I'm new here, know nothing about chickens, need advice

[moenmitz]

No offense taken Katy, and you are absolutely right! But, as a general rule, I avoid doing anything in a practical, well thought out, reasonable way.

My husband grew up with chickens, so he does have a basic idea. But, his were the typical chemical-feed laden cooped up birds, so this whole organic thing is not really in his area of knowledge. I am a stay at home mom, so I have the time to mess around with them and sort things out. Also, they are not all coming at once, but at 3 week intervals, so that should help some. I appreciate all of your advice guys, and this gives me a much clearer picture of what I was thinking.

 

[moenmitz]

animallover- no i don't have a coop either. We have a horse barn where our goats live, and we plan on using two of the stalls for the birds. Also have a large shed that will probably be the turkey house or something!

 

[hcammack]

I think that it would be a good idea to use at least some chicken feed
there are some brands that have fewer chemicals such as purina layena sunfresh. It is an all Natural feed but does not have the added cost of being certified organic. As a rule chickens can only forage for about 30% of there food and you would have to have allot of land for all of your 50 birds to find food. What breeds are you getting ?

Henry

 

[moenmitz]

Not exactly sure...yeah I know.

I got a "mixed special" from murray mcmurray-five different breeds of brown egg layers-I also ordered 10 buff orpingtons because I really liked them. You think 50 chickens need more than 12 aces to get enough bugs, seeds, worms and weeds? (I dont mean that to sound sarcastic, I am serious...it isnt enough??!!!)

 

[MissPrissy]

You are going to need a chicken feed if you expect the hens to lay with some consistancy and to lay good eggs. On a few acres with the amounts of commercial spraying done on crops there is no way a flock of hens could survive on foraging alone without going feral or seeeking out other places to eat. If you do some research you will find historically not all chickens were left to scratch up most of their dinner. A laying flock was cultivated. Everything else was up for the stew pot or the frying pan and not a lot of feed was wasted on them.

If you want a good laying flock build a coop and run and put 2 dozen layers in it. Raising extra roos or anything other than a broiler for meat is a waste of money. Build a secondary coop and get some cornish cross from a hatchery. Those birds are at butcher weight in 6 - 8 weeks. Any longer than that and they are eating more feed than they are worth.

You won't believe the amount of food required for 50 chickens. I have 33 hens. I buy layer feed at $12 for 50lbs thanks to the new price of corn futures. They eat 1 - 2 bags a week. They also eat 25 loaves of day old bread each week. They eat 6 gallons of fresh greens and clover every day. They drink 10 gallons of water every other day. They get all of the scarps from my kitchen as well as I feed back all of my eggs shells and cook them 2 doz eggs every week. They also get treats of yogurt, sunflower seeds and kitty kibble.

If you left 50 chickens to forage they would starve to death.

 

[hcammack]

that should be about enough I have no idea there are limited places chickens like to go they like the edges and areas with cover depends on how mixed the enviroments are on your 12 acres. Nice assortment I love my mixes flock of 11 hens and I wish I had goats !!!! I have heard buff orphs are great and I would like to get a few as my next hens. I also wish I had as much land as you maybe when I get out of highschool

Good luck,
Henry

 

[hcammack]

I agree that you will have to buy feed and if you don't want massive losses to predators get a secure place for your birds. The limiting factor on the birds only foraging is not just space it is time they don't have enough time in the day to find all the nutrition they need and will slowly starve

.

Henry

 

[moenmitz]

Little confused...there is no spraying done on our land-period. And I certainly wont let them starve- during warm months they will get all sorts of garden scraps ina ddition to their foraging-it was winter I was most concerned about, if I could save enough grown things, raise some worms and crickets, and f that woudl be sufficient. If I have to buy feed, I will-but if I dont have to, I would just as soon supply my own.

It is mixed landscape-some areas of exposed pasture, some treed pasture, some heavily wooded, and about two acres of yard with some trees. Predators are definitely a concern, mainly hawks. Planning on making some chicken tractors to use for the danger areas. The main goat pasture is fairly protected-I dont foresee as much hawk trouble there.

 

[moenmitz]

have to get off the computer now, thank you for your advice. Didnt want anyone to think I was being rude by not responding! I will check back later.

 

[patandchickens]

Many of our grandmas *did* feed commercial layer feed -- it's been around for longer than you might think. And the ones that didnt often lived on farms where the chickens scrounged grain dropped by other animals.

Also, our grandmas who didn't feed commercial layer feed did not necessarily have as good survival of their hens over the winter, or as many eggs.

There is a big gray area between 'keeping chicken alive' and 'keeping chicken really healthy (which goes along with laying well)'.

In the best interests of the chickens, especially since you are new to them, it might be best to plan on feeding at least some reasonable amount of commercial feed, both summer and (certainly) winter. If they don't need it in the summer they prolly won't eat it but it will be there as a safety net, you know?

Otherwise you need to learn a WHOLE BIG LOT about poultry nutrition, real fast. "Just a simple recipe" is probably not going to cut it, especially since you're throwing in the variable of wanting to feed garden veggies as well. There is a LOT more to decent nutrition than it might seem. Whole books exist. For a reason

FWIW, I seriously doubt your chickens will *effectively* have 50 acres at their disposal. Most seem to stick relatively close to their coop. The ones that don't, you'll never find their eggs anyhow (and you may not find their remains after predators eat them, either) so if you had any like that they would not really be a functional part of your flock anyhow

Good luck,

Pat