No experience with Chickens

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rod5591

rod5591

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Hello All:

My wife and I are retiring. We are buying a place in the countryside (near a city) maybe south Indiana, Tenn, Ky, Arkansas and even Idaho, we are not sure yet. we are prepping our home for sale and after sold, will grab the best available place on the market. We want a place zoned agricultural so we can have as many as we need--

We will be raising chickens for eggs and our own eating. No experience at all. My wife wants them to be "free range" chickens which do not eat commercial feed with preservatives or soy.

I am trying to find a property with chicken coup already in it. I've read about growing meal worms as food. Wonder if anyone can comment on the food and what we are letting ourselves in for?

Also how many chickens do we need? I am guessing maybe 30? Some for laying and others for stew, My brother has 4 chickens and he says they give him an egg a day--all him and his wife needs

Guess I will repost this in another forum since this is an intro forum. Best, Rodger
 
:welcome glad your planning ahead and this the right place to come ask questions with free range birds always need to think of predators are you going to have a garden if you birds can get to the garden there will be no plants lots of great thing to ponder butr glad you choose Backyard Chickens to start
 
rod5591 said:
Hello All:

My wife and I are retiring. We are buying a place in the countryside (near a city) maybe south Indiana, Tenn, Ky, Arkansas and even Idaho, we are not sure yet. we are prepping our home for sale and after sold, will grab the best available place on the market. We want a place zoned agricultural so we can have as many as we need--

We will be raising chickens for eggs and our own eating. No experience at all. My wife wants them to be "free range" chickens which do not eat commercial feed with preservatives or soy.

I am trying to find a property with chicken coup already in it. I've read about growing meal worms as food. Wonder if anyone can comment on the food and what we are letting ourselves in for?

Also how many chickens do we need? I am guessing maybe 30? Some for laying and others for stew, My brother has 4 chickens and he says they give him an egg a day--all him and his wife needs

Guess I will repost this in another forum since this is an intro forum. Best, Rodger
Click to expand...
well what i would suggest is to get around about 25 to 30 chickens and a cockerel if you want your flock to be sustainable if you're planning on eating then so they should lay fertile eggs and hopefully try to sit on them or you can take them from under a sitting chicken and put them in an incubator to hatch them yourself
 
:welcome

If you haven't already, I suggest you spend some time reading articles in the Learning Center. Here's a link to get you started: getting-started-raising-chickens.21

I believe free ranging chickens will still need some nutritionally sound commercial feed to supplement whatever they find on their own. Feeds come in organic if that's the way you want to go. It's important that all the nutrients they need to be healthy and productive egg layers is available to them.

Meal worms are a good snack, they're full of protein. I've never grown them but have heard it isn't too hard. Once a day or so, I toss a handful of the dried ones to my flock and they gobble them right up.

Best of luck with all your plans, it sounds like you're in for quite the adventure!
 
Hi and welcome to BYC :frow We're thrilled that you've decided to join us:ya We started our little homestead adventure in July of 16 and its been a thrill. When it comes time for you to settle we can help you find a good balanced feed. The further south you go, the more challenging soy-free gets—but challenging just means more $$s. I personally don't have a problem with Whole Roasted soy, but won't use chemically rendered soy meal.
 
Welcome to BYC. Count your blessings that you and wife are both on the same page here! One thing you might need to think about: Have you ever eaten home grown chicken? The flavor is a bit stronger, it's not as "tender". While a dual purpose flock just might provide all of your needs, you might also consider buying some layers, and at the same time, buying some cornish X rocks for meat. They grow out in 8 weeks, and provide some wonderful eating.

There are so many choices regarding chicken breeds.

Production birds are often sex linked. They have an excellent feed conversion rate, very thrifty in converting chicken feed into eggs. They lay early, lay prolifically, then often succumb to reproductive issues if you don't cull them first. They yield a meager carcass.

Heritage birds are dual purpose. Not as thrifty in conversion of feed to eggs, don't lay as prolifically as the production breeds. But, over time, they lay quite well, and they most likely will lay for more seasons, with each season yielding larger eggs, with an overall drop in egg count. They yield a larger carcass when culled. Heritage birds are not as thrifty with feed conversion to either eggs or meat, but for the sustainable back yard flock, they would be a great choice.

Meat birds are just that. The monsters are Cornish x Rocks. They grow out fast, and are market ready at 6 - 8 weeks. Excellent quality meat that most closely resembles what you buy at the grocer. Other meat birds that are closer to dual purpose, but grow out a nice sized carcass in 10 - 14 weeks are Dixie Rainbow (AKA Pioneer ) and Freedom Rangers. MY experience with the Pioneer is that it is a good meat bird, and also an admirable layer.

Further reading: Henderson's chicken breeds chart.

Further topics for research:

Deep litter management in both coop and run.

Fermented feed.

Brooding chicks outside with a Mama Heating Pad Cave system.

Gonna garden?

Hugelkulture

Back to Eden gardening

Any of the books by Ruth Stout

And my fav. Poultry management book:
https://www.amazon.com/Small-Scale-Poultry-Flock-All-Natural-Approach/dp/1603582908

1603582908
 
Hello Rodger. Welcome to BYC! There is tons of info here and very good people to help you on your journey as a new chicken owner. :)

If you want to get the most out of BYC, I suggest you do the following:
  • For general education, spend some time browsing the Articles link above and possibly the Learning Center. You will find excellent information for both newbies and long-time chicken owners there.
  • When you have specific questions, most of the time a quick search will come up with the answers.
  • If you don't find anything useful that way, post your question in an appropriate sub-forum. People here are very helpful and will answer your question even it has been asked 100 times before.
Enjoy your time here.
 

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