Subject: Guidebook on Free-Range Poultry (fwd)

From: Victor Guest <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 16 Aug 1997 12:28:45 WST

From: Michael Cote' <[email-masked]>

Craig & Paula,
In response to your inquiry you may be interested in the new guidebook
"Free-Range Poultry Production, Processing and Marketing" written by Herman
Beck-Chenoweth.  Herman and wife, Linda Lee, produce free range chickens and
turkeys, eggs and vegetables and market them to buying clubs, restaurants,
and directly from their farm in Creola, Ohio.  

The guidebook, developed with the assistance of a USDA/SARE Producer grant,
describes an innovative way of raising poultry using portable skid houses,
which hold up to 400 chickens each and are towed by tractor to new locations
on the pasture every few weeks. The wooden skids are enclosed by poultry
wire, have litter covered floors and tarp covered gable roofs, and doors on
both ends. The only required fencing is a strong perimeter fence to keep out
predators. Birds are locked on the skids at night for protection from
predators. Full construction plans for skids, feeders and other equipment
for both are included in the book. Additional sections of the guidebook,
which is made up of a three ring binder, cover artificial insemination,
incubation, hatching and brooding of chicks and poults. Two big sections
include first- hand information about processing and marketing. The book has
been designed to enable a neophte producer to build a substantial farm
business with limited capital investment.   This free-range production model
is well suited to direct marketing and appeals to consumers interested in
"natural" poultry and eggs produced without antibiotics and growth promotants.

The guidebook is available from Herman Beck-Chenoweth for $39.50 plus $4.50
s/h at:

Back Forty Books
26328 Locust Grove Road
Creola, OH 45622

FAX: (614) 596-3079

Happy trails,
Michael Cote'
 
At 09:23 PM 8/14/97, you wrote:
>From: Noel McNaughton <[email-masked]>
>
>Hi Craig and Paula,
>I do not know whether anybody has mentioned Joel Salatin to you (I think 
>somebody at the CHM can give you his address or phone number. His book 
>"pastured poultry profits" is pretty detailed regarding all aspects of 
>raising and marketing pastured chickens. I too have the "chicken tractor" 
>book and find it less useful than Salatin's. He also has specs for a 
>moveable pen, but a few people in Canada have modified it somewhat and 
>made it cheaper and easier to move. They use plastic tarp instead of 
>sheet metal, for instance, and have rigged up a way to use old bicycle 
>wheels attached to the pens that makes them much easier to move. 
>Hope this helps.
>Noel
>Noel McNaughton
>Holistic Management Consultant
>RR 1, Winfield, Alberta, Canada  T0C 2X0
>Phone/Fax: 403-682-2331  email: [email-masked]
################################
Michael Cote'                         
Ohio State University         Tel   (614) 890-2369  
208 Ag Admin Bldg             Fax  (614) 292-7007
2120 Fyffe Rd                                                    
Columbus, OH  43210        [email-masked]       
################################