How many on the go at once to sustain your consumption?

[Taranakian]

I'm new to chooks. So new that our first 20 Orpingtons (mixed between blue, black, and splash) just went in the incubator yesterday (so I guess I don't even have chooks yet).

We're working on plans for coops, and runs, and long-term management strategy, but one planning hurdle I keep bumping up against is...how many should we have at once? I'm sure we'll experiment and figure out what works best for us, but I'd love to hear more about how other people manage their meat flock numbers to sustain themselves.

We eat one store bought chicken a week at between 1.5 - 1.8kg between the two of us and probably only a couple dozen eggs a month so that's not our primary concern (though I'm sure we'll start eating more when they're here and convenient and we've got to figure out something to do with them anyways). We're in a temperate climate in Taranaki, New Zealand. We experience frosts frequently but not consistently - temperatures down to about -5C overnight, but by midday we're back into double digits. I think 11C is the lowest high I've seen this year so pretty mild compared to many of the posts I've read here - and plenty of year round forage. We're on a rural acre, surrounded by farmland, and a bush block so I've got no limitations on my potential numbers other than how many I'm willing to care for at one time. Fencing out of garden beds is currently my only limit to free ranging, but I hope to have that sorted, or at least started by the time they're old enough to be garden pests.

What is your strategy for keeping yourself with enough chickens in the freezer?
Do you raise your annual needs all in one go?
Do you break it up into a 6 monthly rotation?
Do you hatch weekly/monthly and cull on a similar rotation?
Something else I'm too inexperienced/ill-informed to know anything about yet?

I saw in another thread someone recommended hatching 26 at once, then waiting a few months and hatching another 26, and culling bird a week after that. I could see the sense of that, but I haven't found any threads that went into any depth with alternate strategies so I'd really appreciate any wisdom you could offer.

Thanks heaps!

 

[Molpet]

I have been letting broodies hatch and raise. I have 40 hens and sell eggs. Almost half go broody, Between May and October.
I mainly roast. I start harvesting at 16 weeks.
Cooking method determines age.

Anymore since I got covid, I harvest 2, part out and freeze what I'm not cooking. In the winter I use the frozen parts.
But it's just me and it's easier than making a day of harvesting.

 

[SnackMeat]

This is just a short term project for us, but based on our experiences since this spring and planning on having no chickens by December (giving away our favorites to friends, not eating 100% of what we've raised), I would say something similar to above: 2 a week, even if you're vacuum packing the breakdown (legs, breasts, bones.) I have done a breakdown where I got the wings a few times but timewise it's not worth it unless you're one of those people who skins instead of plucks.


I will say don't count on getting stuff done by the time they're X old. That time passes *really* fast. And chicken math is a thing for a reason. You also have to factor in cockerels. I know your seasons are opposite to where I'm at so you're heading in to your spring. If you can see if anyone has a rooster they're retiring or somehow started way earlier and have a Cockerel to get rid of, it would be helpful for you to process and taste rooster or Cockerel meat.

By the time it is your summer and you are *maybe* trying spring chickens (small, about the size of Cornish hens from the store) it can be annoying to deal with making bone stock. My SO prefers to do a huge batch all at once, and I prefer to run the crock pot on the patio for 48+ hours and then strain off and freeze after cooling. That way it's not hot inside the house. But if you have the freezer space, doing it during the winter is so much easier because aside from making the house smell nice, and warming the kitchen, it's really great to take a covered pot outside when it's 19-30*F (I guess that is -7 to -1 C for you) and not have to worry about cooling it down (or some nights, freezing it

I will also say that supposedly some chickens taste better. You can look up "what breeds of chicken taste best?" And those are interesting threads to read. Orpingtons are very affectionate (or can be) so you might find it harder to cull them except for the cockerels.


I will also say if you look around for people who are selling eating eggs, often times those are fertilized (you can ask about breeds and if they have roosters, and this way you can also offer to take any unwanted roosters to cull.) oftentimes (but not always) they are backyard mixes. And if they come from pure breeds, the F1 generation has what's considered hybrid vigor. Long story short, a mix of birds can help because you can always cull and process before the 4-6 month time range when you have to decide if you'll have pure breeds or backyard mixes (and you can have both but would pen the pure bred hens for a month, and add the rooster towards the end to guarantee purebred eggs.)




Though, also it is worth saying that had I to do this over again, I would have started with turkey eggs, then done duck eggs (or ducks), then chicken eggs. Ducks get to a useable weight fastest. I don't know how much you use turkey, but turkey takes a long time. So ducks would be the big meat provider early and then chickens would slowly start being added to the freezer because they take longer.