How many chickens would you need to keep to supply all the meat and eggs your family eats?

[EggWalrus]

You could have just been out of here without insulting someone... If you have nothing nice to say then don't say anything at all!

You're right!

 

[Morrigan]

Grams of protein. Here a single chicken breast for example will supply between 25 and 30 grams of protein.

For comparison. The CX we let grow to 12 weeks old, had breasts that weighed over 2 lbs, and that's without being soaked in brine or water. By my calculations, that's around 250 grams of protein.

 

[FortCluck]

For comparison. The CX we let grow to 12 weeks old, had breasts that weighed over 2 lbs, and that's without being soaked in brine or water. By my calculations, that's around 250 grams of protein.

I called those type of chicken breasts steroid chickens! You should see some of the chicken breasts that we have picked up in the grocery store that make me question what my family is eating! I swear some of them weigh up to 2.5 lbs. I highly doubt that these chickens could even walk!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I think I've read every post on this thread, I've tried to. I'm still not sure in my head what Shadrach's initial purpose was. He's said a few things but he's also admitted this is fantasy, not based on reality. Here are three quotes to support that statement

There is indeed a lot I'm not taking into consideration. It's a point I've kind of acknowledged with the thread title and reiterated in other posts.

There are no wrong numbers. What you actually mean is the numbers are right but the model doesn't fit the reality of how people feed themselves. Yep, I agree with that 100%. I never meant it to.

Seriously, all you need to mention is that the model doesn't represent the reality of how people consume and rear chickens and I would agree with you. It was never meant to and this is what you don't seem to understand. It's a model.

As an engineer one thing I quickly learned was that if the results of my analysis did not look right, it probably wasn't. I'd either blown and assumption or a calculation. Garbage in, garbage out. That's an advantage of experience, to know when something doesn't look right. Based on my experiences as a child with a free ranging flock that provided a substantial part of our diet, eggs more than meat but both contributed, and my experiences raising chickens on pasture for meat, Shadrach's conclusion that you need 500 chickens to eat 208 a year were about as "not right" as you can get. Something is basically flawed.

If you use his assumptions his numbers are correct. In my first post in this thread I showed that by changing just a few assumptions I could get his goal of 208 chickens by keeping 1 rooster and 2 hens. 3 chickens, not 500. Not that my model is any more realistic than his. For various practical reasons I'd keep a few more hens. But certainly nowhere close to 500.

I'm not going to talk about all that stuff about impact on commercial industry. That's just opinion and everyone has a different opinion. People appear to be using different definitions for some of the same words. That topic is just made to generate arguments that have no right answer acceptable to all.

 

[Molpet]

personally I think this thread is one of those topics meant to inspire thought

He didn't even bring up the fact that all those birds eaten have to be killed... which is the hardest part for a newby... at least emotionally it was for me... still is difficult to find a time where weather and readiness coincide

 

[FortCluck]

personally I think this thread is one of those topics meant to inspire thought

He didn't even bring up the fact that all those birds eaten have to be killed... which is the hardest part for a newby... at least emotionally it was for me... still is difficult to find a time where weather and readiness coincide

I had issues with butchering until I had to euthanize my muscovy duckling due to a spinal issue it had since it hatched.

That day changed everything for me...

 

[CindyinSD]

You made me snort. I'm totally taking this as you being funny. But that is an actual serious point you made here.

I grew up with my mom taking me to work with her picking strawberries. Now that all her kids are grown and out of the house, she picks strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, apples, and peaches.

On the perspective of how it affects the people who work there, she practically kills her self to get enough money to make it worth the trip to the field. She works from dawn to dusk with out a break unless it rains, she doesn't take water with her because she would have to carry it, she's allowed to eat any fruit that's there if she wants (But she really doesn't, because anything she eats she doesn't get paid for picking) The only food she takes with her is usually apples, because they're hydrating and fit in her pocket. Berry season is middle of summer and it's humid and gets up to about 34C (93F) I have no idea how she's still doing it.

That is SUCH an important point. What is the human cost of my inexpensive year-round Sams Club strawberries? Thank you for reminding me. Add to it the regrettable conditions in which animal processing employees often work, not to mention the sad lives of the animals.

Alan Savory (or maybe it was Joel Salatin) maintains that the unused back yards in American cities and suburbs and rural homes could easily provide for the world abundant meat and vegetables. (They were conversing in a number of YouTube videos about whether factory farming is necessary to produce sufficient food for the world.) If only it weren’t for draconian regulations and predatory lawyers, this might actually happen to at least some degree.

 

[FortCluck]

That is SUCH an important point. What is the human cost of my inexpensive year-round Sams Club strawberries? Thank you for reminding me. Add to it the regrettable conditions in which animal processing employees often work, not to mention the sad lives of the animals.

Alan Savory (or maybe it was Joel Salatin) maintains that the unused back yards in American cities and suburbs and rural homes could easily provide for the world abundant meat and vegetables. (They were conversing in a number of YouTube videos about whether factory farming is necessary to produce sufficient food for the world.) If only it weren’t for draconian regulations and predatory lawyers, this might actually happen to at least some degree.

I watched a documentary on a guy that turned all of his property into orchards and gardens, I was completely amazed at everything he had done. He has it so that he doesn't have to maintain much of it because of the way he layers his gardens. I completely forgot the name of the person and I am mad at myself because I can't remember!

 

[Morrigan]

I called those type of chicken breasts steroid chickens! You should see some of the chicken breasts that we have picked up in the grocery store that make me question what my family is eating! I swear some of them weigh up to 2.5 lbs. I highly doubt that these chickens could even walk!

Surprisingly, my CX were still moving pretty well at 12 weeks. They also had massive drumsticks and thighs to support those breasts. But, yeah, they are pretty freaky looking, and is one reason I've decided to go in a different direction this year. The slow broilers from this spring dressed out between 4 and 5.5 pounds at 14 weeks, so a pretty big difference. And, I really don't expect much over 3 lbs for a heritage cockerel at 14 weeks. So, it's going to be a trade off between having more active and normal chickens, and more butchering.

Alan Savory (or maybe it was Joel Salatin) maintains that the unused back yards in American cities and suburbs and rural homes could easily provide for the world abundant meat and vegetables.

Growing up in suburbia, our backyard was devoted to growing fruits and vegetables. I really didn't appreciate it at the time, but it was a great example. We always had a compost bucket under the sink, so less garbage out on the curb.

I think if 1) people would use the resources available to them; and 2) try to avoid wasting so much food, collectively it would have a very positive benefit on food supply and the environment.

 

[Peepsi]

For comparison. The CX we let grow to 12 weeks old, had breasts that weighed over 2 lbs, and that's without being soaked in brine or water. By my calculations, that's around 250 grams of protein.

Yeah, but they were totally fake. She says they're real, but she bought them from the plastic surgeon. Chickens are such liars.