How To Pasture Raise Chickens In Tractors | From Brooder To Freezer

A complete season overview of our journey raising pastured poultry, Joel Salatin style. You'll get to see our whole setup including the chick brooders, the mobile chicken tractors, how we move the tractors, how to butcher chickens and shrink wrap them in bags, as well as a look at some awesome poultry processing equipment such as the Featherman Equipment scalder, plucker, and cones.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:53 Chick brooders
4:24 Chickens in the tractors, feed, moving tractors
10:08 Getting the chickens out of the tractors for processing
13:31 Info & tips on the tractors
17:12 Featherman chicken processing equipment setup
21:55 Begin butchering chickens, scalder, plucker
27:26 Evisceration / how to butcher a chicken
30:34 How to clean a chicken gizzard
31:38 Shrink wrap and bagging chickens
Links below to some of the products we used and recommend for raising and processing chicken.
Book with all the designs including the chicken tractors, cut lists, building instructions - "Polyface Designs: A Comprehensive Construction Guide for Scalable Farming Infrastructure":
amzn.to/3IKma68
10x16 Poultry Shrink Bags: amzn.to/3lYdVKH
Knives: amzn.to/3IJoeem
Want to support Rooted Deep Farm & Our Family?
You can shop on Amazon using our affiliate link. When you click on our affiliate links and shop for ANYTHING on Amazon (not just our recommendations) we receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you.
amzn.to/36hrbiq
For those of you who generously choose to click on our links before you place your Amazon order, THANK YOU. You are financially supporting our channel and farm, and we are grateful for that blessing.

[@judygoodson5855]

Well done on showing the process of how it goes from farm to table. No drama, no hype, just real life.

[@barbarajames9470]

I learned this by accident. Chickens don't want to be wet. Take a sprayer tank (hand carry size 2 gallon) with you on moving day. When you get the birds up to the trailer, open the door, get behind them with the sprayer and spritz them with the sprayer, they will move away from you into the trailer on their own. I had to use this method to get birds out of a difficult access tractor design when they kept running back into the tractor.

[@MistressOP]

When you get to the last stop for the birds feed them in the trailer a couple of times for like a week or two depending on your pasture just make sure to pressure wash it on the day before you take them for real. They walk right in. No drama

[@rooteddeephome]

Interesting idea. Thanks.

[@jay-rus4437]

Thank you for the video. Appreciated your comments about life and death. There are those that cant accept the reality of where much of our food comes from. I do NOT like killing an animal of any kind, but I have and will to provide food for our families. I really think that those that eat meat should have some real hands on for where it comes from. You did a great job in being respectful of the process.

[@rooteddeephome]

Thanks so much! We totally agree. It’s so good to get hands-on and grow/process your own food.

[@daniellebeck8322]

This is my favorite of your videos! Very well done. I remember the day you filmed some of that. Great job editing my children s faces out. I enjoyed hearing A. Ask her question about the water temp though. Loved this day. Thanks again for the education. Our chicks are ordered for this year, we have two tractors, now all we need is the dolly. So excited! Best tasting birds in my life!

[@patcolston2901]

Nice to see the kids helping and learning.

[@rooteddeephome]

Best part!

[@Yorashy]

I've been around chickens for most of my life and didnt know about this gizzard cleaning technique

[@georgeparrault9945]

26:59 For time, and Convenience You Could fix a Hose, and Sprayer on a Spring back System, Like they Use in Commercial Dish washing, and Produce Sinks.

[@survivaldoggy]

Very informative video! Thanks, I'll subscribe!

[@rooteddeephome]

Thank you, sir!

[@coobahattenfels3040]

Wow amazing. Well done to you guys. Love it!

[@rooteddeephome]

Thanks so much!

[@cafamily4993]

Straight forward and covered all the details. Thank you!!

[@rooteddeephome]

Thanks so much!

[@penobby1]

Great video, informative this is how I want to raise my birds❤

[@user-p6-3561]

Thanks for the butchering guide😊

[@rooteddeephome]

Thanks for watching!

[@cindieryan446]

Adorable people and family.

[@rooteddeephome]

Thanks so much!

[@mrcain6894]

Excellent chicken butchering video.

[@rooteddeephome]

Thank you kindly!

[@marchwim]

Great presentation. Thank you for taking the time to do it!.

[@rooteddeephome]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@UsmanFaraz854]

Nice video and thank you for sharing your experience 😊😊😊

[@rooteddeephome]

Thank you!

[@peterking5252]

Thank you for sharing. Looking at getting into raising chickens in the near future. People like yourselves are amazing in sharing the process 👍👍👍

[@rooteddeephome]

You can do it! Thank you.

[@wandafigueroa6281]

Great video… to the point. Thank you 😊

[@rooteddeephome]

Thanks! 😄

[@ctreid87]

I enjoyed watching Kraig process the chickens.

[@rooteddeephome]

He is an ace fighter pilot chicken butcherer.

[@ladymargaret6186]

Very neat... Job well done

[@rooteddeephome]

Thank you!

[@TheSrphatness]

Great video. Thank you

[@rooteddeephome]

Thanks!

[@SherPunjabi86]

Great video! Thank you!

[@rooteddeephome]

Glad you liked it!

[@thetexasboys.8988]

The bird weighs 8lbs 6oz. 22 ounces equals 1 pound 6 ounces.

[@ROMCADRANCH]

Cool!

[@Christiane-zz9fe]

I am starting my first time with chickens, I love your explanations and the movable chicken container, can I do that myself?

[@orianaspiderowl769]

Oh! It's LITERALLY a little friend! 😂...Hiiiiii...🥰

[@sbhajian]

Excellent video with good information on how to raise and process chickens. Thank you for sharing. Here in Armenia we have 5 chickens and 1 rooster, which provides us all the eggs our family can eat.

[@rooteddeephome]

Can’t beat fresh eggs! Thanks.

[@singlewidemobilehomediy4853]

amazing

[@rooteddeephome]

Thanks so much.

[@blackamericanoutdoorsmanll9179]

Nice video, I’ve seen plenty as I been learning the last 2-3 years. Yours made since! A lot of good details in a very understanding way…

[@rooteddeephome]

That is so nice of you to say! Thanks so much.

[@JoeGraves24]

Hello there. Just found your channel. I too have been raising these birds in an identical way. Smaller scale at 250 a year but we have 3 of your size tractors. I have a solution to the water problems that come with the plasson waters, if your interested. I was having to go fill that 5 gallon bucket 3 times a day near the end of their run. What I did was fill a 275 gallon IBC tote with water and raise it up a 6’ platform. Then I run a single hose to the leading chicken tractor. I split it off to the next tractor with a 25’ hose and so on daisy chained. The low pressure from gravity works perfectly. For 250 birds I only have to refill the tote 3 times in 6 weeks! Such a time and labor saver.

[@rooteddeephome]

Nice. Great idea!

[@One29Homestead]

Howdy friends. Just found y'all. We love raising our own meat chickens on our urban homestead. Keep up the amazing work your doing over there!

[@rooteddeephome]

Howdy! You too 👏

[@bryancabanes3716]

Nice farm , watching here from Philippines. Wish to work in that kind of farm💚, hope you'll need one

[@nevinkuser9892]

Great video and great instruction! Thanks! How often do you need to sharpen your boning knife and how do you do it? I just bought a Victorinox boning knife and after cutting through a few lbs of goat bones it got pretty dull.

[@tobywhitney4798]

Thanks for the video. We are in our 2nd year of pasture raised meat birds, but we’re thinking of trying to market our birds in the future. We believe in raising our own we know what they are eating and we get away from all the growth hormones and other things that they are feed to chickens that are grown in buildings.

[@rooteddeephome]

Oh yeah, you never go back to store-bought after tasting these birds!

[@robertjeffries286]

Absolutely one of if not best videos and so professional. If I may ask were the chickens in a cool down bath for a while before bagging and during the cut at the vent was the oil sack cut out. Thank you so much for your time and bless you and family

[@rooteddeephome]

Thank you Robert! Yes we let the birds cool in a cool tank overnight, and the oil sack was removed during processing. We highly recommend chilling the birds, as we found it to result in a delicious and juicy bird. Superior flavor and tenderness.

[@reneemohr4502]

I only doing about 12 chickens 2 breeds to start.

[@arvius4111]

Hello Craig! Thank you for sharing your process, its really insightful for me. Really want to set up my own homestead. Would you be willing to share the numbers on total operation costs, acres used, and end result of lbs of chicken?

[@rooteddeephome]

So we did not tediously track all operation cost as well as we would have liked. We have a large extended family we raise chicken for as well as close friends etc… so after about year or so selling birds at retail through pickups and delivery, we sold most remainder of the birds at cost for $9/bird. We estimated our cost to raise a 6.5 lb bird to be around $9 or a little less. We raised them on a large farm and were using a convenient field next to the homestead that was eleven acres. We did not use the whole field during the summer and did have sheep and cattle in the grazing rotation as well. The tractors are 12’ Long and move once a day. The freedom rangers were reaching five lbs by ten weeks. So you should be able to use the formula of 7 days = 84 linear ft per tractor per week. So ten weeks you would need 840 linear feet. A white Cornish chicken should finish in eight or nine weeks and hence would need less linear. The tractors are ten feet wide so you can figure width needed by multiplying by ten. By the end of the summer we put 2,250 lbs of chicken in the freezer. This was ten pallets of chicken meat. We did save and sell the feet, hearts, gizzards, and livers. I would say we sold about $18,000 of chicken which did not pay our labor. This paid for the chicks, feed, propane, bags wood chips, and most if not all the consumables. We were blessed to be able give chicken away and fill our own freezers up so probably some wiggle room there. The equipment and capital investments we out of pocket and we did not profit any to pay on those so that expense will be walked out through the next two decades of raising families and producing our own food. This can be a labor intense process when it’s time to process. I really enjoy the processing part and loved the whole process. We learned so much and are confident you won’t find better tasting cleaner meat. We had a big learning curve going from selling cuts of pork, beef, and lamb butchered off site to raising the animal, processing and selling all on the farm. In the end it wasn’t a money maker but amazing experience and felt like a college degree after reading books and learning first hand. Let me know if you have more questions or if I just muddied the water. Thanks

[@dpwdpw2502]

You can get a plastic tape( manual )machine device instead of all those ties .might be a cost saving in the end

[@rooteddeephome]

Thanks!

[@cacosta6294]

I love in a desert with 120 plus degrees un summer , You think this brooder can work ir Will an AC cooled room work better

[@rooteddeephome]

We cannot speak to brooding in those high temp climates. We raised our birds in zone 5b and brooded during cool weather so our concern was keeping chicks warm. Maybe you could find someone more local to you with experience in that? As far as the structure of the brooders go, they were fantastic.

[@FrogginHawgs]

Do You have a link to the sprayers you have attached to your hoses at your evisceration station?

[@johnkearns6048]

I was thinking about doing something like this because of property taxes.(if it's on wheels mobile) $194/ 200 acres agricultural 😏...but too actually see it in action..my mind is blown thank you 😊

[@GoatsoapforeveryBODY]

So I'm about to start this chicken journey and I was wondering what chickens do I start with? What did you start with please

[@rooteddeephome]

We switched to freedom rangers from freedom hatchery. We love them and recommend them. Very hearty birds, more durable than the white Cornish.

[@clementsconsulting9216]

Hands down, one of the best one of the best chicken processing videos I have watched. Why do you choose the Red Ranger over the Cornish cross? Do you really get as much meat? I think I know but I thought I would ask. Where do you source your birds? Are you using a mini split to cool the shipping container? Michael

[@rooteddeephome]

Thanks so much for the wonderful compliment on our video! Our opinion in regards to the Freedom Rangers was that they were much hardier, much lower mortality compared with the cornish, which we have also grown. The Rangers do take longer to grow, but we felt that we got a higher quality bird and meat. They forage well and tolerated the elements better. You can source them from Freedom Ranger Hatchery in PA. On the shipping container, we used a cool bot on the chill tank end of the cooler and a regular window air conditioner in the process area.

[@nwhite5955]

Super helpful video thank you! How many acres of pasture did you use for all 12 tractors for the whole season?

[@rooteddeephome]

We had an approximate eleven acre field of alfalfa with some orchard grass clover and a few other species that we were rotationally grazing sheep cattle and the chickens on. We used approximately 6 acres worth for the chickens. Tractors were 10x12 = 120 sq feet per day. Figure the first two or three weeks in the brooder and 75 birds per tractor. Let me know if this helps, thanks!

[@Christiane-zz9fe]

It's sometimes hard to hear, I would like that you are closer to the micro

[@johanvanniekerk5875]

How did you guys get started? Is it a family farm? I want to start with chickens but have no money or job, but i do have a yard with space. Just wondering how to get started with coops and stuff, seems there is a lot to buy.

[@dc-wp8oc]

What is your source for non-GMO seeds that you use for feedstock? Are you able to produce your poultry at a competitive price point? Wish the camera would have been closer when you butchered the bird and when you demonstrated the gizzard technique. Otherwise, an interesting process and informative.

[@rooteddeephome]

The feed was raised on farm by the J&K Pollock Ranch. Seed is from De Dell. Thanks for the feedback!

[@dalenedrow2456]

Fully enjoyed your video I was looking at the heater you used in your router and it's about $1,000 would heat lamps be cheaper to use and will they work just as well just asking thank you God bless

[@rooteddeephome]

Thank you! People definitely work with heat lamps, or those heat trays. I’ve seen plenty of people raise birds that way. Certainly cheaper, just requires more careful checking on the temperature. Depends on how many birds and what your brooder area setup is like.

[@daneilfagot1772]

What size conex are yall using

[@niccolealdrich4890]

I didn't know about the exemption stickers from the Department of Ag- Thanks for that! How many acres are you using for your birds?

[@rooteddeephome]

Yes, farms in KS retail selling raw meat have to have the safe handling instructions on the meat and in our case with the chickens we were not selling more than 20,000 so fell in the exempt category. We still had to have the process date and exemption number, address, and phone number on the bird. I’m sure each state varies on the regulations regarding processing of chicken. The department of Ag came to our farm twice during the processing weeks and were helpful with getting us in the right direction. I believe if you are just processing 1000 birds or less for selling you don’t need to be indoors. As in our case we were selling more than a 1,000 so we had to move out processing indoors hence the converted shipping container. We used convenient alfalfa mix field of eleven acres to graze the chickens on. We also had cows and sheep in the grazing rotation. You will need to figure one tractor takes 12’ a day so 84’ a week. If you plan on finishing at ten weeks you will need 840 linear feet. The tractors are ten feet wide so you can multiply that number by tens depending on how many tractors you have. We raised the red freedom rangers which probably averaged 6lbs at eleven weeks. A white Cornish bird will finish in 8-9 weeks. One thing I don’t think got said in the video is Salatins recommendation to run the tractors eastbound. We found this pretty inportant on colder wetter days and on really hot ones. It allows the sun to get in the whole tractor first thing in morning when you need warmth and by noon half the tractor has shade. Hope this helps! Let me know if have more questions.

[@contatowilliam3126]

🇧🇷

[@phyzix_phyzix]

Thanks for this video. How do you deal with inspections and permits?

[@rooteddeephome]

Regulations probably differ from state to state. For us we were not processing enough birds or reselling over state lines so all we had to do was have an enclosed processing area. We did that by using a shipping container as the processing area. We hung up tarps outside and made a sort of tented area for the cones and scalder, then the birds moved into the cooled container for plucking and cutting. A government inspector did come and check everything out a few times and let us know if we needed to make any changes/improvements. We also made sure to get proper labels on the birds after shrink wrapping them because we resell locally.

[@phyzix_phyzix]

@@rooteddeephomeThank you so much for your reply!

[@mikimaric9232]

everything is great, only a couple of complaints or color tips and little things that I noticed. What advice would you give to use latex gloves, longer, not shorter? You can use veterinary gloves, and on top of that, a latex apron and boots, that's great, that's for hygiene reasons, just a little more video, record how you hunt them, put them in the crates you can't see if you're taking them from a crate or a tractor, those are minor complaints or warnings, I hope you don't get angry at my honesty, and I can't wait for other videos like this, you help beginners a lot with that video 😊

[@mikimaric9232]

when you plan to record a new video try it if you want and when will the new video?

[@ymehair]

Silly questions, do you keep it in the cooler for a few days then freeze? I'm trying to understand the resting process. We plan on freezing our meat birds but want to make sure that we do it right the first time. Thanks God Bless :) Thanks so much for sharing.

[@rooteddeephome]

We would have liked to have air chilled for a day or two, however it worked better for us given we were processing about 200 a day to fill the Featherman chill tank up with ice water in the end of the con ex and had a cool bot to keep the air cold above the chill tank. We would clean up from processing and be able to quit for the day and come back the next morning to a clean work area and nicely chilled birds. We didn’t have the space or equipment to air chill otherwise we probably would have. Marys organic chicken has a neat video that shows their assembly line air chilling area.

[@ymehair]

@@rooteddeephome Thank you so much for answering my question. :)

[@matthewhaase1360]

Where did you purchase those brooder heaters from? No electricity required on those units?

[@rooteddeephome]

Farmer Boy Ag, I believe is where we got them. Here’s a link: farmerboyag.com/shenandoah/ No electricity. Propane.

[@cacosta6294]

I'm just curious if that other design for THE egg layers works for meat birds ir is there a reason THE tractor is better

[@rooteddeephome]

The polyface designs book has different designs for meat birds and egg layers. We have only used the meat bird tractors. I cannot speak to the effectiveness of using the egg layer design for meat birds. The tractors work well for meat birds because they keep the birds protected from predators and are able to be moved to allow for fresh and plentiful forage. An egg layer design would likely be more open to allow for the birds to go out and free range, it’s probably not as easy to move on a daily basis. The main problems I would suspect you’d have using the egg mobile design for meat birds would be predators and less mobility to fresh grass. It could be done though.

[@becky2425]

What an interesting video. So these chickens don’t lay eggs they just are like young chickens that haven’t matured to lay eggs that correct?

[@rooteddeephome]

Correct, they are just young. They are a special breed that grows well and quickly so they make a nice “meat bird”, but if you kept them long enough the hens would mature and start laying eggs. Different breeds perform differently. There are birds that are better for raising meat, birds that are dual purpose, and birds who are really good layers.

[@gbb1419]

Good farmer. Do you think the world can be fed with oasture raised animals or factory farming is needed?

[@rooteddeephome]

I think if more people would focus on feeding their own families and neighbors it would be a step in the right direction.

[@gbb1419]

I plan on going in this direction, but for now I buy pasture raised from my loval farmers market 👍 God Bless keep it going@@rooteddeephome

[@lonnieburford7649]

Do you have link so I can buy the labels?

[@rooteddeephome]

We got them from this company. grafxcentral.com

[@ginafleener3962]

What fish meal are you mixing with other ingredients?

[@rooteddeephome]

www.fertrell.com/poultry-nutribalancer

[@jasond9327]

I am a new homesteader in Ireland and I would like to employ a similar concept, how many acres does it take to raise this amount of birds say once a year?

[@rooteddeephome]

The tractors are 12 foot long and should be moved once a day. So you can easily use a formula to figure how many acres you need. We figured the Freedom rangers taking ten weeks to get to desired weight of five lbs. a white Cornish should finish sooner like 8 to 9 weeks. Seven days will need 84 linear. feet. So ten weeks you will need 840 linear feet per tractor. The tractors are ten feet wide so you can figure width the same way. 75 birds to a tractor is a good number to figure into your formula. I Hope this helps you figure out how much grass you will need. Please reply back if this isn’t clear and I’ll try and explain it better. Thanks!

[@maplewoodhomestead2017]

Where did you get the dolly to move the tractor? We are building one and looking for a dolly.

[@rooteddeephome]

My husband actually built it following the instructions from the book Polyface designs.

[@maplewoodhomestead2017]

@@rooteddeephome Oh man. well. Since we dont' have a welder, guess we better get innovative! Thanks for the reply!

[@rooteddeephome]

@@maplewoodhomestead2017 Sometimes you can find a local welding shop to do things like that. Best of luck. I have a video of him making it I need to get uploaded.

[@starhayek5316]

Do you freeze chickens immediately after packaging or Wait 24-48 hours???

[@rooteddeephome]

We chilled them in a cool tank overnight and then packaged them the next day. We thought it made a big difference in flavor and texture of the birds. We much prefer them chilled. Once packed they go immediately to the freezer.

[@rooteddeephome]

The chill process happens after the birds are cleaned/eviscerated. They chill in a tank of cold water (had a shipping container setup with a coolbot air conditioning), then after the chilling process they are shrink wrapped and put into the freezer.

[@brendanjones2734]

Would it not help if you could put a ramp from floor to trailer

[@rooteddeephome]

Perhaps!

[@thomasnelson9767]

I was just wondering if and where I may purchase some of your chickens.

[@rooteddeephome]

Thomas, thanks for asking. We are sold out and probably won’t take orders until next year. When we have them available again we will probably put out a video and or email on how to order. Sorry for the unavailability:(

[@thomasnelson9767]

@@rooteddeephome I will keep my eyes open for next years batch. Thank you for your response.

[@stevestratton2622]

7lb 22oz?

[@rooteddeephome]

Average weight was around 5Ibs. This last tractor was a larger lot of birds.

[@stevestratton2622]

@@rooteddeephome 7lb 22oz? was it 1ft 15ins tall ?

[@CliftonMurphyjr]

maybe stupid question, but isnt 7 lbs 22 ounces.....8 pounds 6 ounces?

[@rooteddeephome]

Yep. Lol I didn’t notice that, he was probably just reading whatever the scale showed.

[@vivianzuniga8814]

Crud! Volume is too low! Wind!

[@rooteddeephome]

! 😊

[@jay3239]

putting soap is not good,and the chicken in plastic i warm water is cancer

[@rooteddeephome]

Thanks.

[@slabs2richessportsandtradi149]

Don't you worry about the toxic dish soap tainting your meat?

[@rooteddeephome]

Personally we don’t worry about the small amount of dish soap in the scalding water. It helps the birds pluck better, and they immediately get washed off very throughly if you watch the rest of the process. You certainly wouldn’t have to put it in yours.

[@bestillfarm1645]

Dish soap in the scalder is quite common.

[@Ryantryin219]

That’s literally nothing compared to commercial chicken butcher. 3-40 bleach baths, washed in their poo, etc

[@domading2759]

Don't you worry about soap on your dishes? It all rinses off but it is 109% necessary for water foul and standard procedure

[@tommartin8155]

Sorry, nothing personal. I'm not impressed. Freedom rangers need to get out and roam. Saliton style pens are great for Cornish cross. But not for rangers. Cutting birds up on a flat table is much safer. I'd cut my fingers off cutting up a dangling bird. And what cost do you sell these. 15 to 20 each ? There's no joy in farming for the ritch.

[@rooteddeephome]

Thanks for your comment, Tom.

[@shayson1357]

@@rooteddeephome negative people are everywhere, once they are fixated on what they believe is the right way there's no more room for debate.

[@chelsealucatony9080]

I see you added soap 🧼 so that mean you a químicos to the chicken 🐔 that’s no good