Keeping chickens

Chickens are really one of the easiest and most inexpensive animals to raise for food. The initial investment is pretty low, feeding and maintaining them doesn't cost much, and they provide meat and eggs so the payoff is pretty high. If you add in the benefit of having composted chicken manure to use as fertilizer, you really can't lose in my opinion.

Personally, I'd skip the broiler breeds sold by a lot of hatcheries for quick meat production and go with an old heritage breed. Look for term like "dual-purpose" to find breeds that are good for meat and egg production. I really like wyandottes and keep the silver-laced variety. They're big, healthy birds and lay extra large eggs. They're hardy and essy to find, too.

 

Another very nice farm animal, if you don't mind pens, are large breeds of bunnies. Sure they're cuter than chicken which makes them that much harder to slaughter, but they breed like, well... rabbits. A pair of bunnies can multiply their number almost every month, and the female is able to be pregnant and breastfeed the previous batch of pups at the same time. But one should be careful in separating the males from the females that gave birth, because males might attack the pups.

They can also prove very managable in feeding as long as you have grasslands nearby. Some amateur pen keepers keep them or place them in wire cages, where the bottom is only loosely woven wire. So when they move them on top of a grassy spot, the grass passes through the holes and the bunnies forage from that. When the grass is eaten, you move them to the next spot...it's also a great makeshift loanmower for your yard.

 

Moving the pens like that sounds a lot like a chicken tractor, it's the same idea. You get to move it around so that they always have grass to forage and it lets the previously-eaten grass grow back. I didn't know it was done with reabbits too, definitely good to know. Thanks!

 

Integrated chicken and fish farming would even be better.

You won't need to buy fish food because all the food spilled by the chickens can be eaten by fish and you won't by fertilizer for your pond because chicken manure could fertilize the pond [to encourage plankton growth].

A small farm could provide you with more food than you'll need.

 

My father-in-law has a few chickens and he LOVES having them around. Not only do they give him eggs daily, he uses their manure for his garden, which has doubled in growth in comparison to mine. He got his from a feed store and doesn't have any plans on eating them, but he loves his girls and loves their eggs.

 

Would you believe that some of the folks in the rural areas rarely feed their chickens? Especially when there is a big expanse of land that is grassy or a field with crops, chicken are natural scavengers and they search for food on their own. Loose chicken are fatter and has more flesh than chickens that are fed inside the coop. So that means the loose chickens get more protein from the worms that they get.

When we moved to this house which is inside a village that has a rural color with the vacant lots and trees around, we had planned on having chickens in the yard. It would be wonderful to have something that can provide you a meal which does not need much attention. However, we have a car and the chickens might sratch the paint. Second concern is our dogs. What if our dogs wouldn't be friends with the chickens? And third, there are chickens in the neighborhood so it's not a good idea. Until now there are loose chickens and ducks here.

 

Chickens i believe don't need a lot of work to keep around for food. They are pretty harmless and doesn't leave that much mess so they are one of the safest bet to raise for food. They also like to hunt their own food especially if they are free to roam around your land.

 

Chicken, ducks, and goose can pretty much take care of themselves and don't need much feeding unless they are in a enclosure where they won't be able to search for food. My uncle use to have all 3 of them on his land and he just let them roam around on the property. He did give them some feeds every now and then but for the most part they just ate what was on the ground. You know what, I never saw a cockroach or centipede at his house.

But chickens, if you have the right breed can be a excellent source of fresh eggs. The right species can produce an egg a day on average and that will give you more then enough for your family. If you had 20 of them around the property, That easily 20 eggs a day as some chickens lay more then that.

 

Chickens don't give a lot of work but be careful with the amount of egg layers you have. They will lay eggs everyday with out fail, fortunately it's not all year round but you might find yourself having a problem getting rid of them. I had 7 egg layers at the one time, its easy to do the maths 7 x 7 = 49 eggs in a week. If you could sell them in a farmers market it's a great way of making some extra revenue. unfortunately I couldn't sell them at the time.

 

We have about 7 chickens. We just lost three within the last week. Some critter that we are not sure must of bit the head of 2 of the chickens when they had it out to eat grass. My husband did catch a possum in a trap but we are not sure was it that animal that did the killing. It is wonderful to have fresh eggs every day. We were getting up to 9 eggs a day! Great for selling too but we have been just giving them away to other family members.

 

I have raised chicken for food in the past and currently I am again toying with this idea, to build a chicken coop for 500 chicken. In the past the maximum chicken I have raised was 20 and now I am thinking to take this to a higher level. I want to raise chicken not just for food for me and my family, but also sell some and make money. Since I have already raised chicken, this is not a difficult task to me.

 

Raising chickens can be a lucrative business. 500 hens will give you a lot of eggs to eat and sell on a daily basis. That's if those chickens lay a lot of eggs. Some breeds are known to lay 1 egg a day on average. With the right set up and food supply, you could be on your way to sustainability.

Locally a tray of 30 eggs here is about $4 usd. If you are successful, then you are looking, on the lower side of making at least $40 usd a day. That's more then enough for daily feed. Just keep on producing more hens, double those overall numbers and you should be on your way.

 

@Vinaya, Let us know how you do. 500 chickens? Wow, that seems like a lot but I can imagine you can make a nice amount of money with that many and you will be set for a minute with chicken meat. I would see your chicken coop once you get started. We are seriously thinking about getting some type of electrical wiring to make sure we have no more problems with predators. It's really frustrating to work so hard to raise chickens only for the critters to think your place is Critter's Cafeteria.

 

Great post. Thanks for sharing

 

I agree , chickens are easy , much easier than my milk goats . I keep chickens in a walk in structure 8 foot high by about 6 foot by 8 foot sitting on a concrete slab that I mixed and poured by hand to keep predators from digging in . Buying baby chicks at the feed store is a minor investment . What presently is high at least here in the U.S. with the Biden regime controlling industry is building material for a decent size chicken house . For many including me , letting chickens free roam is a no go with wild as well as domestic predators abundant . I am working toward getting my set up so as to be able to leave my chickens unattended for at least a week in case I need or want to leave for a week or two . Just 6 chickens are providing more eggs than we use so we have been jarring up pickled eggs . Eggs are another food source for my multi food plan for when S.H.T.F. . --- And as stated on the quoted post , I presently have chicken manure on my garden . As seen on another thread , I have no intention of eating worms but would use worms as feed for my chickens .

 

I selected a damp soil area to cultivate earth worms . There I discard scraps such as ruined goat feed , bad chicken feed or too for gone dog feed . The idea is to cultivate worms for a possible need for chicken food or fish bait . ---- Those planning to make bugs and worms their selected survival food might want to consider getting any needed materials to start their bug or worm farm .

 

I am hearing stories from allover about people losing chickens this year, somehow critters always get in. some are quitting , they have lost too many.

 

I was wondering , does any of our members besides me keep chickens for when S.H.T. F. ? --- We are approaching spring and time for purchasing baby chicks for that survival food . This year appears to be a bit different in purchasing baby chicks than in years past . Sure someone will be able to go to their local farm dealer and buy chicks as usual . The problem with that is , your selection is just what the store decided to make available to their customers . Often various types of baby chickens are thrown all together in a warming bin and , knowing what type of chicken you are purchasing can be difficult as even the store clerk doesn't know . --- As I stated I have chickens but want a chicken that will lay in the more critical food Aquisition period during the winter months of the apocalypse . My choice as a winter laying chicken was " Cinnamon Queen " . This type was not that easily obtained . I put in my order 1 st. of February with a major baby chick hatchery . I had to get on a waiting list . My baby chicks will supposedly be ready for me in mid June . I plan to drive all the way to the hatchery to pick them up as to avoid them being traveling in the mail system . I have stated before on this forum that I live in a very high prepper oriented area and perhaps other preppers are thinking the same as I , thus a run on " Cinnamon Queen chickens " . --I just wanted to give you guys a heads up as to what is happening with chickens .

 

Keeping chickens is a great idea.

I'll never raise them. The smell is just too much to handle. Same for goats. Have also been downwind of enormous croplands and when they spray watered-down pig manure onto the fields, the smell is unbearable.

Post SHTF, if I need meat I'll shoot it. Humans don't need much meat. Squirrel / squirrel gravy, now that's good. We have air rifles for that. Also have very subsonic .22 LR ammo. You can hear the firing pin hit the primer. I'll do birds with air rifles also. Any cat infestations -- I'll put an end to that. Never ett a kitty. Many have. Got no qualms killin cats.
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Used to at country stores, you could buy squirrels for eatin; then, they had to start leaving the heads on'em because kids were sellin kittens they'd shot and callin them squirrels. My dad ran gambling machines, juke boxes, coin-operated pool tables out in country stores that turned into honky-tonks at night. Decent money. The connected lot made more money. Dad didn't stay with the connected. He learned from his older brother and the made fellows, left them, stepped on no toes, and went his own way staying out of their way. When a boy, I met some seriously "interesting" men. Yes, to include the damned souls. There's a look NOT in the eyes of those who kill. They ain't got no soul. See it? Smile. Walk away. Seeing it as a child, you still know. Got stories.

When in grammar school, I was his little technician in training. Got to be good at counting and rolling quarters and nickles. Tested machines he fixed = burned-out before teenage years on electric games -- can't play a vid game to this day (no transistors back then, it was relay ladder logic, contacts and coils, I repaired the electric motors when in grammar school; Dad died when I was in high school). At country stores, saw boys buy a handful of .22 cartridges to put something on the supper table for their families. We did better than most -- repair skills + smarts. Saw a bunch of sick sh## when I was a boy.

When I do imitations (I'm great at imitating messed-up people), my wife stops me. She even gets angry. What I saw when young is too much for most adults to handle. Add to that, what I've seen doing practicum among the mentally ill. Homey has seen hell. So it goes. "Life is hell, then you die."

After the war (wwII), my dad's brothers and him were NOT goin to return to poverty, oh no. The eldest brother worked for juke box manufacturers up North, came back home and taught his brothers, my dad included how to work on electronics -- no transistors yet, everything was tubes. That uncle of mine was a genius -- there are articles about him online. He was in the music business as an engineer (didn't graduate high school). I helped him build studios when I was in high school, watched him -- man, did he ever have an ear for great musicians. He recorded bluegrass and black gospel.

I was one of the Appalachian folk who got out'a there via education. Among my people, education was MIGHTILY encouraged. I did good in school = everybody pushes you into getting "edgeeeeecated"! Dad laid down the law that no one in the local gamblin community were to EVER hire me. By god, did that ever stick! Even after his death, that stuck. I had to get loading dock jobs / you name it / delivering truck parts jobs / ... to go to college. I did however always get paid in cash. One good guy did hire me, but not for jobs that would get you state or federal time. One job for which I was turned down got another young fellow in trouble with the state (turn evidence or do 5 years in the state pen).

So, know that I'm exceedingly averse to raising chickens or whatever.

My dad's dad used to spotlight critters from his car. Every car he ever had was equipped with a spotlight directed out the driver's door window. He'd shoot critters with his revolver. I only know of him shooting one person, but he killed heaven only knows how many bunny rabbits for the supper table. He could nail a snake through its eyes. Genetically, that ability got passed to me and my eldest son. Dad didn't hunt much -- go figure. I'm no genius & my dad was no genius -- smart OK, but no genius (summa cum laude at University, that was me being OCD / a worker / God-given logic&math CNS wiring; NOT me being any sort of genius). That jumped me and landed on my eldest son. Ain't genetics funny / beyond strange! My university studies in genetics did NOT enlighten me on this topic -- only marginally at best. Have other stories of genetics jumping a generation (autosomal recessive / multiallelic, all that; complicated; ). Mother Nature is Somebody you don't ever want to try to get to know in-depth. She is one Dangerous Woman. Avoid that bit##. ... Just a passing observation.

Final note: Hats off to y'all who have the wherewithal to raise farm animals. That's a lot of work and I respect that in a BIG way!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes it is dangerous. Had a great uncle who had his knee crushed backwards from a kick from a milk cow. Lots and lots of work and trouble. Good on you!!!!!!!!!! As I've so many times said, I can be one very lazy turd. If there's any sort of shortcut, I'll take it. I totally appreciate all the info y'all provide.
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Cost effectiveness is not my goal when it comes to raising chickens . I can buy eggs cheaper than what I am spending to drive a long ways to buy a special breed of chicken , burning fuel to get them , then raising them up spending money on feed . Nope my objective is purely survival for after S.H.T.F. At that point their value will reach priceless . --- Yesterday I was cleaning weeds from my garden area and feeding the weeds to the chickens . It occurred to me I need to add another project to my to do list when I feel the ground shake and see a mushroom cloud rising in the sky . That is to put my chicken feed inside my house , gather what chickens , I think is a reasonable amount in a cage that I have and also take the chickens inside my house . After the radiation has subsided " if there is any " then can take my saved egg makers back to their pen to provide us with eggs for the days ahead .

 

Love it! That should be a bumper sticker!

 

https://greatist.com/health/egg-nutrition#fast-facts --- During our up coming new life , I plan to be eating nutritious eggs while the unprepared starve and grub around in the dirt looking for earth worms to eat . Sure I have other food plans , besides all those eggs . Chickens however are a important part of my self - sufficient food plan . -- Quite a number of people think they will be able to buy , barter or steal their neighbors resources . That is not preparing , but is making plans as a beggar or thief . I have made plans for those sort of people also .

 

That would put a whole new meaning on "dirty chicken".

 

I purposefully have enough chickens to produce more eggs than we eat " about twice " . I am increasing my flock . If things go according to plan by this time next year I will be producing 4 or 5 times the eggs we normally eat .The reason for this is pure prepping for when things go sideways . I want enough incoming eggs to feed the tribe .-- I bought metal barrels and stocked them with chicken feed so as if things go sideways today , I will have easy to get food for them for several months .

 

I can't stand duck eggs. Alright for baking, but what's the point when you can have chook eggs.

One of my earliest childhood memories was throwing a tantrum when my mother was trying to feed me egg in a highchair. I remember squirming in the highchair and picking up the egg in my hand and throwing it onto the floor.

I can't stand raw or undercooked yolks. The smell makes me want to do a technicoloured yawn. I have actually been unable to eat a cake because I could smell the yolks. Absolutely disgusting!

Having said that, I will eat eggs if they are extremely well-done, with crispy egg whites. When waiters say about steak, "do you want it rare, medium-rare or overdone?" I'm like that with eggs. I don't mind it if I eat them with bacon and fried tomato, with plenty of salt and pepper. Otherwise. Nah.

 

My kin ett many a chicken and lots of eggs. Blockage? No. Corn bread almost all meals. Poke greens mixed with kale. Blockages were rare. Curative herbs were readily available. Herbal medicine kept many a folk of innumerable generations on this side of the River Jordan. Were a child weak, then that soul belonged to the angels.

 

What's "poke greens"?