- Nov 20, 2012
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Ok so I am new to chickens, so new infact I am still working on my coop lol. I have decided to raise new hampshire reds as a dual meat and egg laying chicken. I only plan on keeping one rooster and 4 hens for egg production, as I dont want a lot of overhead cost for feed and where I live I can't free range to save on feed cost. However, every year in the spring I plan on incubating and hatching 10-12 eggs for the sole purpose of rasing the birds to process for meat. So lets say I hatch 10eggs and 5 are male and 5 female. Here are my questions.
1. At what age do I kill the birds for processing?
2. Can I put the chicks with my cooped rooster and 4 layers, or do I have to build the chicks there own coop?
3. Will the rooster and 4 hens kill there own chicks since I hatched them inside my house, and then put them toghter?
4. Since in the sincero I have 5 male and 5 female chicks, all of which I intend on killing for meat as soon as there rdy,will I have to build a coop for the male chicks and a coop for the female chicks to seperate them as I have herd that the males will kill one another over the females and will breed the females to death.
5. Can I feed the same food the the 10meat birds that I feed to the 4hens and rooster?
6. Are using maggot butckets a safe way of providing extra protein to my meat chickens or can I get a disease from eating chickens that are fed maggots from maggot buckets?
7. Are new hampshire reds the best variety for my above stated plan for having 1roo and 4hens with intentions of processing approx 10 of there offspring a year for meat, or is there a better dual purpose breed for this.
Thanks in advance for your answers, any thing will be appreciated. Also I am not interested at this time in buying cx type birds for meat as I want something sustainable.
1. At what age do I kill the birds for processing?
2. Can I put the chicks with my cooped rooster and 4 layers, or do I have to build the chicks there own coop?
3. Will the rooster and 4 hens kill there own chicks since I hatched them inside my house, and then put them toghter?
4. Since in the sincero I have 5 male and 5 female chicks, all of which I intend on killing for meat as soon as there rdy,will I have to build a coop for the male chicks and a coop for the female chicks to seperate them as I have herd that the males will kill one another over the females and will breed the females to death.
5. Can I feed the same food the the 10meat birds that I feed to the 4hens and rooster?
6. Are using maggot butckets a safe way of providing extra protein to my meat chickens or can I get a disease from eating chickens that are fed maggots from maggot buckets?
7. Are new hampshire reds the best variety for my above stated plan for having 1roo and 4hens with intentions of processing approx 10 of there offspring a year for meat, or is there a better dual purpose breed for this.
Thanks in advance for your answers, any thing will be appreciated. Also I am not interested at this time in buying cx type birds for meat as I want something sustainable.
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