NHMountainMan
Free Ranging
Hi All - I've been a chicken guy for almost 4 months. I've learned so much from BYC through reading posts and asking questions. I've learned that there are a lot of experts, and a lot of different opinions. As I've asked questions in different forums, I realized that my original plan was way off - and I wish I'd found BYC before starting construction on my coop or ordered my first chicks!
I've got specific questions below in bold, but wanted to put some context around the questions. Feel free to comment, correct or question anything I've put in my plan. I really value the help this group has provided.
First - my reason for starting with chickens - I'm a cancer patient in remission. I've been ill for almost a decade. I'm finally regaining some strength (not regaining hair and what did come in is now white!) But that experience has made me rethink my grocery store diet. I wanted to know and see my source of food. So, 2 years ago, we started raising honeybees for immune boosting honey. We put in a big garden last year, and this year was the start of adding home grown protein. Also - I must now eat a very low iron diet - so red meat and game is now off limits. So - pork, poultry and fish.
We live on an exposed ridge in the mountains of New Hampshire. LOTS of wind, especially in the winter. Wind blown snow here on the ridge, with a week or 2 of 90 degrees in the summer, and 2-4 weeks with temps 15 degrees below and wind chills a 20-40 below.
With that in mind, we set out to get about a dozen eggs a week for us empty nesters - so we thought 4 chickens would be enough, and some dual purpose for meat. I bought from a hatchery - and they recommended birds for our weather conditions. We got 4 Barred Rocks, 3 New Hampshires, 3 Buff Orpingtons, and 3 Golden Buffs. (they threw in an extra barred rock) All are pullets. I chose to avoid meat birds this years, and I wanted flexibility to keep more for eggs, or butcher more if I wanted.
Do you agree with the hatchery that these breeds are cold-hearty?
I learned that they'd need 2-3 sqft each in the coop, and 10 sqft in the run. I was unsure about free ranging as our land abuts 10's of thousands or acres or protected forest and a ton of predators.
The coop I built is 48 sqft (8'x 6') and 6 feet high, with a 6/12 roof pitch - so plenty of room for me to stand. The run is 120 sqft (15'x 8'). I've previously posted pics and got great advice about adding poop boards, more ventilation and to reconfigure the roosting bars. I've already followed that advice and corrected the coop. 1/2" hardware cloth everywhere and electric netting surrounding it all.
At 8 weeks old, the pullets all moved to the coop, and all is going well. Over the weekend I started letting them out of the run and into the netted fence area, with my dog in the net with them for protection.
Oh - I forgot. I'm a city boy. Born and raised in NYC. No construction or farming experience. So I rely on advice from others. My wife grew up on a family farm (but really doesn't love the farming life) and my brother-in-law farms the land thats been in his family since before the revolutionary war. Great advisor, but his advice is old school and often very different from those on BYC.
My plan is to send 8-9 to the freezer in a few weeks, and keep four or five for eggs. They are now 16 weeks, and none are laying yet.
I heard that 4-5 hens should give us a dozen or so eggs / week. Is this correct with the breeds I have raised?
My Initial thought is to keep 1 of each breed (BO, BR, NH and Golden Buff) to see which are the best layers. Of the breeds above - which should I keep as layers?
Then I heard that having only 4 or 5 hens in the coop through our cold winter would be rough. That shared body heat would be better. So brother in law gave me 5 chicks (in which it looks like 3 may be cockerels.) They are now 5 weeks old, and in a small coop next to the other pullets, they can see each other but not touch. I"ll need to move them into to coop and run in a few weeks. That would give me 18 in 48 sqft. Approx. 2.6 sqft per chick - too tight a squeeze (I've learned about chicken math on BYC!) The new chicks are 1 each of silver laced wyandotte, gold laced wyandotte, easter egger, whitings true green and whitings true blue.
Should I have only 4-5 in the coop for the winter, or is 9-12 better for shared body heat?
The plan for the future is to keep enough layers to give us a dozen eggs a week replace them when the age and stop laying reliably, and order chicks to fill the freezer. With my dietary requirements, I eat a lot of chicken. Initially I want to avoid cross / meat birds, as their growth rate was developed for industrial agriculture, and it just doesn't feel natural. But I may change my mind on that.
Final question: At what age should I harvest dual purpose chickens, and at what age should I harvest surplus cockerels?
Again - I thank you all for what I've learned so far, and will be following BYC regularly for the great advice.
I've got specific questions below in bold, but wanted to put some context around the questions. Feel free to comment, correct or question anything I've put in my plan. I really value the help this group has provided.
First - my reason for starting with chickens - I'm a cancer patient in remission. I've been ill for almost a decade. I'm finally regaining some strength (not regaining hair and what did come in is now white!) But that experience has made me rethink my grocery store diet. I wanted to know and see my source of food. So, 2 years ago, we started raising honeybees for immune boosting honey. We put in a big garden last year, and this year was the start of adding home grown protein. Also - I must now eat a very low iron diet - so red meat and game is now off limits. So - pork, poultry and fish.
We live on an exposed ridge in the mountains of New Hampshire. LOTS of wind, especially in the winter. Wind blown snow here on the ridge, with a week or 2 of 90 degrees in the summer, and 2-4 weeks with temps 15 degrees below and wind chills a 20-40 below.
With that in mind, we set out to get about a dozen eggs a week for us empty nesters - so we thought 4 chickens would be enough, and some dual purpose for meat. I bought from a hatchery - and they recommended birds for our weather conditions. We got 4 Barred Rocks, 3 New Hampshires, 3 Buff Orpingtons, and 3 Golden Buffs. (they threw in an extra barred rock) All are pullets. I chose to avoid meat birds this years, and I wanted flexibility to keep more for eggs, or butcher more if I wanted.
Do you agree with the hatchery that these breeds are cold-hearty?
I learned that they'd need 2-3 sqft each in the coop, and 10 sqft in the run. I was unsure about free ranging as our land abuts 10's of thousands or acres or protected forest and a ton of predators.
The coop I built is 48 sqft (8'x 6') and 6 feet high, with a 6/12 roof pitch - so plenty of room for me to stand. The run is 120 sqft (15'x 8'). I've previously posted pics and got great advice about adding poop boards, more ventilation and to reconfigure the roosting bars. I've already followed that advice and corrected the coop. 1/2" hardware cloth everywhere and electric netting surrounding it all.
At 8 weeks old, the pullets all moved to the coop, and all is going well. Over the weekend I started letting them out of the run and into the netted fence area, with my dog in the net with them for protection.
Oh - I forgot. I'm a city boy. Born and raised in NYC. No construction or farming experience. So I rely on advice from others. My wife grew up on a family farm (but really doesn't love the farming life) and my brother-in-law farms the land thats been in his family since before the revolutionary war. Great advisor, but his advice is old school and often very different from those on BYC.
My plan is to send 8-9 to the freezer in a few weeks, and keep four or five for eggs. They are now 16 weeks, and none are laying yet.
I heard that 4-5 hens should give us a dozen or so eggs / week. Is this correct with the breeds I have raised?
My Initial thought is to keep 1 of each breed (BO, BR, NH and Golden Buff) to see which are the best layers. Of the breeds above - which should I keep as layers?
Then I heard that having only 4 or 5 hens in the coop through our cold winter would be rough. That shared body heat would be better. So brother in law gave me 5 chicks (in which it looks like 3 may be cockerels.) They are now 5 weeks old, and in a small coop next to the other pullets, they can see each other but not touch. I"ll need to move them into to coop and run in a few weeks. That would give me 18 in 48 sqft. Approx. 2.6 sqft per chick - too tight a squeeze (I've learned about chicken math on BYC!) The new chicks are 1 each of silver laced wyandotte, gold laced wyandotte, easter egger, whitings true green and whitings true blue.
Should I have only 4-5 in the coop for the winter, or is 9-12 better for shared body heat?
The plan for the future is to keep enough layers to give us a dozen eggs a week replace them when the age and stop laying reliably, and order chicks to fill the freezer. With my dietary requirements, I eat a lot of chicken. Initially I want to avoid cross / meat birds, as their growth rate was developed for industrial agriculture, and it just doesn't feel natural. But I may change my mind on that.
Final question: At what age should I harvest dual purpose chickens, and at what age should I harvest surplus cockerels?
Again - I thank you all for what I've learned so far, and will be following BYC regularly for the great advice.