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.
