My daughter JB and I are going to start raising some chickens in the spring. We have a couple of acres on a mountaintop here in West Virginia. We want to start small and we have a few questions. Would it be best to start with a few (maybe 6-12) meat chickens? Our logic is that if it doesn't work out, we can just eat the chickens (which we plan to do anyway). If it does work out, we would then move on to egg chickens. Our ultimate goal would be maybe 12 egg chickens and three runs of meat chickens per year (about 25 per run). We can't free range because of predators, namely dogs, but we could fence off 2000 square feet or so. Would that be large enough? Thanks folks!
Greetings from Kansas, DadandJB, and ! Great to have you here! Chickens in the spring sounds exciting. I think there is a lot to consider, as you've stated. The good thing about raising meat chickens (other than the meat) is that it's a pretty quick proposition. The most common meat chicken is the Cornish Cross - it grows VERY rapidly - like 8 weeks and it's ready to process. If you tried that and figured chickens weren't for you, you don't have much of a commitment invested. On the other had, if you raised chickens for eventual egg production you have a several month commitment before you see a return on your investment. Many folks mix it up and raise some dual purpose breeds - for meat and eggs. They order a mix of roosters and hens, processing the roosters for meat (about 16 weeks or so as these varieties are slower maturing than the Cornish Cross) and then wait for the hens to produce. There is a little more to consider with chickens that aren't Cornish....roosts, different types of feed for hens, etc. But really, as you are early in the game in still in the planning stages, I think you are in a good position to go for what works best for you. If you go in prepared, raising chickens - for meat and/or eggs - needn't be drudgery and can be very rewarding. Best of luck in whatever you decide!!
Thanks for the welcome everyone! We prefer not to go into this blindly so we are planning early. The cornish X is exactly what we are planning to start with, due to the short time period involved. We are considering it a "getting our feet wet" type of thing. Even though we plan to process the birds, we still want them to have the best life possible for the short time we have them. We are outside people and have a large garden (between 4000 and 9000 sq feet depending on what we are growing). We think chickens would compliment our garden and lifestyle very well. We are also sick and tired of paying ridiculous prices for tiny chickens at the local grocery, not to mention egg prices these days. We have no illusions of saving tons of money, but at least we will know where our chicken is coming from and have something larger than a pigeon to put in the oven. If all goes well with the Cornish X, we are considering Leghorns for eggs. We have questions about both as well as coop and run designs. We will ask those in the appropriate forums. Again thanks for the warm welcomes!
