My plan for growing chickens for the freezer

[BarnyardChaos]

As some of you know, I raise chickens for meat and eggs. They are not pets; they are livestock. We are trying to be a self-sufficient as reasonable on our 26 acres, breeding and raising our own beef and chicken, and once a year we raise pork. I also have a large garden, and I preserve as much food as I can. We sell eggs. I've been putting together a plan for next year (experimental) to see if I can operate a system to produce 70-75 chickens a year, to put in the freezer and to replace our lost or retiring layers. So if you're interested, grab a cup of coffee and join me. See if you can spot where I'm making mistakes or could do something better. I'm open to any and all suggestions.

First, I had to decide my priorities:

Don't want to use broody hens due to predator load / high losses. I've had better results raising and incubating myself.

Don't want to brood chicks in our outdoor brooders (two, different sizes) in extreme cold or hot weather.

Don't want to butcher in extreme cold weather. I like my comforts, and freezing my fingers and buns while pulling guts isn't my idea of fun.

Don't want to butcher small batches (4-5 cockerels) only. But I have only a 12-egg incubator, and hubby says NO to replacing it.

Need to keep the coop population low in winter months, but egg-laying consistent. This is a must. I prefer not to use artificial light.

Don't want to integrate chicks during extreme cold/lock-down days (their integration space is needed for everyone).

Need 30-36 cockerels/year to put in freezer, and 30-36 pullets/year to replace lost & retired layers.

I typically average 8-9 surviving chicks per hatch in my 12-egg incubator, which means I'll need to raise 8 batches per year = 64-72 birds total.

So I came up with this calendar below. I think it accommodates all of my priorities and can be managed with the coop, run and equipment we have on hand. I especially like that I can butcher two batches at one time, reducing the number of times I have to set up and take down the equipment. I'll get one batch at full-size (15-16 weeks), which I'll part out for legs, breasts, wings, and giblets. The second batch will be younger (12-13 weeks), which will be smaller of course. I'll keep those whole for baking, frying, grilling or smoking halves, and rotisserie. I'm only cooking for my husband and myself most of the time, so smaller chickens makes perfect sense.

By the way, I name each batch of hatchlings - just to keep the age groups straight. This year I used the military alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie... etc.). Next year, I thought I'd name them after chicken recipes (Alfredo, Barbeque, Chili... etc.)

So to answer questions about our set-up, here:

Incubator: Kebonnixs 12-egg incubator

Brooding spaces: Indoor brooder tub 16" x 32" with heat lamp. --- Nursery brooder coop 4' x 8' with mama heating pad. --- Playhouse brooder coop 7' x 12' unheated.

Big Coop has a well-secured heat lamp as needed in bitter cold. Heated water bases inside and out.

Big Coop size: Currently @ 125 sf with plans to expand in the spring. It's only for roosting and laying (and the run space makes up for the cramped quarters.)

Ventilation: Very limited 25 sf, but I make up for it with forced air electric fans (strategically placed) 24/7/365 to pull out moisture and fumes. It's working.

Roosting bars: @ 85 lf. Nesting boxes: 15 (but they typically use only 6!)

Coop floor: Plywood & vinyl. I use the deep litter method with wood chips, and only have to clean it out 4-5 times a year.

Run: @ 1600 sf with 8' chain link fencing. Floor is dirt, wood chips and straw.

Feed: Chick starter in all brooders, then All-flock plus oyster shells and grit in the big coop and run. Big birds get a small bit of scratch late in the day, and vegetable or fruit scraps as available. Next year I plan to supplement with live mealworms (from the colony I'm getting started now).

Four feeding and watering stations in the run. Various devices placed for cover, shade, hiding, weather events, and exercise.

I also plan to:

* Cull or re-home hens over 2 yrs old, in early summer and early winter, 25-30 hens/year. (Not counting losses due to illness, accidents and predators.)

* Keep egg production up in winter naturally by rotating hens/pullets. I don't like using artificial light. They need their sleep and energy in colder months.

* No brooding chicks outdoors in June or July (brooder coops get too hot), nor in December, January, or February (just too temperature sensitive for my worries).

* Consolidate slaughter dates to only 4 per year, no cockerels over 16 weeks or under 12 weeks.

* Produce 16-20/year full-size birds for breasts, legs, wings; and 16-20/year whole small fryers. And add 32-40 pullets to replace hens.

* Sell or donate excess pullets or cockerels, if any

* Use colored leg bands to track various groups of growing chicks, and 1-yr and 2-yr old laying hens

So what do you think? Any thoughts or comments are welcome.

 

[BlueBaby]

It sound's like you have you hatching program figured out, and I wish you the best of luck with it.

 

[tripletfeb]

I am following along to learn, hubby and I are in the "looking for more land" stage of the game. We have chickens now of course, but want more land to raise meat animals and be more self sufficient. I also grow food and can/dehydrate. I learned about water glassing eggs this year and have about 100 eggs in the solution. That might be something for you to look into, that way you still have eggs to eat in the winter

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I learned about water glassing eggs this year and have about 100 eggs in the solution. That might be something for you to look into, that way you still have eggs to eat in the winter

I actually do have about 60 eggs in water-glassing solution, and just learned about it this year, too. I open a jar every few months to see how well they are aging

 

[LhickenChicken]

I have some eggs in water glassing solution too. Your hatching is well figured out! I just do whenever I feel like it and whenever I have enough space. In the freezer and in the coop as I also off rabbits and well I need enough space to send all my cockerels off packing to freezer camp and enough space for my rabbits to go off packing to freezer camp.

 

[BarneyNCyndi]

I appreciate you adding the yearly, incubate, brooding, raising, freezer schedule. We are looking at raising meat birds this year and having visual of the timeframes at each stage helps me plan our setup.