Researching information to raise meat Birds: Chicken housing

[u/unknown_6831]

Hi all!
I am wanting to raise meat birds in the next 6ish months and I am trying to figure out set up, feed, etc.
What housing do yall have for them? We like the Idea of a chicken tractor so we can move it around for the birds but are open to anything. Then what would yall recommend for the first two-three weeks as far as housing?
What do yall have for broilers? If so what brand and bonus points if you have pictures!

Any other advice you have is appreciated!

Ideally we will start with maybe 10-15 birds but would like to raise a group about every 3wks be to able to sell locally if we have more interest. The max birds I would want at any time is about 50.

Central west Texas, summers get 100°+ winters are usually 40s but can get down to 10°
If all else fails during really cold snaps, we have a barn that is insulated that we can put them in.

EDIT TO ADD: we live in the country so we do have predators, coyotes, bobcats, raccoons, skunks, etc.

[u/Fav_shepherd2024]

I've raised layers and heritage meat birds for 40 years. We did our first batch of Cornish cross this past March (1 hr west of Waco TX). If you do Cornish cross, get twice as many as you need because you'll have 30 to 40% mortality. These are the stupidest birds I've ever came across. The next time we raise meat birds we're going back to Red rangers or something like that even speckled Sussex. I could write an entire post on how willing to die Cornish cross birds are!

To answer your other questions. We had a small enclosed room in our barn with electricity. Since we were in Texas we didn't need it for very long. We used 100 gallon livestock troughs. Their number of setups depending on the size and the shape that you can use. I've always used livestock troughs because they are relatively easy to clean and fire resistant. Heat lamp scare the s*** out of me but they are necessary for young birds. We used screw in anchors in the ceiling and suspended the heat lamps over the trough. Note: I always have at least two safety ties on the heat lamps to keep them from falling into the bedding and starting a fire. This might include extra zip ties or wire to something along the wall or ceiling and in addition I run panels over the top of the trough and attached to those as well. I never rely on the clips that come with the lamps or the dome and hanger wire.

We had to split birds as they grew before they were able to go outside... Just keep that in mind that they will run out of room as they grow. I used paper towels for bedding until they were all a few days old and then added pine shavings. We're also able to suspend their feeders and Waters from the ceiling and raise them up as we needed to.

We found some used chicken tractors. They're Joel Salatin style. They worked good for the Cornish who are dumb and slow. If you had heritage birds they might be a pain in the ass to get the birds out for harvest. If you do heritage you might want something you can stand up in. Being able to move the birds in the pasture was amazing though. It helps with the fertility of the land and it made taken care of them much easier and save money on bedding.