Poultry Your Way - Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems ...

MANAGEMENT
ALTERNATIVES
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Poultry Your Way
MANAGEMENT ALTERNATIVES
PASTURE: DAILY MOVE PENS
During the grow-out stage of production, linear feeders are still used, but white five-gallon buckets and hanging
bell waterers are introduced. The buckets are placed on the roofs of each pen and gravity-filled from large water
tanks that Salatin mounts on a trailer. The five-gallon buckets in turn serve as reservoirs for the bell waterers.
Salatin restricts feed and water for a few minutes immediately after moving the pens to encourage foraging on the
fresh pasture.
Laying Hens. Layers are more aggressive foragers than broilers and, according to Salatin, will consume at least 30
percent of their diet from grasses, legumes, and insects when turned out on pasture. While on pasture, Salatin
feeds his hens whole grains as well as a calcium supplement for strong eggshell production.
NCAT Poultry Program Specialist Anne Fanatico cautions that birds managed under the Salatin system may not be
able to forage sufficient insects for protein, and therefore you may want to purchase a complete, well-balanced
ration for the flock (Fanatico, 1998).
Equipment and Supplies. Most of the equipment needed to manage birds using the daily move pen
system can be found at your local hardware and poultry supply stores (see Figure 31). The only “special” piece
of equipment you’ll need is a homemade dolly for moving pens (see the Pasture Logistics chapter in Salatin’s
Pastured Poultry Profits for construction details).
Figure 31: Equipment Checklist – Salatin Pasture
✔ Truck and drums for hauling water to fields
✔ Pasture pens (plywood, aluminum roofing material,
1” chicken mesh/wire)
✔ Dolly (for moving pens)
✔ Feed trays
✔ Hanging bell waterers
✔ Five-gallon buckets
✔ Plastic tubing
✔ Brooder lamps
✔ Electrical cord
✔ Hanging nesting boxes (pressure treated lumber)
✔ Nesting material
✔ Feed
✔ Mineral supplements
Health and Welfare. Salatin believes in a “natural” approach to bird health and welfare. He does not use
vaccinations or antibiotics, but encourages natural disease resistance and behavior through early exposure to fresh
air, natural light, pasture greens, and the molds and fungi that develop in composting bedding. He believes small
group size will promote birds’ natural flock behavior and that not trimming beaks will encourage foraging.
Salatin’s brooders average one to two percent mortality within the first week. Broiler flocks average less than
five percent mortality on pasture. Cannibalism is virtually nonexistent among his flocks because, he believes, the
birds’ diet is well balanced and they have plenty of foraging to keep them busy. Remember that Joel Salatin is an
experienced producer who has perfected the pasture pen model on his farm. If you’re just starting out, mortality
rates can be considerably higher.
The main health concern for Salatin’s birds is the weather. Salatin has lost mature birds due to extreme heat. He
recommends propping up the backside of pens during early afternoon to create additional airflow on hot days.
Heavy rain can “turn depressions into ponds.” Therefore, Salatin recommends monitoring birds, particularly chicks
on pasture, to make sure their housing is relatively dry. It may be necessary to add bedding material, such as “hay
pads” in brooder houses to get birds off the wet ground or to turn shelters away from the prevailing winds and rain.