- Jul 28, 2008
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Of course, you've thought of how many birds you'll want for a year's worth. Like somewhere between 50 and 100, I'd imagine. 50=1 bird a week to eat and 100=2 birds a week to eat. If you use an incubator you will probably get between 50-75% hatch rate if you get the auto turner and the fan and watch the incubator like a hawk, meaning someone will have to be home all day every day because a Little Giant is usally difficult to regulate when it comes to temperature. A Little Giant, for example, an easy to locate and buy incubator will hold about 40 eggs. So, about 20-30 eggs will hatch out of each full incubator. So that you only have to raise one batch of chickens and brood one batch of chickens and have one coop, you'll want to hatch them all at once. So you'll want between 2 and 4 incubators and 80-160 eggs at a time. If you collect eggs for only 6 days (5 is best) and store them properly during the time before you incubate them, you'll need X amount of layers. If your layers are laying 5 or 6 out of 7 days (78%) and you have 10 birds, you'll get about 47 eggs in 6 days--enough for one incubator plus about 7 extras. If you have 20 layers, it will be 2 incubators plus about 14 left over. Frankly, you probably don't want to carry more than 20 layers over the winter. It just ends up costing too much to feed them, but that's just my opinion. So if you have 20 hens, you can fill two incubators and get a total of probably 40-60+ meat birds to raise. If you want more, you can run another batch as soon as the first batch is out of the incubator. With a grow out period of 16 weeks, you've gotta be quick or the summer is over before you can get them all grown and harvested.
New Hampshire Reds are great birds. They pluck out to look very nice. They are a good size and ours tasted great. Our hens are friendly and nice and the roosters don't seem particularly aggressive. The breasts were a little broader than our Barred Rocks birds. I didn't like the way the Barred Rocks plucked with lots of black marks from the feather buds. They don't come out easily even when you scald them at the perfect temperature. And the black marks still show after they are roasted ... at least ours did. The roosters have seemed aggressive to people and we've kept a few around ... two for a year each. So, no Barred Rocks for us. Speckled Sussex are a lovely carcass, but I still had a little trouble with the black feather buds, but they came out pretty easily with the back side of a table knife. White skin. A little broader breast than the New Hampshire Reds. Tasty. Again, the roosters were aggressive to people, but the hens were extra friendly. The Dark Cornish are a nice-looking bird to eat, but dark feathers. They might be a good cross with the New Hampshire Reds. The roosters, though, can be a little tough on the back of the ladies, but ours haven't been aggressive to people. Dark Cornish roosters are big birds and strong. They need a separate coop when they aren't needed for mating. Hens don't lay as often as the New Hampshire Reds.
The New Hampshire Red ladies laid well. We got them from Cackle.
Of course, your mileage may vary.
Of course, you've thought of how many birds you'll want for a year's worth. Like somewhere between 50 and 100, I'd imagine. 50=1 bird a week to eat and 100=2 birds a week to eat. If you use an incubator you will probably get between 50-75% hatch rate if you get the auto turner and the fan and watch the incubator like a hawk, meaning someone will have to be home all day every day because a Little Giant is usally difficult to regulate when it comes to temperature. A Little Giant, for example, an easy to locate and buy incubator will hold about 40 eggs. So, about 20-30 eggs will hatch out of each full incubator. So that you only have to raise one batch of chickens and brood one batch of chickens and have one coop, you'll want to hatch them all at once. So you'll want between 2 and 4 incubators and 80-160 eggs at a time. If you collect eggs for only 6 days (5 is best) and store them properly during the time before you incubate them, you'll need X amount of layers. If your layers are laying 5 or 6 out of 7 days (78%) and you have 10 birds, you'll get about 47 eggs in 6 days--enough for one incubator plus about 7 extras. If you have 20 layers, it will be 2 incubators plus about 14 left over. Frankly, you probably don't want to carry more than 20 layers over the winter. It just ends up costing too much to feed them, but that's just my opinion. So if you have 20 hens, you can fill two incubators and get a total of probably 40-60+ meat birds to raise. If you want more, you can run another batch as soon as the first batch is out of the incubator. With a grow out period of 16 weeks, you've gotta be quick or the summer is over before you can get them all grown and harvested.
New Hampshire Reds are great birds. They pluck out to look very nice. They are a good size and ours tasted great. Our hens are friendly and nice and the roosters don't seem particularly aggressive. The breasts were a little broader than our Barred Rocks birds. I didn't like the way the Barred Rocks plucked with lots of black marks from the feather buds. They don't come out easily even when you scald them at the perfect temperature. And the black marks still show after they are roasted ... at least ours did. The roosters have seemed aggressive to people and we've kept a few around ... two for a year each. So, no Barred Rocks for us. Speckled Sussex are a lovely carcass, but I still had a little trouble with the black feather buds, but they came out pretty easily with the back side of a table knife. White skin. A little broader breast than the New Hampshire Reds. Tasty. Again, the roosters were aggressive to people, but the hens were extra friendly. The Dark Cornish are a nice-looking bird to eat, but dark feathers. They might be a good cross with the New Hampshire Reds. The roosters, though, can be a little tough on the back of the ladies, but ours haven't been aggressive to people. Dark Cornish roosters are big birds and strong. They need a separate coop when they aren't needed for mating. Hens don't lay as often as the New Hampshire Reds.
The New Hampshire Red ladies laid well. We got them from Cackle.
Of course, your mileage may vary.
