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

[Carcavallo]

This is a fascinating conversation and I think we need to add the other meats a person would normally have in their diet as well otherwise the math does not make sense. Also think about number of adults vs children as the amount of meat they would eat is very different.
Not to mention that protein from non-meat sources is part of any healthy diet. There is no way to have a healthy lifestyle having chicken meat and eggs only as the protein source.

 

[kiwi-chick]

I think we need to add the other meats a person would normally have in their diet

The whole point was to try thinking that chicken was all your only meat source and not use other types of meat..... so calculate what other meats you eat and transfer that to chicken...

There is no way to have a healthy lifestyle having chicken meat and eggs only as the protein source.

of course not - this is not about reality - it is an exercise in thought!

 

[tammysharp]

My family of 4 meat eaters raises chickens for meat, but we've never expected to supply all our family's meat via the chicken flock. We eat 1-2 whole chickens per week and then make broth or soup with what is left over. The rest of our meat comes from wild pig, wild rabbit, wild deer and beef we raise ourselves or buy locally. We have been supplying about 80-90 percent of our meat outside of the commercial supply chain for about two years now. We still buy processed meats such as lunch meat, sausage and bacon. In the spring we raise meat chickens, but also chicks that have been hatched on our property. I'm considering moving strictly to eating the chickens hatched and hen-raised on our property because it's more sustainable and certainly a lot easier. I wouldn't consider raising more than about 60 chickens per year for the freezer. Our land wouldn't be able to support more than that, and frankly we don't like chicken enough that we want it to be our only meat source.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

My family of 4 meat eaters raises chickens for meat, but we've never expected to supply all our family's meat via the chicken flock. We eat 1-2 whole chickens per week and then make broth or soup with what is left over. The rest of our meat comes from wild pig, wild rabbit, wild deer and beef we raise ourselves or buy locally. We have been supplying about 80-90 percent of our meat outside of the commercial supply chain for about two years now. We still buy processed meats such as lunch meat, sausage and bacon. In the spring we raise meat chickens, but also chicks that have been hatched on our property. I'm considering moving strictly to eating the chickens hatched and hen-raised on our property because it's more sustainable and certainly a lot easier. I wouldn't consider raising more than about 60 chickens per year for the freezer. Our land wouldn't be able to support more than that, and frankly we don't like chicken enough that we want it to be our only meat source.

Might I suggest you make your own sausage??? Its easy. It doesn't require a lot of specialized equipment, and its a great way to add variety to the table in terms of flavor. Its also a good way to deal with old bird. We've been turning old chickens and old ducks into either seasoned ground meat (tacos, pre-seasoned burgers, etc) or sausage - both "breakfast" sausage and encased in casings sausages. The mechanical grinding process helps "tenderize" the meat, and the strong seasonings, salt cure, and (often) slow smoking also help with texture and flavor.

This thread is an interesting thought experiment. Some assumptions I don't agree with - but an interesting thought experiment none the less.