How big should my flock be?
- Thread starter mirandalola
- Start date
Oops. Sorry, didn't mean to be spreading misinformation.
Nope, Pioneer not like Red Ranger at all, near as I can tell. The Pioneer definitely based on some type of Barred bird, all the males were golden barred. Those males were massive and very tall. The females were varying shades of buff to light red, with a few white or black spatters here and there, often black feathers in wings/tail.
Any readers held back red rangers for breeders?
Any readers held back red rangers for breeders?
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I've seen some stuff in the meaties forum in the past.
Englishable
Songster
I too am a huge planner, so I completely understand where you're coming from! We are also just getting started with chickens this year, so I can't offer a lot of first-hand experience, but I thought I'd share our plans and what we have done so far.
We ordered 24 Orpington day-old chicks this spring. They were hatched on May 1st. We lost two almost right away, and ended up with 11 pullets and 11 cockerels. We banded all the cockerels with a different colored leg band so we could keep track of them, their personalities, etc. We decided to keep two roos - looking at who was the nicest, as well as who was good for breeding. (Note: we don't know that much about breeding so our standards were probably lower or more superficial than a real breeder; we prioritized personality first, followed by size and then looks. So we ended up with one very friendly, large, pretty roo and one calm, slightly standoff-ish, large, very pretty roo.) So far, our cockerels have been great, even though they are now breeding with the hens. The very friendly one comes over to us every time we go outside, looking for treats; the more standoff-ish one comes too but not nearly as close, hanging back until he sees that we do in fact have treats. Neither has shown any signs of aggression towards either myself or my husband... yet. I'm hoping it stays that way.
Since we had never butchered chickens before, I contacted a friend of mine who does 100+ meat chickens every year, and we just brought our extra roos to his farm the day he did his meaties. They were around 4 months old, averaging around 5 lbs dressed. We had one the other night, and it was really good! Firmer but not tough, moist and there was plenty for my husband and I to have leftovers.
Our coop is large enough to house almost 100 birds... 382 sq ft. They have a 12x22.5 enclosed run, but free range most of the time.
As others have said, we plan on building up our flock slowly. The ultimate goal is to be hatching 16 laying hens and close to 52 birds for meat. We also hope our hens, a breed that tends to go broody, will hatch and raise their own.
Next spring, our goal is to hatch 36 chicks (probably more in case some die). Hopefully at least 16 will be pullets. The other 20 we'll butcher in the fall.
In 2018, we'll hatch 48 chicks; 16 pullets we'll keep, 32 we'll butcher.
In 2019, we'll hatch 52; 16 pullets we'll keep, 36 we'll butcher, and the 11 original hens we have right now we'll butcher, for a total of 47 birds in the freezer.
In 2020, we'll hatch 52; 16 pullets we'll keep, 36 we'll butcher, and the 16 chicks from 2017 we'll also butcher, for a total of 52 birds in the freezer. This we'll repeat every year, maybe increasing the number we'll hatch at some point. But 1 bird to eat a week seems like a good goal for us right now.
With this plan, by 2020, we'll always have 3 sets of 16 laying hens, at different ages. The first year hens will start laying some by winter, the second year hens will be laying the most, and the third year hens will be decreasing the amount they lay. Hens tend to decrease laying after they are 3 years old. When butchering older hens, they generally go in a stew pot since they tend to be tough.
We'll have the most birds at any one time during the summer, when they spend all day outside anyway - 102 summer birds. By winter, we'll only have 50 (the 48 laying hens and 2 roos).
We'll see if everything goes according to plan though! You know what they say about counting your eggs
We ordered 24 Orpington day-old chicks this spring. They were hatched on May 1st. We lost two almost right away, and ended up with 11 pullets and 11 cockerels. We banded all the cockerels with a different colored leg band so we could keep track of them, their personalities, etc. We decided to keep two roos - looking at who was the nicest, as well as who was good for breeding. (Note: we don't know that much about breeding so our standards were probably lower or more superficial than a real breeder; we prioritized personality first, followed by size and then looks. So we ended up with one very friendly, large, pretty roo and one calm, slightly standoff-ish, large, very pretty roo.) So far, our cockerels have been great, even though they are now breeding with the hens. The very friendly one comes over to us every time we go outside, looking for treats; the more standoff-ish one comes too but not nearly as close, hanging back until he sees that we do in fact have treats. Neither has shown any signs of aggression towards either myself or my husband... yet. I'm hoping it stays that way.
Since we had never butchered chickens before, I contacted a friend of mine who does 100+ meat chickens every year, and we just brought our extra roos to his farm the day he did his meaties. They were around 4 months old, averaging around 5 lbs dressed. We had one the other night, and it was really good! Firmer but not tough, moist and there was plenty for my husband and I to have leftovers.
Our coop is large enough to house almost 100 birds... 382 sq ft. They have a 12x22.5 enclosed run, but free range most of the time.
As others have said, we plan on building up our flock slowly. The ultimate goal is to be hatching 16 laying hens and close to 52 birds for meat. We also hope our hens, a breed that tends to go broody, will hatch and raise their own.
Next spring, our goal is to hatch 36 chicks (probably more in case some die). Hopefully at least 16 will be pullets. The other 20 we'll butcher in the fall.
In 2018, we'll hatch 48 chicks; 16 pullets we'll keep, 32 we'll butcher.
In 2019, we'll hatch 52; 16 pullets we'll keep, 36 we'll butcher, and the 11 original hens we have right now we'll butcher, for a total of 47 birds in the freezer.
In 2020, we'll hatch 52; 16 pullets we'll keep, 36 we'll butcher, and the 16 chicks from 2017 we'll also butcher, for a total of 52 birds in the freezer. This we'll repeat every year, maybe increasing the number we'll hatch at some point. But 1 bird to eat a week seems like a good goal for us right now.
With this plan, by 2020, we'll always have 3 sets of 16 laying hens, at different ages. The first year hens will start laying some by winter, the second year hens will be laying the most, and the third year hens will be decreasing the amount they lay. Hens tend to decrease laying after they are 3 years old. When butchering older hens, they generally go in a stew pot since they tend to be tough.
We'll have the most birds at any one time during the summer, when they spend all day outside anyway - 102 summer birds. By winter, we'll only have 50 (the 48 laying hens and 2 roos).
We'll see if everything goes according to plan though! You know what they say about counting your eggs
Englishable
Songster
Thanks! And yes, we'll see if our girls follow through on my plan, they might have plans of their own
If we're walking around outside, we definitely don't let the nice roo (informally named Black Phillip, since he had the black leg band) get in our way; he's so greedy for treats, he is often right under our feet but we just keep on walking. He moves. They also like to find the dog's food outside, and we push them off when we are out there and see it happening. Reading what everyone else said about showing a roo who's boss will really help! We've been doing it mostly right, we just have to make sure he knows we are above him in the pecking order.
If we're walking around outside, we definitely don't let the nice roo (informally named Black Phillip, since he had the black leg band) get in our way; he's so greedy for treats, he is often right under our feet but we just keep on walking. He moves. They also like to find the dog's food outside, and we push them off when we are out there and see it happening. Reading what everyone else said about showing a roo who's boss will really help! We've been doing it mostly right, we just have to make sure he knows we are above him in the pecking order.
- Jun 8, 2014
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Thank you for the information. Very helpful.
@Englishable good plan, well written out.
Was pretty much my plan at one time, tho much lower numbers due to capacity.....am varying between 2 and 3 age groups over winter.
Tho your coop would hold near 100 at 4sqft/per bird...I would not recommend that spacing for your winters.
there will probably be days on end that the bird will not leave the coop....so more space is better and looks good for your projected ~50 over winters.
Would love to see you update your build thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1099735/started-construction-on-our-chicken-mansion
or maybe you did a Coop Page?
Is your coop really attached to your house(cabin)?!
That'll make winter chicken chores a bit easier...haha.
Was pretty much my plan at one time, tho much lower numbers due to capacity.....am varying between 2 and 3 age groups over winter.
Tho your coop would hold near 100 at 4sqft/per bird...I would not recommend that spacing for your winters.
there will probably be days on end that the bird will not leave the coop....so more space is better and looks good for your projected ~50 over winters.
Would love to see you update your build thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1099735/started-construction-on-our-chicken-mansion
or maybe you did a Coop Page?
Is your coop really attached to your house(cabin)?!
That'll make winter chicken chores a bit easier...haha.
Englishable
Songster
I'll try to get an update this weekend! This summer/fall just FLEW by!
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