6 month report on raising chickens
I've been asked a few times what I've learned in regard to raising chickens, so I thought I might share some of my musings here. I am not an expert and am learning as I go. My opinions are based mostly on what I have read and heard.
We have enjoyed our birds and I would recommend raising them if you are interested in raising your own food. Chickens do not require a large amount of space or time, so they may be a good starting point to work yourself into a "doing chores mode."
We purchased a straight run of Plymouth Barred Rocks from Cackle Hatchery toward the end of April. We purchased a 100 and we received 105 chicks. We lost four over the first couple days, but overall I was quite happy with the quality of the birds. We were able to obtain a wooden chicken coop, equipped with a wooden floor, two windows, and a row of wooden nesting boxes. There are a lot of ideas floating around as to the best structure for raising hens, but I have to confess that I think a permanent wooden structure is the way to go, especially if you live up north in the cold country or in the country where there are varmints looking for a warm chicken to eat.
I have a series of fenced off pens for grazing, although the first day I let them out a predator ran off a couple of birds. As I had all young birds, with no hens or rooster to protect the flock, I bought some plastic netting and put a "lid" over the pens so that I wouldn't have to worry about the predators. Now that they are approaching full grown size, they are able to forage on their own and we have not had any problems with predators.
We fed the birds an organic grain/mineral mix to supplement their foraging. There are those that advocate letting the birds just forage on their own, which I suppose is sufficient, but I think that supplementing is ideal for optimal growth. We were able to purchase an organic grain mix from some folks from our church that operate an organic farm. They are also a wonderful disposal device of left over garden plants and produce!
We found our first egg about three weeks ago. Now we are receving about a dozen eggs a day. Most of the first eggs were rather small, but now some are already "large" and we have found a few "extra large" that were double yoked. They lay brown eggs and I am impressed with how incredibly smooth the shells are.
After about 14 weeks, we started to butcher the roosters. At 14 weeks, they dressed between 3 and 4 pounds. At 17 weeks, they were between 4 and 5. The last batch I did averaged nearly five pounds. The Barred Rocks are a dual purpose bird. We have been happy with the quality of meat - the drumsticks are longer but the breasts are smaller than the hybrid meat birds.
We butchered 46 roosters, leaving three roosters with the flock.
The Barred Rocks are, in my opinion, a breed worth investigating. While i have no ability to compare and contrast, thus far I have no complaints. They grew just a little slower than I expected, but they also are a very calm and mild mannered breed. We had no trouble at all with pecking and fighting. From chick to adult, they are very nice looking breed.
Soon I will learn how they do during the winter! I plan to do a bit of insulating on the ceiling and I turn the light on around 5:30. I plan to plug in a heat lamp during the colder winter days. Check back in April and I will share what I learned!
We have enjoyed our birds and I would recommend raising them if you are interested in raising your own food. Chickens do not require a large amount of space or time, so they may be a good starting point to work yourself into a "doing chores mode."
We purchased a straight run of Plymouth Barred Rocks from Cackle Hatchery toward the end of April. We purchased a 100 and we received 105 chicks. We lost four over the first couple days, but overall I was quite happy with the quality of the birds. We were able to obtain a wooden chicken coop, equipped with a wooden floor, two windows, and a row of wooden nesting boxes. There are a lot of ideas floating around as to the best structure for raising hens, but I have to confess that I think a permanent wooden structure is the way to go, especially if you live up north in the cold country or in the country where there are varmints looking for a warm chicken to eat.
I have a series of fenced off pens for grazing, although the first day I let them out a predator ran off a couple of birds. As I had all young birds, with no hens or rooster to protect the flock, I bought some plastic netting and put a "lid" over the pens so that I wouldn't have to worry about the predators. Now that they are approaching full grown size, they are able to forage on their own and we have not had any problems with predators.
We fed the birds an organic grain/mineral mix to supplement their foraging. There are those that advocate letting the birds just forage on their own, which I suppose is sufficient, but I think that supplementing is ideal for optimal growth. We were able to purchase an organic grain mix from some folks from our church that operate an organic farm. They are also a wonderful disposal device of left over garden plants and produce!
We found our first egg about three weeks ago. Now we are receving about a dozen eggs a day. Most of the first eggs were rather small, but now some are already "large" and we have found a few "extra large" that were double yoked. They lay brown eggs and I am impressed with how incredibly smooth the shells are.
After about 14 weeks, we started to butcher the roosters. At 14 weeks, they dressed between 3 and 4 pounds. At 17 weeks, they were between 4 and 5. The last batch I did averaged nearly five pounds. The Barred Rocks are a dual purpose bird. We have been happy with the quality of meat - the drumsticks are longer but the breasts are smaller than the hybrid meat birds.
We butchered 46 roosters, leaving three roosters with the flock.
The Barred Rocks are, in my opinion, a breed worth investigating. While i have no ability to compare and contrast, thus far I have no complaints. They grew just a little slower than I expected, but they also are a very calm and mild mannered breed. We had no trouble at all with pecking and fighting. From chick to adult, they are very nice looking breed.
Soon I will learn how they do during the winter! I plan to do a bit of insulating on the ceiling and I turn the light on around 5:30. I plan to plug in a heat lamp during the colder winter days. Check back in April and I will share what I learned!
posted by bob | 1:23 PM
3 Comments:
Hello bob,
It's been a while since I've dropped by. It is good to see your agrarian efforts paying off. We hope to start next year with a large garden and maybe a couple of egg laying chickens. The 4 acres we're now on is much more conducive to the lifesytle we desire.
May continue to bless you and your family.
Hi David,
It's good to hear from you again. Four acres...you have me beat by one. I'd like to have more, but I seem to manage to keep busy with what I have!
Bob
Hey Bob! Nice blog. I didn't know you had a digital camera. The snow pictures were very nice. Hey, you should join "Saturday Evening Sky" on blogspot. It's a ring code, and everyone posts pictures of the sky on Saturday. Then you can see what the sky looks like all across the world!
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