Chickens it is....

[Terri9630]

Now with that in mind, how many chickens and roosters would be needed to maintain a 20 year breeding program? Say for a family of 6 to 8 people to have fresh eggs daily and fried chicken once in a while. Here comes an eye opener VenomJockey.

Well, we eat a whole chicken weekly so we raise 55 birds a year for that. If your hatching eggs and not buying meat birds that will cut into your egg production.
For eggs we keep a dozen layers that barely keep up some times. I'd say if you could have 3-4 completely separate flocks you may be able to swap roosters around enough to not have problems.

 

[TMT Tactical]

Well, we eat a whole chicken weekly so we raise 55 birds a year for that. If your hatching eggs and not buying meat birds that will cut into your egg production.
For eggs we keep a dozen layers that barely keep up some times. I'd say if you could have 3-4 completely separate flocks you may be able to swap roosters around enough to not have problems.

So the key to the flock is having enough Roosters to keep the flock healthy. Now the next magic question from this city guy, can you expect to get a few new roosters from most hatchings? Last but certainly not least, is there a book or series of books on chicken raising (farming / ranching) that a city person (me) can get that explains the steps needed to start form scratch?

 

[Terri9630]

So the key to the flock is having enough Roosters to keep the flock healthy. Now the next magic question from this city guy, can you expect to get a few new roosters from most hatchings? Last but certainly not least, is there a book or series of books on chicken raising (farming / ranching) that a city person (me) can get that explains the steps needed to start form scratch?

You'll get lots of roosters from hatching. I think my last 3 hatches were 70% roosters. That is good if you need meat because most good egg breeds are not built for meat.

An outside rooster every few years would be best but if you can keep the bloodlines as separate as possible it would work for quite a while.

For books there are quite a few. I'll have to look tomorrow and see what I have but chickens are pretty simple.

 

[VenomJockey]

Now with that in mind, how many chickens and roosters would be needed to maintain a 20 year breeding program? Say for a family of 6 to 8 people to have fresh eggs daily and fried chicken once in a while. Here comes an eye opener VenomJockey.

I have no clue. Two? Earth did pretty good with Adam & Eve, ya know! Seriously, how many?

 

[Meerkat]

Took today in the rain. So not good pic's.

Lucy in her new cage our only surviving B.Rock.

4 Black Star sex links one named Goldie and one RIR named Red.

 

[Terri9630]

I forgot about this thread. There is Backyard Chickens, Story's guide to raising chickens and Chickens for dummies on my book shelf. The rest I learned by having chickens or online.

If you have a Tractor Supply nearby browse their book shelves. There are quite a few books there.

 

[Justin76]

I've never raised them , nor any other chickens actually.

But as a Chef....you might want to look into American Bresse.
The American version of the famous French AOC Bresse. All white but have black legs. Full off cream colored fat.
I know they lay eggs as you can buy them over here for 10$usd a dozen....

One of the tastiest chickens I've ever had. Also one of the most expensive....

I didnt buy this one I ordered from one of my suppliers at a quarter of the price....
But divide that price by 7.5 and you get how much it is over here in the supermarket in USD ...