Chicks
We purchase day-old laying hens from McMurray hatchery and day-old meat birds from Freedom Ranger hatchery. We make a point to order rare and heritage breeds, like Dominiques and Andalusians, to do our part toward conserving agricultural biodiversity. The babies come directly to the post office in a specialized cardboard crate, and need to be picked up and fed right away. The nursery can vaccinate your birds for Marek’s disease, which we recommend. (Do not use medicated feed for baby chicks that are vaccinated.) Make sure the brooder is set up before the chicks arrive, as they may be hungry and chilled from the journey.
Baby birds live in a brooder until they are large enough to move out to pasture at around three to four weeks old. A brooder can be any protected, nondrafty space with solid walls and floors for pest protection. A box 2 feet (0.6 m) wide by 3 feet (1 m) long and 18 inches (45 cm) deep will house 25 chicks. Adjust the size based on the number of chicks you are rearing. Place clean, dry wood shavings, dry sand, or other absorbent material in the bottom of the box. Brooder lights (heat lamps) are used to keep the chicks warm, 1 light per every 25 birds. For the first week, keep the temperature at 90°F (32°C). Lower the temperature to 85°F (30°C) for the second week, then 80°F (27°C) the third week, and 75°F (24°C) the fourth. More important than the temperature is to monitor the chicks’ behavior. If they are panting and located far from the light, they are too hot. If they are “piling” under the light, they are too cold. On hot, sunny days we open and screen the door to the brooder, then close and bolt it at night.
Young chicks need a heat lamp or heating plate to stay warm. Photo by Neshima Vitale-Penniman.
The brooder is constructed to be predator-proof, with a layer of check wire lining the walls and floor. Photo by Jonah Vitale-Wolff.
Chicks are at a tender stage of life, and should be checked and given food and water twice daily. At first feeders and waterers are placed directly on the ground so that the baby birds can reach. As the birds grow, prop the feeders onto wooden blocks and then eventually hang them, always at the height of the average bird’s back. Add fresh bedding every one to two days to keep conditions sanitary in the brooder. When the chicks grow full feathers and reach about four weeks old, they may be ready to go to pasture, but do not mix new pullets with older hens. The youngsters may not be able to compete for food and the hens may injure them seriously. When it is time to move the birds, do so at night when they are sleeping. Otherwise you may learn the hard way that hens do not herd well.
Pullets and Hens
Once hens have their full feathers and are big enough to be contained by an electric fence, they can move out to pasture housing. Our laying hens live in a coop on wheels that is suitable for both summer and winter dwelling. It is equipped with roosts for night perching as well as nest boxes for laying. We place straw on the floor of the coop to help absorb moisture from the chicken manure and compost the bedding for use on crops. Hens are quite flexible about the design of their home, so long as the housing provides sufficient floor space, protection from the weather and predators, ventilation without drafts, a place to roost, and nest boxes for laying eggs. Table 9.1 shows the floor space requirements for different life stages. Use this to plan the minimum space for your chicken housing. We believe that providing considerably more than the minimum recommended living space per bird is best for their health, aiming for 2.5 to 3.5 square feet (0.23 to 0.27 square meters) per bird inside the weather-tight coop and an additional minimum of 4 to 5 square feet (0.37 to 0.46 square meters) per bird in the fenced, outside area.
Table 9.1. Floor Space Requirements for Chickens
Additionally, laying hens require 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 cm) of roost space per bird and one nest box for every four to five birds. Our nest boxes are 12 inches (30 cm) cubed and are located in the dark eaves of the coop. A board on the front about 4 inches high is necessary to hold the shavings and straw in place. If possible, include a hinged door accessible from the outside of the coop to gather eggs and clean the nests. The roosts can be constructed out of 2-by-2-inch (5-by-5-centimeter) lumber or hardwood saplings from the forest. Allow at least 14 inches (36 cm) of horizontal distance between the perches. The birds will sleep on the roosts at night, affording additional predator protection.
The laying hens are moved to fresh pasture every three weeks. Their grazing area is fenced in with electronet fencing with a perimeter of 164 feet (50 m). To install the fence properly, make sure it’s tight from bottom stake to bottom stake. Reinforce the corners with posts inserted at a 45-degree angle away from the fence that are then tied with twine to the fence post itself. The end result will be a straight rectangle with no gaps or sagging. The fence is electrified with a solar electric energizer. Remember to turn the charger off whenever moving the fence and to turn it back on before leaving the area.
Feed can be grown right on your farm or purchased from a local supplier. If store-bought, for the first eight weeks the hens should eat turkey starter, which is 27 percent protein. From 8 to 21 weeks old, they switch to turkey grower, which is 21 percent protein, and when they start laying eggs, they switch to layer mash, which is 16 to 18 percent protein. They continue to eat layer mash for the rest of their lives at the rate of about ⅓ pound (0.15 kg) of food per laying hen per day. We use one 3-gallon (12 L) feeder per 25 birds and fill it all the way to the top every morning. Hens also may be fed table scraps and garden products. To avoid spoilage and rodents, give them only as many scraps as the hens can consume in under 30 minutes.
An electronet fence protects the chickens from predators and supports rotational grazing. Photo by Neshima Vitale-Penniman.
The hens live in a movable coop with nesting boxes and roosts. Photo by Neshima Vitale-Penniman.
At the same time, we rinse and refill two 3-gallon rubberized watering pans to the top. In the winter our water freezes and a submersible heater must be used to keep the hens healthy.
We recommend collecting the eggs in the late morning (approximately 11 AM) and early evening (approximately 4 PM). Frequent egg collection prevents pecking. Keep the nest boxes lined with hay, straw, or other bedding to prevent eggs from breaking. Wash eggs with warm water (cold water pulls in bacteria), air-dry, pack large-end up into cartons, and place in the refrigerator. Properly stored eggs last for about one month.
Most chicken illnesses can be prevented with good sanitation and proper housing. Watering pans should be washed with a soap, water, and vinegar solution every couple of weeks or when visibly grimy. Bedding should always be fresh enough that you enjoy visiting the chickens. Chickens are social animals and should never be left without other chicken companions or they will decline. Chickens naturally spend almost half of their day scratching and pecking for food, so they require adequate forage area. If denied this natural behavior, they will instead peck at one another. In the winter you can support this natural behavior by hanging a cabbage from the ceiling of the coop for them to peck at and eat. If one of your chickens does become sick, isolate her in separate housing and add a splash of apple cider vinegar to her water. If necessary, manipulate her beak manually to help her eat and drink. Almost all of our sick birds have recovered with isolation and extra care.3
UPLIFT
A Legacy of Raising Fowl in the Black Community
Guinea fowl are among the oldest of the gallinaceous birds, predating chickens, turkeys, pheasants, and grouse. They are endemic to Africa, with first archaeological evidence suggesting origins 3.6 million years ago. Footprints found in the Laetoli flats of Tanzania of what is believed to be guinea fowl were probably made in damp volcanic ash and then buried and hence preserved. Guinea fowl are foragers, surviving on insects and weed seeds and producing an all-dark gamy meat.4 Fowl is a staple food in the West African diet, served with a starchy root vegetable or grain along with palm oil stew. On the other side of the continent, Egyptian farmers likewise raised fowl for thousands of years. Textual records indicate that chickens were already present in Egypt by t
he time of the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2113–2006 BCE).5
The interdependent relationship of Black farmers and fowl continued during the time of enslavement. Fearful that enslaved Africans could buy their freedom from profits made by selling animals, the Virginia General Assembly in 1692 made it illegal for slaves to own horses, cattle, ducks, geese, or pigs. Chickens, though, weren’t considered worth mentioning. Black farmers—both free and enslaved—built their farm businesses on the raising of chickens.6 Black farmers sold chicken and eggs to white households, including that of President Thomas Jefferson. On September 29, 1805, the Jefferson kitchen purchased (among other items) 47 dozen eggs and 117 chickens from the Black farmers at Monticello. To put that single purchase in context, the kitchen bought 564 eggs and about 527 pounds (240 kg) of poultry. That’s more than a quarter ton of chicken (at an average weight of 4.5 (2 kg) pounds per bird).7
Raising Chickens for Meat
“How many of you eat chicken?” we asked the group of youth gathered around the movable coops in the field. Almost all of the hands went up. “How many of you would raise a chicken and kill it yourself?” No hands went up. The youth protested that killing a chicken would be cruel and gross. I shared that I voluntarily raise and kill hundreds of chickens every year, even though I am a vegetarian, because I know our community eats meat and I want that meat to be humanely and sustainably raised.
At Soul Fire Farm we raise Freedom Ranger meat birds, a variety bred to exhibit natural behaviors on pasture, unlike the ubiquitous Cornish Cross broiler chicken. The Cornish Cross hybrid variety is bred solely for weight gain and broad breasts, and becomes so obese by the time it is six weeks old that it cannot bear the weight of its own body, collapses, and rubs its belly raw from friction with the ground. After experiencing that inherent cruelty firsthand, we searched for a breed of chicken that would still grow to a good size over time, while retaining the ability to scratch, peck, and move about naturally. Freedom Ranger, Bresse, Jersey Giant, and Orpington all emerged as good options.
We raise four to five batches of 50 pastured meat birds per season, for a total of 200 to 250 birds. Just as with laying hens, the chicks spend their first few weeks of life in a brooder under a heat lamp. For the meat birds, our “brooder” is simply a 100-gallon (380 L) rubberized watering trough that we leave in the barn. When they outgrow that space in about 12 days, we move them to a larger coop, then out to the field. Since space is tight on the farm and we have so many rotations, we create a chart to manage the movement of these birds and make sure they have adequate housing. We also have to plan ahead for the slaughter date to make sure that our volunteers, equipment, marketing plan, and delivery are all lined up in advance.
When the birds are about one month old, they are ready to move out to pasture. The meat birds live in movable hoop coops, sometimes called chicken tractors. These structures are open on the bottom so the chickens have access to grass and insects and can deposit their manure onto the earth. The chicken tractors are rotated daily to fresh pasture using a dolly. I have used several models of chicken tractors, none of which I particularly like because of their bulky construction. I decided to design my own movable coop to be lighter and simpler. It consists of a 12-by-6-foot (3.5-by-1.75-meter) wooden frame at the base, and metal conduit bent into hoops for the roof covered by wire fencing and a tarp. Both ends are covered with chicken wire, but on one side the chicken wire is held shut using metal spring clamps so that the farmer can easily open and close the entrance to care for the birds.
Table 9.2. Soul Fire Farm’s Pastured Meat Birds Schedule
Our hoop coops are constructed using the following materials:
(3) rot-resistant 12-foot (3.5 m) 2x4s (for base)
(1) 12-foot 1x6 for cross bracing (for base)
(5) 10-foot pieces of ½-inch (1.25 cm) EMT galvanized metal conduit (bend for hooped roof)
(20) two-holed straps for ½-inch pipe (to attach conduit to base)
(1) 10-by-12-foot (3-by-3.5-meter) piece of 2-by-4-inch welded wire fencing (attach over the conduit, staple to the base)
(1) 9-by-11-foot (2.75-by-3.5-meter) tarp (place over the fencing, zip tie)
(2) 4-by-6-foot (1.25-by-1.75-meter) pieces of chicken wire (for the ends)
Nails or screws (for base)
Construction staples (to attach fencing to wood)
Zip ties (to attach metal to metal)
Metal spring clamps (for the end that will be accessed to feed birds)
A simple movable coop can be constructed with lumber, conduit, fencing, and a tarp.
Meat birds are moved to adjacent fresh pasture daily using a dolly. Be careful not to injure birds by running over them with the back end of the structure. You may need to walk around to the back and bang on the fence to get them to move out of the way, then return to the front and resume the move. After a few days, the chickens learn the routine and eagerly walk along with their moving home toward the fresh pasture.
Meat birds consume turkey grower at 21 percent protein for their entire life cycle. To care for the meat birds, fill two 3-gallon (12 L) feeders per 50 birds once daily, or one 3-gallon feeder per 50 birds twice daily. Since meat birds grow rapidly, keeping the feeders full is important. Also, fill two 3-gallon watering pans to the top each morning. Hanging feeders are best and should be continually adjusted to be at the level of the backs of the average-sized chickens. To prevent disease, watering pans should be washed with a soap, water, and vinegar solution every couple of weeks or when visibly grimy. The day before slaughter, the feed containers need to be removed from the meat birds. Fasting cleans out their bowels and prevents contamination of the meat with feces.
From Field to Freezer
Taking life should not be taken lightly. It is important to learn slaughter and processing through hands-on practice with an experienced mentor before attempting the work on your own. We also recommend that you check out the New York State On-Farm Poultry Slaughter Guidelines published by Cornell Cooperative Extension.8 What follows are the steps we use at Soul Fire Farm.
Participants in the Black Latinx Youth Immersion rotate the meat birds on to fresh pasture daily. Photo by Neshima Vitale-Penniman.
Minimize fear for the chicken by holding her firmly and gently. Photo by Neshima Vitale-Penniman.
First we gather the necessary supplies, most of which we rent from a neighboring farmer, but some of which we purchase from Cornerstone Farm Ventures. The equipment needed includes:
Killing cones
Large metal pot
Floating thermometer
Gas burner
Plucking machine
Plastic tables
Cutting boards
Sharp knives
Needle-nose pliers
Three or four hoses
Trays or racks for draining birds
Hanging scale
Buckets with lids
Garden cart—chicken wire, sheet
Towels
100-gallon (380 L) trough for use as chill tank
Ice (10 bags for 50 birds)
Three bowls for organs
Vacuum-seal bags
Masking tape
Sharpies
Dish soap
Spray cooking oil
Spray bottles with 10 percent bleach solution
Aprons or designated clothing
We begin by saying Jewish and Haitian Vodou prayers for transitioning life and honoring death.
Hebrew Prayers
Kol han’shama, hallelluyah, t’halayl Yah, halleluyah
Halleluyah, praise Yah with every breath, halleluyah
Kee hu Ayl zan oom-far-nayse la-kol oo-may-teev l’kol oo-may-cheen mazon l’chol b-ree-yotav asher bara
For You are Almighty, feeding and sustaining all and doing good to all and preparing enough food for all the creatures You created
Baruch atah Adonai hazan et ha-kol
Blessed are You, Nourishing One, who feeds all
Baruch ata ado-nai
elo-heinu melech haolam asher kideshanu bemitsvotav vetsivanu al hashechitah
Blessed are you Adonai, Sovereign of the Universe, you have sanctified us with your commandments and instructed us regarding shechitah (ritual slaughter)
Vodou Prayer to the Lwa of Death
Gedeviyawe gede o
Gedeviyawe gede nibo se lwa
Gede Yahway (God)
Gede Nibo (smooth swaying rhythm of Gede) is a lwa
Yoruba Prayer for Sacrifice of Hen or Rooster
For use in cases when the blood offering is designated for orisa. Note that the heart, liver, feet, and other organs may also need to be prepared and offered to orisa. Ask your spiritual elder for guidance.9
Call: Agbe bo adie (hen) / Aku ko adie (rooster)
Hen/Rooster
Response: Sara yeye gbo nku lo, Sara yeye
Shake your feathery body and carry away Death, Shake your feathery body
C: Agbe bo adie / Aku ko adie
Farming While Black Page 24