How many meat birds would you suggest per year?

[PGRanch]

This is sort of a math question! LOL.

We eat a lot of chicken, its pretty much our staple. Now that we have land I want to raise our own meat. I was thinking 10 meat chickens once a year and eating off of that for the rest of the year. Now that seems small to me.

We are just 2 people eating plus the odd group of friends for a BBQ.

How much chicken do you eat, how many do you processing per year for how many people?

 

[Sundown_Farmer]

We try to keep 50 for ourselves each year. That gives us a bird/week each week minus the week we eat turkey and the week we eat ham...lol. There are 6 of us and we work to stretch each bird out over several meals. Plus we keep a few backs and necks in the freezer for additional soup stock.

10 is not enough. One/week is a good place to start. You could get fat on 75.

 

[vsmenagerie]

There are 6 of us, and I have 35 chicks for our first batch. We eat chicken a couple times per week.usually, so will see how long these last in the next few months. I'm hoping to add some turkeys to supplement the chicken.

 

[bigredfeather]

We have 2 adults and 4 kids. We eat chicken about 8 meals per week. We put around 150 birds in the freezer per year. We've gotten to the point where we cut up almost all our birds. We end up with a bunch of backs, but we make a large batch (15 gallons) of broth 2-3 times/year. I just started boning out the thighs which we really like. I like it because the breasts and boneless thighs have about the same cooking time on the grill. I also started making chicken sausage, which is a nice change of pace.

I don't think 10/year is enough. Once you taste them, you're likely to eat chicken more often.

 

[what did I do]

No less than 25 unless you plan on growing out several batches of chickens a year. It seems like someone always wants you to sell them some.

 

[Oregon Blues]

How many chickens a year does your family eat? If you want to raise all your chicken, that is how many you will raise.

I can't tell you how many to raise, since I don't know how many you eat.

 

[PGRanch]

How many chickens a year does your family eat?  If you want to raise all your chicken, that is how many you will raise.

I can't tell you how many to raise, since I don't know how many you eat.

I was asking everyone how many birds they ate for how many people so I can compare. . How many chickens do you process for how many people?

I think I will start out with 20 and see how long that lasts. I can always grow more

Thanks everyone for your examples! I really appreciate it.

 

[akjack]

There are two of us and we raise 25 cornish cross and 8 turkeys per year and we always seem to be down to just a few packs left in the freezer by the time harvest day comes.

 

[PGRanch]

There are two of us and we raise 25 cornish cross and 8 turkeys per year and we always seem to be down to just a few packs left in the freezer by the time harvest day comes.

Perfect. Thank you! Do you raise them all at one time?

 

[dace316]

We started with 12, because I never butchered anything in my life. They went to the freezer in May and I maybe have half left. We're getting 30 chicks in 2 weeks to do another batch. Some of our family want some for their freezers and I'm hoping to have enough to last through the winter. I don't think I'd go more than this at a time. I can only process 4-5 in a day--the smell gets to me after a few. I prefer doing small batches as they get big enough.

Good luck!