New to chickens

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poecilotheria

poecilotheria

Hatching
10 Years
Dec 7, 2009
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I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this but its kind of a general chicken topic.
I live in Northern BC Canada on a large acerage.
The biggest problem here for raising chickens here is the extreme cold in the winter.
I want to get some chickens this year but I have no idea where to begin.
Sorry if this is the wrong forum or these questions have been covered before.

It was suggested to me to raise the chickens then kill them in winter and start over each year.
This doesn't seem logical too me, not very efficient.

I would like to raise some chickens for eggs, some for meat and some for breeding.

My questions are:

Is it possible to raise chickens this way.

How many chickens do I need to provide about 24-36 eggs a week plus some for breeding. and still keep it cost effective.

I want a simple cost effective chicken coop thingy that is warm and secure from predators, what is considered the 'basic' coop design.

What are the chicken food housing and care basics.

What sort of bottom line cost per month am I looking at to raise chickens.

What is considered the best general purpose chicken diet.

If I want to grow and produce all the food and health requirements for my chickens right here on the farm... can this be done and what do I need.



Basically I want this chicken project to be natural cost effective and self sustaining.

I am looking at white or brown legghorns for eggs and giant cornish for meat.

I am sure I will have many other questions, but I don't want to be overwhelming with this.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
hi Poe!
welcome-byc.gif


You have many good questions here, and a lot of them have already been asked and answered many times. Your best bet is to use the search feature and ask each question one by one and you will find a wealth of posts on every subject you are wondering about. It will take a bit of time on your end to research out what will work for you. If i were you I would pay close attention to coop construction for cold climates, especially ventilation and condensation.
Also, although leghorns are fantastic layers, if you free range them and they happen to be white, you will likely lose a lot of them to predation. Also they are very flighty and not very easy to tame or train. You may want to start out with a more docile breed that learns the ropes and let them teach the leghorns the way things work the next year.

Hopefully others will chime in with more info for you. Good luck in your ventures.
 
If you have them in a coop 24/7 white leghorns will do great but if you plan to free range them then whites are hawk bate. Also having two breeds adds expense. Something like a road island red would do almost as good as a egg producer an you could eat the roosters. The hens would make good stew birds after there to old to lay good to. One hen should lay 6 eggs a week on about $2 a month where I live. If you you use a timer an light to extend the winter days they will lay good all year.
 
Welcome to this wonderful forum. You can learn everything there is to learn about chickens right here at BYC. There is also a raising chickens for dummies (I am NOT suggesting you are a dummy) that I recommend that I believe is still for sale by the staff here. Nice to meet you. Good luck and I hope you get thousands of eggs. Are you eggcited yet?
 
Hey poe and WELCOME! As stated before read as much as you can there's a lot to learn. But don't be detered it's all worth it. All you need is a good heart and a sense of humor. Because you'll be laughing a lot their great entertainment. It's my first year and here's a little bit of advice. [I should have read more] I raised my Cornish Cross together with my sex linked Golden Comets. It was a mistake. I didn't have any major problems as some have but the CC's bullied the GC's. The CC's are in the freezer and the CG's calmed down real well but they won't roost they sleep on top of the nest boxes. They have a flat top, another mistake. I really like OK LOVE my GC's. They give us 9-10 eggs a day from 10 hens, usually 10. Read up all winter build your coop next spring and get your chicks you won't regret it! Hope this helps a little.
 

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