Raising Chickens on Pasture for the BEST Eggs and Meat
Find the answers to all your questions about raising chickens on pasture for the best meat and eggs to use in your kitchen.
Plus, pasture raising chickens is the secret to some very happy, healthy birds.
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What You’ll Need for Pasture Raising Chickens
Raising chickens on pasture versus an enclosed coop doesn’t really require much for extra equipment. Most chicken care items work in both environments.
Raising Chickens on Pasture
Raising chickens on pasture versus an enclosed coop doesn’t change much about how to care for them as the farmer. The chore of cleaning the coop is replaced by moving the chickens to fresh ground regularly.
From their first week of life through 4-6 weeks of age, both broiler chickens and egg laying chickens will need to be brooded under a heat source during their brooding period. If you want to learn more about raising chicks from day-old birds, head over to my blog post on raising chicks for beginners.
Space Requirements for Pastured Chickens
Fully grown chickens like egg layers need about 2-4 square feet of space per bird. At night, while they are sleeping, they really only need about 1 square foot.
When considering a mobile coop that the chickens will use for sleeping or laying eggs only, consider the number of chickens you’d like to have, and ensure that at least 1 square foot per birds is provided.
For their pastured area, aim for at least 5 feet of space per bird.
If you are moving them regularly, they won’t destroy the pasture grass they are on, and they won’t require regular cleaning like chickens in a stationary coop will.
For chicken tractors that house meat birds, be sure to provide at least 2 square feet of space per chicken. This might seem a bit tight, but moving them every day ensures they are clean and stretching their legs nonetheless!
Mobile Chicken Coops
We built Justin Rhodes’ Chick Shaw design for our egg laying flock’s mobile coop. This coop can easily be moved by one person.
The chickens sleep in the coop and lay eggs in the coop only.. Otherwise, they are moving around their fenced in area scratching, pecking, and grazing.
The chickens coop provides a secure place for our egg layers to sleep and lay their eggs in milk carton nesting boxes like these. Every morning we open their coop door so that they can forage, eat and drink, and let their poop fertilize our pastures.
The tractor has 1″ holes on the bottom to allow their poop to fall through which keeps the coop clean.
To make things even easier we also eventually added a solar powered coop door like this one. The solar door opens at sunrise an closes at sunset, so that we don’t even have to let the chickens in and out ourselves!
Weekly Moves
To keep them safe and where we want them while they are out on grass, we use the Premier1 Poultry Net system. The poultry net is a moveable electric fence that is powered by a solar energizer.
Every day we move the coop one space over to keep the manure that falls through from building up in once place too much.
Every week we move the entire fencing section over one space to give the chickens fresh grass to mow down.
This keeps the chickens in a clean area and also keeps the pasture from being over grazed by the chickens.
Food & Water for Pastured Chickens in a Mobile Coop
The chickens can supplement their nutrition with pasture and grazing, but they do still need food and clean water access.
Chickens should have access to clean water 24/7, so we make sure the waterer stays clean and filled every day.
Our pasture raised egg laying chickens get an organic egg layer pellet feed daily as well as any kitchen scraps to supplement and diversify their feed.
If you want to learn more about how much it costs to feed chickens, and ways to save, check out my post on that here.
Chicken Tractors
Our meat chickens require the most care. They are the “high octane” birds on our farm.
We built our own chicken tractors that are a 4’x6′ box that is 2′ high, resting on the ground. Each chicken tractor has a hinged lid to access the birds for feeding and watering, as well as removing the birds on butcher day.
The roof and sides on the back half are sheet metal to protect them from wind and rain. The front half has chicken wire to allow for sunshine and fresh air to reach them.
Daily Moves
Despite having less space to roam inside a chicken tractor, the meat chickens are moved to fresh grass twice daily. These daily moves help to keep them clean and entertained by plenty of foraging opportunities.
The most popular meat chickens are Cornish crosses. These birds, raised commercially, can suffer from heart problems from overly fast growth and excessive weight gain, coupled with a lack of exercise.
Because we control their feed intake, and encourage them to forage on pasture, we don’t face these issues.
We keep food accessible 12 hours per day to encourage foraging, exercise, and reduce over-eating. Fresh water is accessible 24/7 and is cleaned and re-filled daily.
The meat birds are messy!
As an added bonus, our chicken tractors also serve as our chick brooders in the early spring time before the chicks are ready to move outside.
Predator Proofing
Like with stationary chicken coops, you will want to ensure that your mobile shelter is very secure against predators.
Moving them regularly can actually help to deter predators. When you move them regularly, the predators have a harder time plotting and planning a break in.
What’s the Difference Between Pasture Raised Chickens and Free Range Chickens?
Looking at the different eggs at the grocery store, you’ve probably been overwhelmed with information that sounds important on the cartons.
Different prices, different labels, different happy, plucky fonts and colors… But what does it all mean?
Free Range Chickens
According to the USDA, “free-range” chicken means the birds have “continuous, free access to the outdoors for more than 50% of their lives”. But… there are no specific requirements for the quality, or amount of, outdoor space that needs to be.
It’s specified that the chickens have “access” to that space, which means a commercial egg producer could technically just have a few open doors to the outside for the birds to have access to. The chickens do not necessarily ever have to venture out to be considered free-range chickens.
Many factory farms also participate in unethical practices like beak trimming, while touting a “free-range” label to show their care for the birds.
Kind of makes you feel like some of the food labels might be a bit misleading…
Pasture Raised Chickens
Currently, as of March 2025, the USDA hasn’t quite nailed down a concrete definition for pasture raised chickens.
However, the starting definition defines pasture-raised chickens “as animals raised on land with rooted vegetative cover for most of their lifespan”.
In practice, these chickens are moving regularly to keep the grass under them fresh. This means more exercise, and better hygiene for the birds!
What are the Benefits of Raising Chickens on Pasture
The main benefits to chickens include more exercise, more access to forage, and better hygiene, which all leads to healthier chickens.
More Exercise
Chickens raised on pasture automatically have better access to exercise. In order to move their access to fresh ground, they are encouraged to walk there.
Plus, the new grass provides an opportunity for them to forage, scratch, and peck as nature intended.
More Access to Forage
Chickens are omnivores which means they require both vegetation and protein in their diet. Given the chance, chickens will slurp up bugs and even meat to meet their nutritional needs!
Pasture-raising chickens still requires a feed input from the farmer, but raising them on grass can definitely reduce feed costs and help with the overall feed bill.
Fresh pasture includes enrichment to the chickens like
- Bugs: worms, ants, beetles, etc. which are all healthy sources of additional protein and vitamins for the chicken’s diet.
- Grass and Plants: Fresh grass and different plant species are additional dietary supplements to the chickens for their vegetation needs. Chickens are omnivores that benefit from a healthy balance of vegetation and protein sources. The more varied their diet opportunities, the more varied their nutritional intake, which passes down to their meat and eggs for you!
- Gravel and grit: Chickens don’t have teeth which means they rely on consuming grit to help their digestion. Grit includes things like small stones and sand. Chickens will scratch through fresh pasture to eat gravel which in turn helps them digest their food more efficiently. Plus, this helps encourage movement an natural instincts in the chickens.
Better Hygiene
Chickens that have access to fresh pasture regularly (ideally daily) have better hygiene. Moving chickens away from their poop creates a cleaner environment for them to live in. A cleaner environment is a healthier environment.
A cleaner environment makes a healthy environment which means chickens that are more resistant to parasites and diseases, which produces healthier meat and eggs for the consumer.
I don’t know about you, but I like to think of my chicken under the sun with clean feet and feathers before I bring home eggs or meat to feed my family!
Healthier Pastures
Pasture-raising chickens is also a great way to practice regenerative agriculture. The controlled disturbance to the soil adds organic matter without over-doing it.
Chicken manure applied continuously, without rest to the area, can burn the vegetation and can have a negative environmental impact.
By moving the chickens regularly, the organic matter can fertilize the soil. Chickens can eat up the pests, and that scratching and pecking mimics natural tilling.
The BEST Meat and Eggs
Pasture raising chickens provides more exercise, more access to a diverse diet, better hygiene, and a healthier pasture environment. All of these factors directly influence the meat and eggs these chickens produce.
Pasture-raised eggs often have higher levels of vitamins A, E, and D. And almost all pasture raised animal products, including eggs and meat have improved levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Whereas the conventionally raised counterparts have elevated, and unbalanced levels of omega-6 fatty acids.
It’s quite simple to see that while pasture raising chickens might feel daunting or like a change from habit, not only does it provide a happier life for the bird, but that positive change is passed directly to the meat an eggs we consume.
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