Which Breeds should I consider?

[Pastornater]

Good day!

Hello folks I am new to these forums, but have spent a good deal reading them. My friend and I have a crazy idea, and after reading through various forums and articles have come to realize its not so crazy.

I am building a cabin in Northern Wisconsin, and I have a small orchard I started a few years ago. This spring I am expanding it to about 1800sq ft of fenced in land... (deer and rabbit protection)

We were talking about how chickens might be good for keeping the bugs in check, plus all sorts of free chicken poop.

Here's the catch. We only make it up to the cabin once a month. My mom lives near there and check up on it for us from time to time, but I dont want to put all of this on her. I plan to put a 3ft apron around the bottom of the fence to keep predators out. There are a lot of trees to provide cover from hawks. I will clip wings to keep them in the 8 ft fence. And I have some cleaver rainwater/cistern water ideas and of course feed.

The bottom line is I am looking for "self sufficient" chickens that I can place in the orchard mature at may 1st and let them do their thing until mid October. We will eat the chickens and start all over each spring. So I dont know if that's too old for good chicken meat either. One other thing, this is not necessary, but if you can suggest multiple breeds, I like variety!

Any comments, question, concerns are much appreciated. Also I document all my projects with photos and will be certain to send some nice contributions to the community.

Thanks, Nate

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

There are some good sources that talk about heritage breeds of chickens that do well foraging and ranging for themselves. My Pet Chicken is one and albc-usa.org/cpl/wtchlist.html is another I know about. For example, on those sites I've read that the Buckeye is a great forager which will also catch and eat mice!

Personally I'd worry if I weren't able to check on my chickens more regularly. If one were ill or injured, or if there had been a predator break-in, I'd want to know ASAP so that I could tend to the problem. I'd also worry that they'd run out of water or that the water would be contaminated. That said, I know that chickens go feral and do pretty well on their own, assuming they have sufficient room.

Maybe if you promise your mom a share of the meat, she'd be willing to drop in more often and check on food and water.

 

[helenshens]

I have Old English Game and they don't need me for much of anything except keeping clean water out. I throw out some scratch grain every morning and that's all. They are pretty good fliers and they sleep in a tree, so don't know about clipping their wings. That would really frustrate them. I think they are smaller than meat chickens - I haven't eaten one. Snakes would probably get all the eggs.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

One option for checking in on the birds would be to set up a camera/s that you can monitor on your computer.

 

[Bullitt]

Good day!

Hello folks I am new to these forums, but have spent a good deal reading them. My friend and I have a crazy idea, and after reading through various forums and articles have come to realize its not so crazy.

I am building a cabin in Northern Wisconsin, and I have a small orchard I started a few years ago. This spring I am expanding it to about 1800sq ft of fenced in land... (deer and rabbit protection)

We were talking about how chickens might be good for keeping the bugs in check, plus all sorts of free chicken poop.

Here's the catch. We only make it up to the cabin once a month. My mom lives near there and check up on it for us from time to time, but I dont want to put all of this on her. I plan to put a 3ft apron around the bottom of the fence to keep predators out. There are a lot of trees to provide cover from hawks. I will clip wings to keep them in the 8 ft fence. And I have some cleaver rainwater/cistern water ideas and of course feed.

The bottom line is I am looking for "self sufficient" chickens that I can place in the orchard mature at may 1st and let them do their thing until mid October. We will eat the chickens and start all over each spring. So I dont know if that's too old for good chicken meat either. One other thing, this is not necessary, but if you can suggest multiple breeds, I like variety!

Any comments, question, concerns are much appreciated. Also I document all my projects with photos and will be certain to send some nice contributions to the community.

Thanks, Nate

You said you will put a 3-foot apron along the bottom of the fence. You will need to bury that wire apron in the ground to prevent animals from digging under the fence.

If you want chickens that will be good for meat, then you do not need to worry about mature hens flying over an 8-foot fence. So you do not need to clip their wings.

A mature chicken is about 5 months old, and then you will leave them at the orchard for about 5 1/2 months. So 10 1/2-month-old chickens should be fine for meat birds.

They will have about a 40-foot by 45-foot (1,800-square-foot) area to forage in, and you will provide water and feed. You could use a barrel with a chicken waterer connected at the bottom. This way you could fill the barrel with water once a week or so. I would suggest providing a raised chicken coop so the chickens can get out of the rain and wind. It is a good idea for your mother to check on the chickens once in a while.

I think any of the good dual-purpose breeds will suit your needs, since you plan to use them for meat. If the chickens are laying in nesting boxes, your mother could also collect the eggs. Some of the breeds you might want to consider would be Dominique, Rhode Island Red, Black Australorp, Barred Plymouth Rock, White Plymouth Rock, New Hampshire, Speckled Sussex, and as someone else mentioned, Buckeye. The most popular breeds for meat birds have white feathers and yellow skin, by the way. They make a more attractive chicken for meat. But the white feathers can be easily seen by predators.

I am not sure how many chickens you want to have. But the more chickens you have the less food there will be for each chicken to forage and the more feed you will need to provide. So, it is a trade off. I think a half dozen chickens can do the job of bug control on that 1,800-square-foot area. You probably want more chickens than that, though. You should start compost piles and worm beds to help produce food for the chickens.

Dense trees will protect the chickens from hawks. But I would not be surprised if some of the chickens are still killed.

 

[Pastornater]

Thank you all for the responses, very helpful indeed.

I am aware there is some risk involved leaving them unattended for a long period of time, and I do not want to be irresponsible with them. I believe there is a good way to do this with proper planning.

Although I hope to eat some good birds in the fall, my main goal is having them assist with the bugs in the orchard so the quantity of birds I want is more dependent on the chicken's comfort and that the bug extermination is getting done.

I intend to build a coop. I do not plan to have chickens in the winter so is there any considerations to be made in planning this coop? I can place it in a shady spot if thats what they will prefer in the spring summer and fall.

Also I heard that roosters will often times fight a hawk... is this only when they are protecting hens? Is it worth considering getting all roosters for meat and self defense, or will they tear each other apart?


Also, Billit, you mentioned burrying that fence apron in the ground, how exactly do you mean?

Thanks again everyone

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Since you plan on eating them every fall and starting over in the spring, "straight run" would probably be your best bet. You'd end up with about 50% roosters, but you might decide to start cutting down on the total number of roosters around the time you start seeing serious aggression between them (they start chest bumping and puffing up their feathers at each other pretty early...like 5 or 6 weeks, but even at 9 weeks my Freedom Ranger rooster's shows of aggression are pretty much all show. FR's are going to mature more quickly than your heritage breeds, and not do as well foraging as many of them. Perhaps someone with more experience with heritage breeds could give you a better idea of how many weeks you'd have of relative harmony before you had to start thinning the numbers. Since you visit your property around once a month, perhaps at around 12 weeks or so you could take care of several of the more aggressive roosters and leave the pullets and the rest of the roosters for the following visit, "harvest" a few more then (16 weeks) and do the rest at 20 weeks or so. That would give you the entire summer of weed and bug patrol.

Remember you'll need to brood them for a number of weeks...I'd say 6 since they will truly be on their own once you let them out into their enclosure, and the smaller they are the more vulnerable, so be sure you have the room and materials you need for them at home for that first period.

 

[sdmotherhen]

I don't have a place to free range my chickens, but I had Cornish Rock Cross broilers for the first time and never again. They are very labor intensive as you need to take their food away for 12 hours and let them feed for 12 hours. They do not forage, they just sit in front of the feeders and could possibly eat themselves to death(heart attack) and they can develop leg problems. I have done some research and next year I am going to get Rangers(red, gray, tri-color) for my meat birds. They are great foragers and are perfect for free ranging. I hope this helps. All I can tell you to do is research, research, research.

 

[donrae]

Sounds like any hatchery mix of dual purpose or heavy breed cockerals would work. But, you need to think about how old the birds will be when you put them out there. To be off a heat lamp, etc they need to be around 6 weeks old, depending of course on your weather. Where are you going to brood these chicks for 6 weeks? Even at that point they'll be awful young to be on their own.

If this is what you want to try, I'd start with an order of 25 hatchery choice cockeral chicks. They're dirt cheap, you'll probably lose some right off the bat and probably lose some to predators. This way you'll minimize your financial loses also.

All cockerals (roosters) with no hens should prevent most of the real fighting. They'll still squabble, but there's no "prize", so no reason to draw blood, etc. Give them decent shelter from predators at night and see how it goes. Worst thing is you're out some money.

 

[SteeleFaithFarm]

Dark Cornish could do very well. Their dark plumage would blend in, they make great meat birds and they a stronger survival instinct than my other birds. What about something like Guineas or Turkeys? I hear Guineas are great at catching bugs, especially ticks.