I have a setup @ my place. 10 girls currently, but have had chickens on and off over my lifetime. Have not taken a stab at making them self sustaining in either their feed or their numbers (there are no roosters).
We have a solid predator presence where i am in upstate New York. The chicken area must have a net covering the top because the hawks will pick them off from above 2-3 at a time if left unattended. And during the night, we have fox’s that patrol the area. Leaving the gate open overnight almost guarantees you will wake up to feathers scattered around the yard. I think the fox patrols each night, because any time i have left the gate open, it will go in the coop and take 3-4.
Aside from that, we use and share the eggs, and the waste from the coop goes into our compost pile. We don’t even come close to laying enough eggs to pay for the feed we purchase, or the resources we put into maintaining and heating the coop in the winter. Even at 6.50 a dozen, that wouldn’t cover it (and it far exceeds other neighbors who sell them for 3.00 a dozen). They do bring a certain joy though, and consume any table scraps we don’t eat. They also come in handy for keeping the bug / pest population down somewhat, but we are careful about letting them out of their penned area very often.
Here is one of my welsummers , this one has the most attitude of the bunch , it’s a hen but I think it identifies as a rooster lol. Last one in , first out, challenges me and is always looking around and strutting about with tons of confidence.
I had a few silky chickens as pets when I was a kid, I use to love letting them out into the lawn and garden to eat bugs. If I ever have land myself, I’d like to get a few chickens again. Knowing me, I’d select them based on egg colors .
Besides that, I would want to raise a few of the special genetics chickens that are bred for fly tying feathers
I run meat birds mostly every year. 25 to 50. Just enough for us and close friends. To be honest out of all the animals we raise it my least favorite. No personality other than “FEEEEDD MEEEEE”. Then if I do a good job none will snap their legs.
On a side note I don’t even eat those birds. Here’s why. Helping a farmer down the road a ways he couldn’t get hogs loaded into trailer. Well they were 400 lbs so…… he kept them 3 months too long. Anywhoo, without details it was pretty ugly. I had ear plugs in. They scream so goddamn loud it’s terrible. When they got to the butcher three hours later he got a call. Butcher said don’t bring me any more animals if you can’t load them right. How did he know? I had to call. Butcher told me the adrenaline running through that animal turns the meat straight tough like leather. He said that thing won’t be fit for dogs to eat😖. Deer are same way. Better shot….better meat. Sorry for rant. It was very valuable info for me.
Well yeah the whole part of raising animals on a small farm is to have them in the best state of mind before getting butchered that’s why you should butcher them where they were raised …not load em up on a death cart
Remember we r talking small farm here nothing massive …
As for no personality I completely agree about the feed me feed me part lol …
Also don’t forget a butcher can spoil the best of meat cutting across the grain …my brother had a butcher come to his house … black angus …dispatched it quick like …meat was still tougher than a algebra question lmao
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As for deer yes dropping them where they stand makes a difference but yet again so does age
Due to their poor hatch rate and the difficulty of breeding them to standard conformation, the Araucana breed is extremely rare. Cackle Hatchery® offered Araucanas from 2012-2016, but discontinued them after 4 years. We knew our customers would never be satisfied with this breed.
I’m wondering if you can breed them back …
Me and the ol lady r thinking about trying our hands at it … not Araucanas in particular but leaning more towards a suitable flavor savory meat bird We also are doing our research and seeing what plants this and that would be perfect to put in the chicken around to provide food yet cut cost on feed
I’ve found a few places that still breed them and one that is within driving distance. Most of them only sell eggs to hatch, I’m on all of there wait lists to try and get a couple. Im waiting to see if I wind up with a rooster out of the chicks I have arriving early august before committing to more birds.
Mine love tender sweet cabbage, I wouldn’t grow it where they can access it or it will never get big but it’s a easy to grow near by and pick a few leaves for them each day. I dice it up and and they come running. I have worm buns but they don’t seem to like them , they go crazy for soldier fly larva and mealworms though. Both of them are easy to farm as a bonus protein source.
Oddly I have been YouTubing methods for harvesting soilder fly larva also maggot buckets hanging in the pen but idk how the smell would be …I flipped over a rock the other day and found five meal worms crawling around !
We also give our chickens tons of garden scraps primarily looking for grasses shrubs that r beneficial to their diet
I have been watching them and observing seeing woch plants they peck the flower buds off or what grasses they nip the ends off …
I know they love burdock but I’m trying to contain it on the property sooo I need alternatives
Also am about 98% completed with the chicken tractor we plan on moving our broiler chickens into
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We also are doing our research and seeing what plants this and that would be perfect to put in the chicken around to provide food yet cut cost on feed
