What would you do?

[aart]

Are you going to heat the whole building?

 

[DaFlockinLeader]

For the most part prob not until winter just to keep there water from freezing and getting to cold. I have lamps and stuff if they get a little chilly. It's one thing to heat my own house but then to heat a whole nother building would cost alot. Can I heat it? Yes. Will I heat it? Prob not likely unless they actually needed it. Why do you ask?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I never provide extra heat, let your birds acclimate. Either use a water heater or take out warm water twice a day, you automatic water system will need to be shut down in winter unless you figure out how to keep it from freezing.

 

[aart]

For the most part prob not until winter just to keep there water from freezing and getting to cold. I have lamps and stuff if they get a little chilly. It's one thing to heat my own house but then to heat a whole nother building would cost alot. Can I heat it? Yes. Will I heat it? Prob not likely unless they actually needed it. Why do you ask?

Because of the water system....plan now for winter freezing as you design it.
Heating water column instead of building.....re-circulation.....horizontal nipples less likely to freeze than verticals...

Birds don't need heat, but winter water can be a ... P I T A!!

 

[DaFlockinLeader]

Thank you I will keep that in mind when building it. We're used to the north so pipes freezing and keeping pipes flowing is a big thing. Any suggestions on the perfect layer flock and broiler flocks as in which birds to use because I will have both going at once. And ordering new birds every month to replace the once I processed the month before looking to do about 30 meaties a month so 30 in the brooder 30 in the coop and 30 ready to process and just keep the cycle going

 

[SJ]

I'll first give you a little backstory to help you understand. I live in pennsylvania so it does get cold at times. I just started raising chickens for extra profit. I would like to start broilers and order 30 chickens every month to replace the old ones as I go to keep a constant income going seeing how most chickens are ready for processing after 3-4 months but also would like to keep a flock to myself for egg laying so I would have my layers and then broilers. At the moment I have
6 khaki cambells (Ducks)
5 Red Productions (Pullets)
5 Black Sex linked (Pullets)
5 Plymouth Rocks (straight run)
5 Red Rangers (Straight run)
5 Rhode Island reds (Straight run)

I'm trying to decide which ones to keep and what should be processed. They are 2 weeks old to this day. I would like to keep layers from this group and then order buff orpingtons as broilers from now on every month. I'd also be willing to order some new layers if needed. I have lots of space and just need some more insight. In other words if you had this flock what would you do with them and how do you think I should run my plan on broilers and layers?

Dual purpose is what it sounds like you want. Meat and Eggs, right?

I'd just get a 100 buff orpingtons or Delawares straight run and an incubator. Grow them out and keep a +/-45 head laying flock. Make that your laying/breeding flock and hatch out +/-80 eggs each month. 50%-50% males and females. Set extra eggs because you don't get 100% hatch rates 100% of the time or ever.

So you should acheive the target of 30 "broilers" each month if you hatch 80ish. Sell most of the pullets as started pullets (you can eat these too) and the vast majority of cockerels as 16 week old meaties. Keep the best of the best birds as your replacement pullets and breeder cocks. DIY method

But from what you have I would end up with four flocks. Two breeder flocks, a layer flock and a broiler flock. The idea would be to breed black sex links for production.
Keep the best of the RIR roo and start a flock of "Red" with the production red girls and the RIR girls. Breed these with RIR standard as a guide. Then keep the best Plymouth rock roo and start a "Barred" flock with the black sex links and plymouth rock girls. Breed with Plymouth Rock standard as guide. Keep a dozen or so hens to each breeder flock and, keep how ever many sexlink hens you want to. To maintain your layer numbers.

What you have can produce "broilers". The genetics are present in the birds you have. The RIR is dual purpose so is the Plymouth rock and dual purpose based sex-links perform as broilers as well as a pure Buff Orps IME. The black sexlink will work.
If you not positive how sexlinkage works for color. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/261208/sex-linked-information

I figure you end up with 12-20 hens so daily egg production is likely 10ish. With a laying flock at that size you would have to collect a weeks worth of eggs each month for hatching +/-80 eggs in order to acheive the 30 broiler a month goal. I'd keep more pullets at first to ramp up egg production but I would hatch only eggs from the best birds until I had a "type" to my flocks. The rangers I would just eat at 14 weeks or after the first laying cycle.

Good luck

 

[DaFlockinLeader]

Thank you that really gives me some good ideas and you have a good plan on what I should do I really appreciate it all.