What are your chicken goals

[Hedgeland Farms]

We are working on a small goal currently. We are putting up electric fencing around our current run. Started yesterday hoping to finish today!!! This is a HUGE step for us as I feel like then the run will be completely secure!

 

[Sally PB]

I want my core flock to be Chanteclers, a reputed good dual purpose bird and Canadian in origin; not easy to source; said to be docile.

I have a Chantecler roo, and he is a very nice fellow. Not cuddly or friendly to me, but respectful of my space, and that's what I want.

My goals are eggs and fertilizer/compost for the garden. My chickens have given me both. I have 6 hens and my roo, and all are molting, so no eggs right now.

I'd like to hatch my own replacements, but DH is dead set against harvesting excess males for meat, so I don't know if that will happen. I have room for 4 more if I go by the guidelines of 4 sf/bird in the coop, but I'd really like to add on and enlarge their space. We'll see.

I don't free range. Too many predators, and the Avian Influenza outbreak have made me decide to keep them in their run.

 

[Ted Brown]

@Sally PB

One does not always need to cull for meat, some just cull/toss or rehome or gift to others who will utilize for food. It means keeping them until they are large enough to warrant the preparation process; my experience is a very delicate balance between large enough VS start to harass your hens. Simpler to cull and toss at the point it is clear they are male.

FWIW focus on expanding your coop/run before adding birds. Stress from overcrowding can happen quickly.

Good luck!

 

[Sally PB]

@Ted Brown, thanks for the thoughts! I really would like to expand the coop before getting more birds. Since the plan for the chickens always was eggs for some extra food security, and half of my flock will be 3yo this coming summer, I need to think about some pullets to meet that goal. Which means thinking about expanding the coop/run, but especially the coop.

When I first got chickens in March 2020 (like a lot of people), I made a lot of newbie mistakes. I ended up with 3 pullets and 3 cockerels. I needed to get rid of 2 cockerels at 4 months, and couldn't give them away, even as a free chicken dinner, some disassemble required. I had to kill them myself, and even though they were terrors to me and the pullets, it was gut wrenchingly hard. I buried them in the garden, and thank them for their contribution to the soil.

Things are different now, so I might have a way to rehome extra males. DH has said he won't eat them, but I have neighbors who might welcome the meat.

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

I have a Chantecler roo, and he is a very nice fellow. Not cuddly or friendly to me, but respectful of my space, and that's what I want.

My goals are eggs and fertilizer/compost for the garden. My chickens have given me both. I have 6 hens and my roo, and all are molting, so no eggs right now.

I'd like to hatch my own replacements, but DH is dead set against harvesting excess males for meat, so I don't know if that will happen. I have room for 4 more if I go by the guidelines of 4 sf/bird in the coop, but I'd really like to add on and enlarge their space. We'll see.

I don't free range. Too many predators, and the Avian Influenza outbreak have made me decide to keep them in their run.

I checked out those Chanteclers and they are lovely looking birds!!!

I am glad you are achieving your goals!! Maybe your hubs will come around to hatching your own eventually!

You can never go wrong with adding on lol!! More space is always better!!! I learned the hard way

I don't free range either for the fields that surround us, but mainly for the preditors that surround us lol. We have Bobcats (one abt .25 miles down the road) coyotes all over. Not to mention the usual owls, eagles, hawks, coon etc.

 

[Sally PB]

You can never go wrong with adding on lol!! More space is always better!!! I learned the hard way

"I wish I had a smaller coop," said no one, ever.

 

[Ted Brown]

I checked out those Chanteclers and they are lovely looking birds!!!

Glad they were pleasing to your eye.

They were developed by a Trappist monk about 150km from where I live between 1907-1917, added to the APA Standard in 1921. The first of two Canadian breeds; bred specifically to tolerate colder temperatures, provide both meat and eggs(year round!) and have a gentle temperament. I have read that the males make a great grilling bird that can be eaten throughout much of it's life.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Making new breeds, & creating new color varieties.

 

[Sally PB]

I have read that the males make a great grilling bird that can be eaten throughout much of it's life.

But only once.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

[Ted Brown]