Will this work?

[C Dohrer]

my husband wants to get 50 meat chicks and then butcher them all at a certain weight. Does building a chicken tractor for these sound appropriate?

Then I want 10 egg layers. Would making them a separate chicken coop with run make sense for these?

Or do we really only need one setup for the both of them?

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

my husband wants to get 50 meat chicks and then butcher them all at a certain weight. Does building a chicken tractor for these sound appropriate?

Then I want 10 egg layers. Would making them a separate chicken coop with run make sense for these?

Or do we really only need one setup for the both of them?

Welcome to BYC. If you keep them all together how would you know if you were killing off your egg layers or not? Just a thought....

 

[C Dohrer]

That wouldn’t be as tough as you think. This would be our meat chickens.

And these would be our egg layers.

I just hadn’t figured out which breed or two that I wanted eggs from. While I know this is the stupidest reason ever. But, I hate plain old, boring, white chickens.

 

[N F C]

I'd keep them separate. Those meaties are going to grow quite a bit faster than your egg layers. Wouldn't want them trampling the smaller egg layer chicks.

Plus they are going to eat a lot which means a lot of poop.

 

[jthornton]

Meat birds and layers have different diet requirements.

JT

 

[C Dohrer]

I'd keep them separate. Those meaties are going to grow quite a bit faster than your egg layers. Wouldn't want them trampling the smaller egg layer chicks.

Plus they are going to eat a lot which means a lot of poop.

I hadn’t thought of that. Thank you.

 

[C Dohrer]

Meat birds and layers have different diet requirements.

JT

We have a whole lot to learn before we bring any fuzzy little bird into our little farm. But, a coop and a tractor are going to take at least a couple of days to a week to build.
I will definitely need to learn about their feed, conditions, needs in general.

 

[PirateGirl]

How important is egg laying? The breeds you selected aren't really known as being prolific layers, but could certainly make great pets.

Personally I'd keep the layers and the meaties separate too for the reasons others have mentioned.

 

[EggWalrus]

If eggs are important, even though you don't like the look of white chickens, Leghorns are the way to go. HUGE eggs every day, and they hardly eat much. Another choice could be Australorps. Beautiful Black birds that are really friendly and easy going. They have been known as prolific egg layers but their eggs won't be as large as the Leghorns.
Good luck what ever you choose.

 

[C Dohrer]

How important is egg laying? The breeds you selected aren't really known as being prolific layers, but could certainly make great pets.

Personally I'd keep the layers and the meaties separate too for the reasons others have mentioned.

The egg layers are pretty important. I want to be able to supply my household of three and my SIL, who owns the farm as well.

We do need the egg layers to be friendly enough so our four year old can help feed, care, and collect eggs from them. It would be awesome if we could have a couple of them hitting pet status. But, maybe it depends hugely on how they are raised and cared for. So far, every one of our animals have hot pet status, except for a batch of four week old piglets. They haven’t left mommas side or stall just yet. She’s an amazing sow, but quite protective of her babies. We don’t dare go into her pen and mess with HER babies. We still don’t know the exact number of girls and boys we have yet. But, having very friendly animals is important to our farm, especially since our little girl is so hands on with their care as we are. It is usually our daughter that manages to turn our less than friendly animals into animals that will follow us around and seek attention. She’s done it to farm cats, baby goats, piglets, and rabbits. She’s a huge asset to our little farm.

So what would be your suggestion for friendly and prolific hens? I’m hoping they are not pure white ones. Egg color doesn’t matter to us. But we would like to have larger eggs. We also plan on trying to sell eggs as well. People in this area usually ask for $3.50-4.00 for a dozen eggs. So if we end up having enough eggs to sell on a regular basis, even if it’s to only 4-6 families on a weekly basis would be ideal. Our goal isn’t necessarily to make a profit. It’s more to provide our family with many different food sources on our own. To not rely on our local grocery store for our meats, eggs, possibly cheeses.