how many chickens can 2.5 acres support?

[dragontamer56]

I am thinking about fencing off my back 2.5 acres and building a barn and getting some goats. I have 30 chickens already, but was thinking of hatching like 50 or so and making a roost in the barn and letting them free range all day. I wouldn't want to feed that much because 80 chickens to feed is a lot. I free range about 20 of my chickens and they just eat what they can get each day. They don't go that far out to find food like 20 yards from the coop. So my question is hoe many chickens could i put back there to just free range and find what they can eat. The field is just open no trees just a bunch of weeds. This would just be for the summer and spring and a little into fall for eating purposes. I would butcher all of them by winter.

 

[BellevueOmlet]

Sounds like a good plan. When readin through, I was thinking "What will they do in winter?" but you answered that. I don't know about free range land per bird but 2.5 acres sounds like plenty for 80 birds. Will you be butchering all 80 youself?

 

[Fred's Hens]

This depends on the richness of the environment. 2.5 acres sounds like a lot to urban dwellers, perhaps, but all 2.5 acre parcels are not created equal. Our hens have access to that much land, and more, yet, it barely puts a meaningful dent in their feed consumption. If the land is rich, has worms, bugs, grasses and seeds, etc, then maybe you can cut their feed in half. Also, different breeds are better foragers than others.

 

[dragontamer56]

I'll butcher them all myself, but not all at once. I would probably do like 10 or 20 ever few days for a week or so.