Hello,
We have been raising chickens, for eggs for the past 5 years or so and like many people have caught chicken fever again and want to raise our own chickens for meat. Lately, I have been lurking around BYC to find more information on raising meat birds and am glad to report that you all have been really helpful. I have decided that I am going to start with a batch of Cournish X and than would like to switch over to a self sustaining flock, in the future. I am thinking I will do a few batches of birds, starting next spring, with 20-25 birds in a batch . If all goes well, we may raise the birds into the winter, but it probably would not be that many. The biggest question I am pondering at the moment is how I will house the meat birds. I currently live on 2 1/2 acres of hilly woodland in New Hampshire, so a tractor is out of the question. I was thinking about an open air coop design but I am not sold on that because the night time temps. have been anywhere from 40 deg. to 20 deg, for the past month. I was wondering what you all use for housing and if you have any suggestions? Thank you so much for your help!
We have been raising chickens, for eggs for the past 5 years or so and like many people have caught chicken fever again and want to raise our own chickens for meat. Lately, I have been lurking around BYC to find more information on raising meat birds and am glad to report that you all have been really helpful. I have decided that I am going to start with a batch of Cournish X and than would like to switch over to a self sustaining flock, in the future. I am thinking I will do a few batches of birds, starting next spring, with 20-25 birds in a batch . If all goes well, we may raise the birds into the winter, but it probably would not be that many. The biggest question I am pondering at the moment is how I will house the meat birds. I currently live on 2 1/2 acres of hilly woodland in New Hampshire, so a tractor is out of the question. I was thinking about an open air coop design but I am not sold on that because the night time temps. have been anywhere from 40 deg. to 20 deg, for the past month. I was wondering what you all use for housing and if you have any suggestions? Thank you so much for your help!