PLEASE HELP! How Many Birds Do I Want?

[waynesgarden]

Quote:
It was when I reread the post and the words "I intend to support a family of four" made me think that guys like me with a half dozen pampered birds in the back yard really shouldn't be offering advice.

Maybe daabree could elaborate on the scale of the chicken operation.

Wayne

 

[B. Saffles Farms]

I see what youre talking about, maybe daabree, can set us straight.

 

[daabree]

I am looking at having a family of four that can sustain itself on chicken meat and eggs as well as selling off some extra to make some money.

They will also be supplimenting thier diet with vegetables but the chickens will be the main source of food (with both meat and eggs).

I hope that clears things up a bit.

- Jeffrey

 

[WoodlandWoman]

That sounds like a lot of chickens.

 

[Akane]

If you want them specifically for meat it's actually cheaper and easier to just order broiler chicks and then butcher than try to do a dual purpose breed. Good laying and good meat tend to be opposites. Lighter breeds tend to lay better and heavier breeds are better for meat. The dual purpose breeds are somewhat in between but they still aren't the most cost effective for either. The only time it's useful is if you want layers that you can also butcher the extras or older birds but not to raise specifically for meat. Another option is quail. They are actually cheaper and require less space than chickens. You can raise quail to size for meat in about 1sq ft per bird. They also actually produce more eggs by weight for less cost than chickens. The average numbers quoted are 3lbs of feed per pound of chicken eggs and 2pounds of feed to make a pound of quail eggs. They can be a good supplement to a flock of laying chickens and mature in only 8-10weeks instead of the 6months it can take for a chicken to start laying.

 

[redhen]

1,000,000

 

[Whispering Winds]

I have been reading about the hen to roo ratio, and one of the chicken lovers said its best to start out with hens only, and then add a roo later . .. .but what if you have two or more roo's; will they fight? I use to have 3 pet roos when I was a kid, and while they fought everyone with two legs and one even chased kids on bikes if they rode by our house in the country, they would pick on each other too . .. no hens were involved. I plan on about 12 pullets to start, want to have about 25-30 when all is said and done, so how many roo's could I have and not have issues?

 

[cmom]

Here is a good site to help select breeds of chickens.
http://www.mypetchicken.com/breedQuestions.aspx

 

[Dixiedoodle]

Doing the math for a family of four has to be done by you. You are the one who knows how much chicken you eat. Some 'food for thought':

1. figure out how much chicken your family eats. Do you eat chicken more than once a week? Five times a week? Once a month? I doubt that a family of four (two adults and two small children) can eat a whole chicken at one meal--so do you cook breasts and legs one night and then make soup, stew, dumplings the next night...

2. how many eggs do you consumer? Do you cook everything from scratch? Do you bake a lot?

3. will you have an incubator or rely on just broody hens?. IF you decided to go for broody hens, you will have to choose a breed that is known for broodiness and even then you might not have a hen that will cooperate with you--and they will NEVER cooperate 100%.

4. I have read that one roo can take care of 12hens... but if you need to expand you flock you will want to rotate the lineage from time to time and many people say NEVER depend on just one roo--he may become sick or hurt/killed by predators..

5. you will need to build a coop with a secure run and should figure on at least 4 sq. ft. pre in in the coop and at least 10sq. ft. in the run PRE bird. You can get away with smaller sq. ft. runs if you plan on free ranging them..

6. Always build as large as you can afford--you always want more than you thought you would..... and build as secure as you can make it. It only takes one fox, raccoon, neighbor's dog or other predator--to wipe out you flock.

 

[al6517]

OOhhh A couple of hundred more or less should do the trick, I have found that in the chicken world the best laid plans often go awry. just plan for flexibility either way and that way you go with the flow.

AL