Sustainable Flock?

[centrarchid]

Quote:
HUGE needs to be defined. Acreage we had to produce 200 birds per year was about 10 acres actually out of 117 acres. Organization of out-buildings and water supplies also important. Our out-buildings were primarily for purpose of grain, hay or implement storage but provided a greater number roosting and nesting sites. Bird flocks were decentralized and no single flock had run of whole range. Buildings were more or less in a straite line with flocks moving out from each along fence rows such that flocks had minimal range overlap. If only a single building serving as roost and nesting site, number of birds land could support would have been greatly reduced.

Supplemental feeding will be required for winter and harvest needs to occur before killing frost otherwise a lot more feed will be required.

If your pasture is in good shape, scratch is all that will be needed as a supplement during growing season. If pasture in poor shape, then a higher quality feed may become staple and pasture will be supplement.

We also had hogs and cattle feed lot providing some waste grain feeds that were not formulated for poultry.

 

[BarredBuff]

I do semi isolation.........

 

[nes]

Information Explosion

lol.

We are buying a >5 acre property. There is a very large barn (40x90-100) not really sure what we're doing with the whole thing, plus an external chicken coop & pig pen.
There is probably an option to lease some more ground from our neighbours (but I don't trust the selling agent farther then I can throw her) but I haven't met them yet & won't be doing that this year.

We're definitely planning on starting out slowly - I think we'll just do a few layers this year and *maybe* a batch of meats depending on how things go.
(I still really like the idea of going for 1-2 extras with dual-purpose instead of egg so that when they go in the pot there is something too them.)

Currently the chicken coop has a run. Hoping to do a managed (keep them away from coyotes and our dogs/cats) free-range to control flies in the barn, as well as feed them off the property as much as possible.
I should mention the 100-150 birds, would be mostly for our freezer... growing family you know

Growing some wheat would definitely be an option (thanks for that info! That's really neat you don't have to thresh).
Plus all the scraps out of the veggie garden.

How far can a chicken range and still come into the coop for the night?


So.

Has anyone actually managed to build a sustainable flock?

We definitely have access to chicks, it just seems silly to pay for them every year if you can successfully grow-your-own

(obviously depends on your set-up though)

 

[centrarchid]

Flock we had was self-sustaining for well over 30 years. We consumed as fryers more than 3/4 of young birds with balance split between cockerols used for sale or other uses and for hens used for brood pens and to replace losses which was pretty low. Hens tended to live several years easily. Greatest loss was being smashed by hay bails in loft.


Greatest linear distance from roost to some resource (i.e. pond or shed) I have measured was 1/2 mile which is far from typical. Free ranging area formed a straight strip with birds going along a single route delineated by a fence row. If free range more circular, then I doubt birds will go more than a few hundred feet. If fed well, then range might be encompassed by a 200 foot diameter circle.

 

[phasianidae]

Quote:
Just adding my 2 cents...

We've never isolated our broodies. They hatch out the chicks in one of the nest boxes in the coop with all the other chickens. I understand everybody else builds a broody coop, but I never have and might add I've never had any problems just letting them do their thing.
We do incubate most of our eggs because I want them to keep laying. But if I don't need the eggs, I just leave them alone and let a broody raise a hatch. Love watching them following Momma around the farm.

Dont the other hens lay in the broodies nest box? How large is the flock?