Pastured poultry, how it can work for you to raise your own food!

Hey folks, this is Josh, Stoney Rich Farmer. Welcome to the Farm Blog today. This is a rainbow ranger broiler from Meyer Hatchery. Today we're going to give you a bit of an update on the mobile chicken coop and our second batch of meat birds that we have here on the farm for this year's food consumption. So come along today on the vlog. We're going to talk to you a little bit about the different types of birds that we have in here. We've got some laying hens. We've got some guineas. We also have these big old fat rainbow ranger broilers and we'll compare the rainbow ranger broiler. This is basically the biggest one in the coop. We'll compare them with the Cornish cross broiler, which is bigger than this guy. So we're at week number five. Come along today. We'll have some fun on the farm. All right. What are you doing, little bird? Guys, so down here in this mobile coop right here are our meat birds for the fall season. In here, we have several different types of birds. Some of these birds, like the guineas, we're going to be releasing out here to kind of free range. And some of these birds, we are moving around on pasture, we've got one right here. They are little escape artists. So these birds are a lot more fun, a lot more, I guess, spunky than the Cornish cross birds. You'd never see a Cornish cross bird at five weeks jump up on the edge of this thing. So they're interesting to raise just a little bit different kind of meat bird. They don't grow quite as fast, but they're still pretty in their interesting, so there's another one out. I had three escapees. That was a Cornish cross trying to get up here, come on, little buddy. So this is the Cornish cross bird, it's a white bird, it's still a heavy tight bird, probably ready to slaughter in about seven to eight weeks versus these rainbow ranger boilers, which I've got one right here, and they're probably ready to slaughter probably about ten or twelve weeks. The food consumption with these birds is pretty similar. I'm going to say that this is much more a robust bird, a bird that can handle being outside, a bird that can handle running and jumping and scratching, where the Cornish cross bird is much more lethargic than these type birds. So we'll get you down in here, get you a close-up, and show you the setup, what we're doing. I'm going to move the coop first, this little guy right here, I think this little guy wants out. You can come right here if you want to, no biggie, we're cool, right? Good stuff. So the birds are a little bit ran bunches right now because they're out of water, we're going to get them moved, I'll show you exactly what we do. Watch out, first thing we do, take our water out, you see them following me. Alright, next we'll take our feeder out and use the 24% meat bird feed, and now we'll take our PVC mobile coop and we'll move it very, very simply, I just grabbed the handle with one hand and pull it over here, pretty cool, come on birdies, pretty birdies, birdie birds, what are you doing? I got you, I got you, it's funny how each chicken has its own personality, this guy's a little skittish. So basically at this point, the birds are probably eating about 15 pounds of food per day, so I kind of judge that on how much food I put in the feeder, so they're easier to move on pasture here. We're basically moving this coop right here around to different squares of pasture, or right now I'm pretty much our front yard. This basically serves the purpose of fertilizing the yard and it gets to chickens some fresh forage every day. So let's get down in the coop and I'll show you what they're doing. They're kind of wandering around a little bit and they're foraging, they're eating grass, they're eating the stuff off the ground, that's a little guinea-kete right there, but they're eating off the ground where if they were in a standard coop, they wouldn't have the opportunity to do this. So we're at about 120 square feet right here, we're about a 10 by 12 coop, we're housing about 40 or so birds and they're just loving it, it's just a cool way for your baby birds to live. And you can see that these guys are just tearing up some grass right now. This is not what your typical grocery store bird is eating, guys. This is vitamins, this is sunlight, vitamin D, vitamins and minerals and dirt and rocks and grit. These birds are loving life right here. So typically what I'll do with the birds right here is I'll move the coop and I'll let them eat grass for about an hour and then I'll go ahead and fill the coop back up. You can see they're little escape artists. Most of the time the lid's on right here, I've got a little tin lid and I'll pull that ever top and the birds won't get out. That's also for their safety, we'll probably be moving them down here onto our garden. As they make their way down through our front yard here and basically they started way back there at that truck and every day we've moved them throughout the process of their life here. The ultimate plan is to get down here and fence in our garden spot and let those birds put some of that yummy butt fertilizer that we like so much on our garden and get some good grubs and some good worms and some dirt in their lives. I think birds need some dirt in their lives. I think we have a lot of infection in this world because we don't get enough dirt in our lives. Birdie birds. Something else I encourage is talking to your birds. I think it's a good idea. They recognize my voice and when I come out they know it's food time. Very cool. Guys, they're thirsty, huh? Don't jump in there. Well, you gotta get back in to get some water. There you go. Let's reach in here and grab some birds and we'll tell you what they are. There you go, buddy. This is a guinea, a guinea keat, a little bit different, very squirrely, very squirrely little bird. It wants out so bad. That's a guinea keat. This is our rainbow ranger, broiler and they all kind of come in different colors. Hence the rainbow ranger, reach in here. This is a buff orfington. It's okay, little buddy. All these birds are the same age. It's okay. It's okay. This is a Rhode Island red. Pretty cool. This is a bard rock. See how pretty? I call them jailbirds because they have those little jailbird stripes on them. Very calm demeanor, very, very sweet bird and this is, I don't know what the heck bird. So, my hatchery played a little trick on me and they sent me some birds that I just have no idea what they are. It may be the Myr Mealmaker bird and the deal with Myr Hatchery with their Mealmaker bird is that if the bird lays eggs, you're supposed to donate the eggs to the hungry and if the bird is a meat bird, you're supposed to donate the meat. Pretty cool. Pretty good way to live. I recommend getting yourself some guinea keats. These birds are super duper fun to raise and they are a watch dog. We hear how loud they are. It's okay, it's okay. They will kill every flea and tick in your yard. So if you have dogs, they will kill all the fleas and ticks. They'll just eat them right up. I think these birds are supposed to eat somewhere in their weight of fleas and ticks within a week if they're around. So, they are bug scavengers. Basically, easy maintenance, you just let them out, let them loose, have them a good place to roost and those birds will just go at it, eat and all sorts of stuff and if somebody pulls them your driveway or a predator comes into your yard, you bet your butt you'll know it because those birds are like watch dogs. Okay, no guys. Something that birds are missing. The birds that you get at the grocery store are missing is sunlight, dirt, grit, hot, cold. All these things are good for the bird and they're good for the bird's immunity and that makes them good for your immunity. So when you go to compare raising your own meat birds like this with birds in the store, when you can go buy a bird in the store for $6.99 already cooked, that's not the same quality bird that you get here. So just a little clarification on that. I get a lot of folks talking about what a waste of time this is raising our own birds but their nutritive value is just so much higher than the bird that you get in the store. This is a free range pasture raised bird. It just has a totally different taste than the birds in the store. When my wife and I go get a rotisserie chicken once in a while, we get it home and we think, eh, this just tastes like cardboard, like flavored cardboard. This is the way to raise your meat for your family, it's super duper awesome. Guys, if you haven't seen the video, there'll be a link right up here to this chicken coop, how we made it. And there'll be a whole lot of links there is a video series on raising chickens. We've been working together with Meyer Hatchery to help show you guys how to raise your own food, how to raise your own eggs, how to raise your own chickens, the do's and don'ts and all the fun stuff that goes along with it. So thanks a lot. I thought I'd give you a quick chicken update today, nothing miraculous today in the vlog just a little bit of food for thought and food for the chickens. Thanks a lot guys. See you next time. Pound that like button, subscribe to the channel if you're not already subscribed. Click the little bell icon and it'll notify you when I post a new video. See you next time on the Stony Ridge. Land of the free in the home of the brave. I'm proud of who I am a Stony Ridge. Guys, if you have any questions about the birds or about the setup or about anything to do with this, please post it down there in the comments section and I'll get to you, okay? Thanks.