Unfortunately I have to agree with all the other points here. Some of them you've already well understood, like 300 chickens is an overwhelming number, a factory number.
But more relevantly; Chickens in my mind seem to have two kinds of keepers; Pets or livestock.
As pets, you can reasonably expect to keep maybe up to 10 hens but 6 is probably more practical. You can probably DIY some vet care and keep them safe and happy without compromising your "veggie" ideals. They will be like most pets, enjoyable but ultimately a money sink. You will never profit off of birds you keep into old age. Every dollar you earn or save from their laying days will be spent into their aging life and then some, even if you deprive them of any vet care you can't DIY. Even as pets, however, most chicken keepers find trouble providing good quality of life to aging birds, especially since most vets don't see chickens. DIY care is the norm, and even that frequently includes at-home euthanasia as birds fall very ill and age dramatically.
As livestock chicken must be managed. It is a must. If you even expect to break even you must give serious consideration to things like when to cull birds. Forget old birds for now and their obvious problems... What about also sick birds that are young and robust? What about when a young hen comes down with symptoms that sound an awful lot like a contagion and could kill the whole flock? As a pet, vet care is an option. Babying a chicken in a house for a month might be possible. As livestock, you CANNOT risk your flock, you WILL make mistakes, you WILL cross contaminate. Those birds are literally your bread and butter. Sometimes sacrifices must be made. And to truly make ANY money off of chickens, even to just break even, culling as chickens fall ill or age is an inherent part of livestock management and frequently a kindness. Additionally, with some diseases the govt will come in and kill them for you before letting you threaten every other chicken keeper within 10 miles (and possibly our national food supply). Even with the best biosecurity someday there will be hard choices to be made.
And that doesn't even cover the problems of roosters which are a whole 'nother can of worms. For every hen hatched to supply your farm, a rooster goes into the nebulous of somewhere (likely a stewpot or a wood chipper tbh).
Which is not to say you can't give livestock good quality of life but farmers are already wildly underpaid in the US and you must compete with factory farmed eggs gathered by workers paid less than is legal. Your budget must give somewhere and for most people it's when the chickens age. Not only are they no longer a food source from eggs, but they also can become an additional food source for humans or even obligate carnivore pets. Most homesteaders/farmers don't see this as a waste, but as a respectful end. A body continuing to give life to other living things. The continuation of a complete cycle of our world.
It sounds rather like you dream of caring for chickens like pets and making a profit like a farmer. Which is a nice idea, but to support that properly people would have to be willing to pay $10/dozen for eggs. And perhaps even a dozen eggs SHOULD be worth that much! But a month ago at my supermarket they were $0.80 a dozen from a factory farm. There's no way to compete.
Time was that people spent a large percentage of their income on food, allowing farmers to potentially care for their animals better and still compete. But historically the % of our income spent on food each year has dropped constantly since the 1800s to all-time lows.
Maybe as our farming system continues to evolve and things like free range organics become more like the norm and less like the outlier there will be room for a farm that raises chickens the way you describe that can break even or make profits. And I hope there is some day! But right now it's a sad reality that it's just a money sink to keep chickens the way you have described even if you had the space to do it.
Basically what I'm trying to say is you have two conflicting goals. You can't keep chickens like you would pets AND keep chickens like you keep livestock. Our economy doesn't support it. You have to decide which route and how far you're willing to go with each. Sometimes you can fudge it a little. Sometimes it would kill every one of your birds. So think about it for a long time before you make a choice.
If you could never, ever kill a chicken, nor send one to someone who would, consider only keeping a few as pets. They make fun pets, and they do still make you breakfast. You can give them your ideal quality of life and caring for them as they age isn't a huge burden. You might even be able to get replacement hens every 4 years or so to keep getting eggs forever.
If you want to raise chickens (or any animal!) as livestock, you will have some hard choices to make. More often than you will be comfortable with. So think about it.
But more relevantly; Chickens in my mind seem to have two kinds of keepers; Pets or livestock.
As pets, you can reasonably expect to keep maybe up to 10 hens but 6 is probably more practical. You can probably DIY some vet care and keep them safe and happy without compromising your "veggie" ideals. They will be like most pets, enjoyable but ultimately a money sink. You will never profit off of birds you keep into old age. Every dollar you earn or save from their laying days will be spent into their aging life and then some, even if you deprive them of any vet care you can't DIY. Even as pets, however, most chicken keepers find trouble providing good quality of life to aging birds, especially since most vets don't see chickens. DIY care is the norm, and even that frequently includes at-home euthanasia as birds fall very ill and age dramatically.
As livestock chicken must be managed. It is a must. If you even expect to break even you must give serious consideration to things like when to cull birds. Forget old birds for now and their obvious problems... What about also sick birds that are young and robust? What about when a young hen comes down with symptoms that sound an awful lot like a contagion and could kill the whole flock? As a pet, vet care is an option. Babying a chicken in a house for a month might be possible. As livestock, you CANNOT risk your flock, you WILL make mistakes, you WILL cross contaminate. Those birds are literally your bread and butter. Sometimes sacrifices must be made. And to truly make ANY money off of chickens, even to just break even, culling as chickens fall ill or age is an inherent part of livestock management and frequently a kindness. Additionally, with some diseases the govt will come in and kill them for you before letting you threaten every other chicken keeper within 10 miles (and possibly our national food supply). Even with the best biosecurity someday there will be hard choices to be made.
And that doesn't even cover the problems of roosters which are a whole 'nother can of worms. For every hen hatched to supply your farm, a rooster goes into the nebulous of somewhere (likely a stewpot or a wood chipper tbh).
Which is not to say you can't give livestock good quality of life but farmers are already wildly underpaid in the US and you must compete with factory farmed eggs gathered by workers paid less than is legal. Your budget must give somewhere and for most people it's when the chickens age. Not only are they no longer a food source from eggs, but they also can become an additional food source for humans or even obligate carnivore pets. Most homesteaders/farmers don't see this as a waste, but as a respectful end. A body continuing to give life to other living things. The continuation of a complete cycle of our world.
It sounds rather like you dream of caring for chickens like pets and making a profit like a farmer. Which is a nice idea, but to support that properly people would have to be willing to pay $10/dozen for eggs. And perhaps even a dozen eggs SHOULD be worth that much! But a month ago at my supermarket they were $0.80 a dozen from a factory farm. There's no way to compete.
Time was that people spent a large percentage of their income on food, allowing farmers to potentially care for their animals better and still compete. But historically the % of our income spent on food each year has dropped constantly since the 1800s to all-time lows.
Maybe as our farming system continues to evolve and things like free range organics become more like the norm and less like the outlier there will be room for a farm that raises chickens the way you describe that can break even or make profits. And I hope there is some day! But right now it's a sad reality that it's just a money sink to keep chickens the way you have described even if you had the space to do it.
Basically what I'm trying to say is you have two conflicting goals. You can't keep chickens like you would pets AND keep chickens like you keep livestock. Our economy doesn't support it. You have to decide which route and how far you're willing to go with each. Sometimes you can fudge it a little. Sometimes it would kill every one of your birds. So think about it for a long time before you make a choice.
If you could never, ever kill a chicken, nor send one to someone who would, consider only keeping a few as pets. They make fun pets, and they do still make you breakfast. You can give them your ideal quality of life and caring for them as they age isn't a huge burden. You might even be able to get replacement hens every 4 years or so to keep getting eggs forever.
If you want to raise chickens (or any animal!) as livestock, you will have some hard choices to make. More often than you will be comfortable with. So think about it.
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