Managing numbers in your flock

[3KillerBs]

I'm just getting started, but both last year and this year I bought more chicks than I want to keep and sold/intend to sell started/POL pullets. Last year what I made selling them covered the price of the chicks.

My intent is to have a 3-year hen rotation -- though I'd be open to keeping a good broody as a productive member of the flock. (Retired laying hens make the very best chicken and dumplings).

 

[bhawk-23]

I'm just getting started, but both last year and this year I bought more chicks than I want to keep and sold/intend to sell started/POL pullets. Last year what I made selling them covered the price of the chicks.

My intent is to have a 3-year hen rotation -- though I'd be open to keeping a good broody as a productive member of the flock. (Retired laying hens make the very best chicken and dumplings).

I do really need to learn to sell the pullets. I have paid for the eggs, food for mama and chicks, and care for 12 weeks.

I made broth with 16 week old roosters and the meat was super tough. Tasted amazing, but still tough

 

[3KillerBs]

I do really need to learn to sell the pullets. I have paid for the eggs, food for mama and chicks, and care for 12 weeks.

I made broth with 16 week old roosters and the meat was super tough. Tasted amazing, but still tough

Did you age the meat in the fridge until the rigor had fully passed away? And cook it at a low simmer without ever quite getting to a full boil? (I used my crockpot overnight).

 

[aart]

I made broth with 16 week old roosters and the meat was super tough. Tasted amazing, but still tough

Resting the cleaned carcass for at lest 2-3 days will greatly reduce the toughness.
Even if you cook in pressure cooker like I do.

 

[Sally PB]

If all the chicks I bought this month are pullets, I'll have 7 birds in my flock. I enlarged the coop to accommodate 9, as I thought that's what I'd end up with. (Going by the 4 sf guide for coops, I could have 11-12, but I didn't want to push it.) So I have room for 2 more... maaaaybe 3. I don't have plans to get more this year, but next spring...

It will all depend on how everyone gets along, how many pullets I get, if I have a broody, and the affect of sun spots over Terre Haute, Indiana. (My way of saying anything can happen.)

 

[Mrs. K]

Plans and chickens are well, not real realistic, at least not for me. My rule of thumb is you have to count heads, measure buildings by October. Come late fall, the flock needs to fit in the set up. You really cannot cheat by 'free ranging ' for an hour. The long nights of winter, mine will roost up by 4:00, and be on them at 7:00 the next morning. They cannot be crowded. And being raised together will not help.

Now, on the other hand - you CAN cheat on numbers in the summer months, when any old shelter will work, when the nights are short, and the days are long. Chicks do not take up any amount of room.

But come the fall - you need to cull your flock down to a size that is smaller than the required 4 sq feet per bird. You need to look hard at the dynamics of the flock. Start with any bird that does not do it for you, they go somewhere else... either the pot, the flowerbed or to another flock.

If you get strife - often times you do as the aforementioned chicks start taking up more space, that is your hint that you need to reduce the number of birds. It will reduce your feed bowl too.

MRs K

 

[bhawk-23]

Plans and chickens are well, not real realistic, at least not for me. My rule of thumb is you have to count heads, measure buildings by October. Come late fall, the flock needs to fit in the set up. You really cannot cheat by 'free ranging ' for an hour. The long nights of winter, mine will roost up by 4:00, and be on them at 7:00 the next morning. They cannot be crowded. And being raised together will not help.

Now, on the other hand - you CAN cheat on numbers in the summer months, when any old shelter will work, when the nights are short, and the days are long. Chicks do not take up any amount of room.

But come the fall - you need to cull your flock down to a size that is smaller than the required 4 sq feet per bird. You need to look hard at the dynamics of the flock. Start with any bird that does not do it for you, they go somewhere else... either the pot, the flowerbed or to another flock.

If you get strife - often times you do as the aforementioned chicks start taking up more space, that is your hint that you need to reduce the number of birds. It will reduce your feed bowl too.

MRs K

Great advice! The winter was long when it snowed this year. Fortunately, they do free range year round but if it's raining too hard or deep snow they choose to stay in. And even with our 10 sq ft per bird in the run felt too tight. We have so much wasted space but figuring out exactly how to remedy it is proving to be difficult decisions.

@Sally PB
You have a very sound and reasonable outlook on logistics and practicality. Someday, I hope to aquire those skills I will hope all your chicks are pullets and that there are many warm sun spots over Tere Haute, Indiana!

 

[bhawk-23]

Did you age the meat in the fridge until the rigor had fully passed away? And cook it at a low simmer without ever quite getting to a full boil? (I used my crockpot overnight).

Yes, aged 3 days and I cook in the oven at 215 degrees Fahrenheit. I am probably just use to the grocery store chickens as these are my first home raised chickens. Definitely will continue trying though, the flavor was unbeatable!

 

[Mrs. K]

Just for clarity - my point about the free ranging may have been unclear. The problem with winter is the 14 hour nights when they are in the coop.

 

[Sally PB]

I don't free range -- too many predators. I don't plan to have more than 9 in my coop, as that's just over 5 sf/chicken. That's pushing it, IMO. The dynamics of the flock would be my deciding factor for even going that high.

I know what you mean about winter. There were days last winter when the birds didn't come out at all, that I saw. We had a wicked cold snap for a few days with below 0 temps. The run was covered with tarps and the only snow was what blew in. We're going to put clear polycarb sheets up for a roof this year, for more light.

My neighbor started with 16 chicks, and added 5 more about a month ago. No way I plan to have that many. She does have some very pretty birds. If I get to thinking I "need" more, I'll tell myself to just go admire hers.