"Churt" Design Boosts Pastured Poultry Productivity

Churt Design Boosts Pastured Poultry Productivity LIVESTOCK Miscellaneous Tom Delehanty likes his pasture poultry protected and productive His chicken “churts” as he calls them do both on the pastured poultry farm he and his wife Tracey operate near Santa Fe New Mexico Delehanty uses them to raise 20 000 broilers layers and heritage turkeys each year “I use rebar to make 10 by 12-ft pens with 20-in sides and slightly rounded tops that dome to about 36 in Chicken wire around the outside and a plastic covering over the top protects the birds and contains them ” explains Delehanty “We move the churts every day so the birds get at the bugs under their feet and eat the lush greens However they also eat more grain than they would if they ran loose ” The churts let Delehanty balance the birds grazing with productivity and ease of handling Two employees can move feed water and observe them all in half an hour thanks to the design of the churts That is important as Delehanty and his employees have several hundred shelters that house approximately 50 chickens each or up to 25 turkeys Delehanty uses old trailer houses to start chicks putting them in the churts at about 2 to 3 weeks He raises both American and French-style broilers By the time the American style are 9 to 10 weeks they have reached his goal of 5-lb dressed weights The French-style birds take a few more weeks to finish To make the churts he uses a permanent jig made of 2 by 4’s and angle iron to hold the rebar pieces in place until they can be welded Two benders mounted to a wood pallet raised to a 4-ft working height make the bending easy One is a 55-gal barrel for the wider bends The second is an 8-in tire rim for tighter curves A third bender is for even tighter curves including rings for supporting hanging feeders It is simply a 5-ft length of telephone post set in the ground with a short piece of pipe attached to the side To make the two rings needed Delehanty sticks a length of rebar in the pipe and walks it twice around the post He then cuts and trims the coil and welds the ends to make two rings Each churt starts out as two 10 by 12-ft rectangles with rounded corners from 20-ft rebar Each rebar is bent to form a 10-ft side and two 5-ft legs and then is set in the welding jig Scraps of rebar are welded between each of the two sets of legs to make the 12-ft sides The jig holds the two rectangles 20 in apart the distance needed for the churt side height As more curved rebar is added overhead the jig makes it easy to clamp each piece in place for welding to the two rectangles When complete Delehanty’s churts rest on one rectangle which acts as a skid The plastic-covered roof curves up and over the upper rectangle One section of the roof is designed as an access door Efficient use of time and resources includes fashioning water pans and hanging feeders from barrels and buckets Delehanty buys used blue iodine barrels from dairies for $8 to $10 each Each end is cut off to make an indestructible water pan that holds 5 to 6 gal and is easily cleaned moved and refilled Delehanty is modifying his design for laying hens and expects to build 30 to 40 new churts when he is satisfied Low cost solar-powered driveway lights provide the extra light needed by layers Delehanty pulls the stake end off and mounts them to the layer pens with hog rings At night they give off just enough light to keep the hens laying A CD with plans and detailed instructions on building churts sells for $39 He is also available for consulting Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Pollo Real Pastured Poultry 108 Hope Farm Rd Socorro New Mexico 87801 ph 505 550-3123; polloreal@q com; www polloreal com

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.