• Chicken roosts- 8 to 10 in/bird, 2x2in rod with rounded top
• Chicken space- 4 to 6 ft2/ bird in the coop
• Provide adequate ventilation without draft
• Use sanitary feeders and waterers
• A tarp “hammock” under the roosts can be used to collect night droppings
and keep coop floor cleaner
• Use litter in coop and change it BEFORE you smell it
• Can use straw, sand, shredded paper
• Do not you pine, cedar or other aromatic beddings

14. Ranges and Yards
• Free Range- open pasture/ range with rotation and mobile
housing is best
• Yarding- stationary coop with multiple yards can work
• Artificial dusting areas (diatomaceous earth)
• Keep coops airy and bright
• Don’t confine your poultry

15. Free Range
• Sweet spot of 50 hens or 500 broilers/acre/year with daily moves to
green grass
• Mobile housing prevents denuding of soil around the coop
• Mobile electric poly-wire fencing allows for flexibility
• ‘Rest’ rotational areas for several weeks to months between rotations
• You can re-seed/plant resting rotational areas
• Keep grass mowed to 4 in. to allow for foraging

16. Free Range Portable Housing
• Pasture pens- floorless chicken coops that serve as house and yard in
one
• Must be moved more often
• Restricts roosting and flight due to low ceilings
• Reduces predation to aerial predators
• More common for meat bird grow-out
• Portable coops- mobile structures that allow for free choice
movement inside and out
• Can be moved away from bare spots
• Allow for flight and roosting
• Birds on open pasture vulnerable to aerial predators
• Feed can be placed away from coop to encourage ranging
• More common for egg flocks

17. Pasture Pens

18. Mobile Coops

19. Yarding
• Fenced chicken yard with stationary coop- eventually becomes bare soil
• 8-10 ft2 minimum per chicken in the yard- the more space, the better
• Double yard- chickens are in one yard while you plow and replant the other
yard.
• Henyard System (deep bedding)- a thick layer of straw or other litter is
spread over the entire yard, and more is added whenever the yard
becomes muddy. Once a year, the litter is cleared out and spread on a
garden or field.
• Stoneyards- The yard is covered with a couple of layers of large round
stones. The manure tends to wash down below the top layer of stones,
separating it (and any parasites it contains) from the chickens.
• Sun porches- The yard is a wire-floored deck elevated above ground level

20. Processing Your Birds

21. Sanitary Processing Practices
1. Sanitary operating conditions
• Spray bottles of disinfectant (bleach water), sanitized tools and surfaces, protection of
product from contamination
2. Grounds and pest control
• Restrict entry of pests, pets and other animals into processing and handling area
3. Sewage and waste disposal
• Bury or compost waste parts (feathers, heads, feet, guts, blood) away from natural
water, collect rinse water and dispose of away from natural water
4. Water supply
• All water must come from a city water supply or well that is tested by the health
department at least twice per year
• Testing documentation must be kept on record

22. Sanitary Processing Practices
5. Facilities
• Maintain facilities in a way that prevents contamination of product
6. Dressing Rooms and Bathrooms
• Must be close, in full working order, clean and adequately sized for your staff
• Must be separate from processing facilities
7. Inedible Material Control
• Prevent the contamination of edible meat by inedible products (bile, organs, feathers
etc.)

23. Sanitary Processing Practices
• EVERYTHING THAT TOUCHES THE BIRDS MUST BE FOOD GRADE!!!!
• No garden hoses, no caution cones, no non-food grade buckets, no
garden sprayers, no garbage bags, no plywood tables, no wooded
cutting boards

24. Processing Equipment
• Featherman Equipment offers a complete line, turn-key
• Lowes sells food grade tubing, nozzles, sprayers, and adapters
• Lowes sells food grade buckets
• Restaurant supply stores sell cambro containers for “keeper” parts
(neck, liver, gizzard, heart)

25. Kill Cones and Blood Catch
• Stainless steel- order size that is right for your birds
• Sterilize cones and catch before use
• Spray with no-stick cooking spray to prevent blood from drying

26. Kill Cones

27. Kill Cones

28. Kill Cones

29. Scalder
• Heat water from 145-150⁰
• Featherman scalder comes with a pre-set thermostat and thermal
cover
• Add small amount of liquid dish soap to water
• Dunk for a count of 7, lift for a count of 3
• Repeat until wing, armpit and tail feathers release easily
• Submerge feet to remove scales if you want to sell feet for stock
• Requires electricity and propane

30. Scalder

31. Scalder

32. Plucker
• Purchase plucker sized for your birds
• Requires water hook-up and electricity
• Pluck more than one bird at a time to get a good “tumble”
• Water fowl will need to be waxed (dipped in hot wax and then ice
water) after scalding
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vqo3BYnBR4
• Go over plucked birds and remove any remaining feathers by hand

33. Plucker

34. Plucker

35. Evisceration Table
• Need food grade containers for parts and food grade tubing and
nozzle for rinsing
• Remove head and feet- discard
• Remove neck and keep
• Make horizontal slit with notch around vent, remove organs in one
handful
• Remove heart, liver, spleen, gizzard and testicles (if you’re brave
enough) and place in “keeper” buckets

36. Evisceration Table
• Avoid piercing the gallbladder
(small, green organ)
• Anything contaminated with bile has
to be disposed of
• Scrape lungs free from lower
ribcage
• Rinse carcass and place in first
chill

37. Evisceration Table

38. Evisceration Table

39. Chill #1- Pink Chill
• Primary chill tank can be large food grade barrel
• Blood will tint water pink, not appropriate to sell from
• Leave in primary chill for ~15 minutes before moving to secondary

40. Pink Chill

41. Chill #2- Retail Chill
• Water in secondary chill will be cleaner
• Can sell directly from secondary chill (on-farm sales) or bag from tank
• 3 hours to reduce internal meat temp. to below 40⁰F

42. Secondary Chill

43. Secondary Chill

44. Cooperative Production

45. Chick Sales
• Each farm specializes in a single breed of bird
• Sales are made just like a commercial hatchery (single website or
order form), with each farm fulfilling the specific breed orders
• Gives the illusion of scale to the consumer
• Straight run chicks and no (or limited) shipping simplifies the process
• “Chick Days” sales to farm supply stores are possible
• Requires NPIP certification, and (depending on your state)
chick/poultry dealer and hatchery licenses

46. Meat Sales
• Growers select the same or similar breeds
• Coordinate hatch dates to estimate grow-out time
• For product consistency and quality control, growers must feed the
same feed to all flocks at the same rate
• Large orders to restaurants or grocery stores can be met with this
model
• Consistent supply to customers can be met through farmer
coordination
• Packaging and labeling consistency is key

47. Egg Sales
• Regional grocery store chains cut contracts with growers for ~80,000
pasture-raised eggs per year/contract
• Multiple growers with eggs flocks ranging from 200-400 hens can
meet this order
• Breed selection, hatch date coordination, replacement pullet grow-
out and bird nutrition need to be consistent across all growers
• A cooperative grading facility can be established using shared
resources and grants
• Packaging and labeling consistency is key

48. Purchasing
• Feed- feed is custom designed non-GMO, reformulated quarterly
based on season, and ordered in bulk at wholesale pricing
• Requires a fork lift for delivery
• Must be paid before shipping
• We have a relationship with a local feed store that pays our order upfront, we
pick up and pay at the store
• Egg Cartons, Packaging and Labels- farmers can coordinate labeling
and get volume price breaks
• Supplements- grit, oyster shell, diatomaceous earth, sulfur powder-
bulk price breaks and wholesale pricing

49. Contact Information
• Meagan Coneybeer-Roberts
• mroberts@wpcc.edu
• 828-448-3562
• On Facebook: WPCC Sustainable
Agriculture