experience with meaties in suburbia?

[newchknmama]

Is there anyone with experience raising a few (<6) meat chickens in a suburban setting? I have 7 egg layers and am considering raising a small batch of meat chickens (seperately of course) I realize they don"t take a lot of room but for instance, are they noisy? I will likely brood them in the garage for 3 weeks and move them outdoor to a 4x6 grow out pen to be determined. I really want to experience this.. My neighbors have no issue with my egg layers and all the noise they make. We live in a neighborhood with about a 1/4 acre lot.

 

[galanie]

They don't make any noise. And they are ready to butcher before the boys would start crowing anyway. I'd suggest doing what I did: make a lightweight "tractor" and move them every day. If you put them in one pen they'll be really messy. I grew out some this way in suburbia with a 4x8 pvc frame covered with chicken wire, a tarp over one end. My yard is bigger than yours but I really only needed a small part of it for this. Worked out really well!

 

[Eznet2u]

We have the same situation. Our Cornish X are 6½ weeks, no noise yet.

 

[new2chickens2011]

We had the same situation! We raised 3 Cornish X in our yard...they were not noisy at all. But they pooped. ALOT. But moving their pen every day solved that problem.
THey were delicious! Good luck!

Is there anyone with experience raising a few (<6) meat chickens in a suburban setting? I have 7 egg layers and am considering raising a small batch of meat chickens (seperately of course) I realize they don"t take a lot of room but for instance, are they noisy? I will likely brood them in the garage for 3 weeks and move them outdoor to a 4x6 grow out pen to be determined. I really want to experience this.. My neighbors have no issue with my egg layers and all the noise they make. We live in a neighborhood with about a 1/4 acre lot.

 

[jdywntr]

I am in suburbua and went a little bigger with 17 cornish rock. If you look at the recommended minimums, they don't need alot of space. Mine have a 8'X8' pvc frame enclosure. I processed 7 of them last week at ~ 4 weeks old. They do make some noise but not like your layers. No crowing, at least yet, but they are not silent. I planned on moving my "tractor" but I have been using pine shavings and pine pellet stall bedding and have not had a problem yet. I try to get out there every 3 days to rake around the bedding and add more.

My game hens were delicious, a bit big, 2 lbs dressed, but well worth it. I will process the rest in a few weeks. Maybe let some go a bit longer for roasters. Well worth the effort.

 

[xC0000005]

Suburbs here, and I'm raising 12 (currently in a greenhouse while I finish the pen). They don't make noise you can hear from the street.

 

[newchknmama]

Thanks a lot! I just got some scrap wood, to start building a pen. I want to make sure I have everything ready to go and hubby is on board before I get the chicks. It was his initial idea but hes having reservations as he doesnt want the whole yard getting messed up from moving them around so I might just do like a pp said and pick a spot and use some shavings.. I can just dump them in the composter when we are all done. I have bought chickens that were raised before and not from a factory and it is true they taste so much better. If any of you have pictures of your set up it would be wonderful.

 

[booker81]

I raised mine in a part of my coop - they didn't get out much, but they had room to move and lots of fresh shavings (a LOT of shavings). My next batch I hope to raise in my garden, but for poo control, a somewhat confined space might be better (because after it's all done, you just shovel up the poo and shavings and compost.

DH doesn't like the dog poo in the yard, and wouldn't be keen on a bunch of chicken poo...but then I usually raise more than a few - my next batch will be 50 of them, and I'm sure they'd poo enough to cover our acre.

 

[newchknmama]

So heres a question.. could I put my grow out pen in the run area of my other pen? Will the other chickens bother them? They would not be able to get to them but I dont want any of them getting stressed out. Here is my layout right now...so could I place the grow out pen in the chain link area.. my egg layers have free range of the whole area inside the chain link.

 

[galanie]

You could but you'd be shoveling poo a lot. Moving it around in the rest of the yard, washing down poo left behind with the hose would work a lot better. They really shouldn't be on the same spot more than once every week or more.