Sustainable Chickens!! :O

[Marianne]

Ditto what the others say. I have 17 new girls that just started laying, plus my 7 old girls and 3 guineas. I free range, costs next to nothing to feed them in the warmer months. I throw organic grains on the ground so what they don't eat will grow to produce more food for them. I have an area in front of their coop that all the kitchen scraps go. There has been volunteer tomato plants, squash, wheat, milo, gobs of wild sunflowers, various weeds of course, but it's all edible for the hens. Plus it gives them a shady, cool area to hang out when it's really hot.
Check into fermented feed, it's easy to do and will help cut your winter feed bill by a third (for most people).
I started with 8 hens, had plenty for both of us and plenty to give away to friends.

 

[Beekissed]

Here to ask general questions about chickens!
These seem to be cheap and generally easy to raise so these will be my first investment as far as livestock.
My goals to having chickens are to take care of my egg and poultry needs while POTENTIALLY making some extra money on the side...

How many chickens will it require to take care of my needs?
Will I be able to keep 4-5 chickens and all together expect that to be enough?
What kind of coup should I look into?
Is building one less expensive than buying one?

Looking for all the help I can get here, can't wait to hear all of your expert advice!!

You can't do anything much sustainable with just 5 chickens unless one of those is a rooster...you'll need flock replacements and to do that sustainably you will need to be able to have breeds that are prone to broodiness and will raise their own replacements~and a rooster to breed them to.

We don't know the size of your family or the egg consumption therein, so your needs are hard to gauge. If a family of four eats two eggs each x 3 a week, you'll need 2 doz a wk. to even provide that many.

That brings us to breeds...layers are good for warm climates and for 2 yrs of steady laying, winter and summer with stops for molting, but usually they won't go broody and are not much for sustainability...these can be sprinkled through a larger dual purpose flock in small numbers now and again to keep laying stats up in the winter months.

Dual purpose breeds are your best bets for broody and still good laying and some are known for good winter laying as well as fast molt recovery...Black Australorps, White Rocks and New Hampshires are all good breeds for that and easy to find, won't burn out in two years and will still have enough carcass size to eat when they are done laying. they are also good breeds for beginners and they do go broody on occasion. You can also keep a few specialty breeds just for broody work, such as Standard Cochins or Easter Eggers.

For sustainability and profit, you will need a flock big enough to provide for a family, still have eggs left over for selling, diverse enough to lay well but still reproduce their own kind, of types the can survive on free range(important if you want to save money/make a profit), and small enough to still turn a profit. You'll also need to learn what to look for and how to cull for excellent laying, health and feed thrift.

I've turned good profit with a mixed flock of 30 on free range and by keeping overhead low(making coops and equipment, scavenging for fencing, building materials and tools, free ranging and feeding fermented feeds, buying feed straight from the mill, etc.) You can do way better than break even if you pay attention to detail, cull strenuously, don't free choice feed, obtain the right breeds/stock, and only use bought feed as a supplement or for winter rations. Not only did I break even at selling eggs at $2 a doz. but I had money left over for stock replacement and for my own use, while also having eggs left over to donate to the local food pantry.

 

[ECO FRIENDLY]

Wow, thanks for all the awesome replies everyone!!
@farmer Jamie that is very useful info, I plan to expand my family tree as this journey continues
FOR NOW however, I'm only looking to support myself of 20 years old.
Also plan on hunting so while I don't plan to directly eat lots of chicken, I could use one every now and again.
How many is good to start with?

Also @Beekissed seeing as how I plan on expanding later on, it would be wise to just go ahead and save up enough for the coup I'll need always instead of improving it down the road...
I hear that chickens need to be moved around the land to pick natural food from the earth... Is that a plausible idea on my 6 acres?

 

[Beekissed]

Also @Beekissed seeing as how I plan on expanding later on, it would be wise to just go ahead and save up enough for the coup I'll need always instead of improving it down the road...
I hear that chickens need to be moved around the land to pick natural food from the earth... Is that a plausible idea on my 6 acres?

Build as big as you can...it's better to have more space than you need than not enough. You will need space for broodies and babies, for feeders and waterers, for feed storage, etc.

Chickens will move themselves around the land if you just let them. Six acres are a plenty if you have good graze and foraging opportunities, but usually they will only utilize about 2 acres right around your coop, so place it well.

A good dog in that space to guard them, plenty of places to duck and cover and also breeds that are good on range can help with all that. The earlier you get them out on range, the more wily they will be. A lot of people make the mistake of not putting them out on range until they are 1-2 mo. old and that's too late, IMO...they work on pure instinct when they are chicks and will learn quicker and better how best to avoid predators then.

 

[ECO FRIENDLY]

Another question I had, is I also plan to have a Goat at some point in time. Would I be better off building a barn structure and making a place for the chickens, with my goat?

Or is having a separate coup from Pen benefit in the long run?

 

[Beekissed]

Yep...it's me! Welcome to the BYC sister site!

 

[Denim Deb]

Sounds neat!

 

[Marianne]

Score! Good for you, we love to hear about repurposed things.

 

[Britesea]

Conga Rats! Love it when things like that happen
I was able to save money on our duck coop (Fort Quacksop) when a friend gifted me with a bunch of 'paneling' from her family room remodel... 1/2" hardwood that was- I painted it with some water repelling stuff on the outside since it wasn't exterior grade... but it has held up very well so far.

 

[baymule]

@LadyCedar please post pics of your super cool coop! Especially since an ice fishing hut around here is non existent, wouldn't know one if it smacked me with a fish!