My first group of meat chickens were Freedom Rangers, and I purchased 35 (25 were for me and my family and 10 were for mom who helped with the slaughtering and butchering, as well as backup chicken care). I don't know if you have any friends or neighbors who might want to go in with you like this, but it gave me an extra set of hands at processing time, as well as another person who would check in on them or help if we were out of town for the night. She paid for the additional cost of the 10 chicks and 10/35ths of the cost of food. I paid for all of the materials to build the tractor.
Since a big cost of getting chicks seems to be the shipping, and it cost the same to ship 25(minimum order) as 35, it seemed like a good deal to bring in a partner.
A tractor is probably a pretty good idea. But with 25 or more, you might need two tractors,because by the time they get close to butchering age, a single tractor big enough to hold them might be too large to move, especially since you'll have to make it extra sturdy to keep your chickens safe since you won't be close enough to keep an eye on them.
I would also suggest being sure you keep them close, in your home during those first few weeks when they need the heat lamp and extra supervision. I suppose the length of time you need to do that depends on when you purchase them and the weather in your area.
Here's what my mobile coop/tractor looked like:
The coop was a converted 16-year-old mini-van and the mobile run was attached to the trailor hitch. I think I would have wanted it to have a heavy "skirt" of hardware cloth if I it wasn't within site of the house.
Since a big cost of getting chicks seems to be the shipping, and it cost the same to ship 25(minimum order) as 35, it seemed like a good deal to bring in a partner.
A tractor is probably a pretty good idea. But with 25 or more, you might need two tractors,because by the time they get close to butchering age, a single tractor big enough to hold them might be too large to move, especially since you'll have to make it extra sturdy to keep your chickens safe since you won't be close enough to keep an eye on them.
I would also suggest being sure you keep them close, in your home during those first few weeks when they need the heat lamp and extra supervision. I suppose the length of time you need to do that depends on when you purchase them and the weather in your area.
Here's what my mobile coop/tractor looked like:
The coop was a converted 16-year-old mini-van and the mobile run was attached to the trailor hitch. I think I would have wanted it to have a heavy "skirt" of hardware cloth if I it wasn't within site of the house.
