How much land? Chicken/Turkey to acre ratio...

[Korte38]

I think you would want some kind of moveable coop with electrified fence so you can control where they are ranging and not destroy the grass.

 

[AspiringHomesteader]

Would one acre be sufficient for like 40 chickens? They would free range, eat feed, with supplemental garden crops.

 

[Molpet]

http://www.plamondon.com/wp/how-many-chickens-per-acre/

 

[chickengeorgeto]

... and am trying to determine how much land I should be looking at for free range chickens and turkeys. Is there a good rule of thumb on a chicken and turkey to acre ratio? ...
~Michelle

Not sure about turkeys, but chickens don't require much space at all! Just 4 sq ft per bird in a coop & 10 sq ft per bird in a run! So... lots per acre! More importantly than that, though are the rules/restrictions where you are buying land. Do they have a limit of how many they allow per acre? Are you allowed to have roosters? If you haven't yet, make sure you look into that!

In real live honest to goodness free range conditions one chicken with no inputs from you will range over up to 25 acres of land. But of course the carrying capacity of that much land is more than just one chicken. Back in the late 40s and early 50s when my Paw Paw raised PASTURED chickens for the supermarkets I never tried to find out so I am unsure, but ten SF per bird is a good place to start. From years and years of experience raising gamefowl i know for a fact that East of the Mississippi river that ONE chicken kept in a 200 square foot area of fertile land with sufficient rain & Sunlight will be unable to kill out ALL of the weebs or grass growing on that parcel of land. I think that there are 43,560 square feet in one acre of ground so that means that you can keep anywhere from 10,000 Plus to 0.04 chickens on an acre of land. Your mileage will vary depending on the inputs (food, water, fertilizer, and grass seed) and how efficiently your chickens convert chicken food & forage into eggs or drumsticks. For turkeys divide by 4 or 5, except multiply 200 square feet by 5 in the 7th line of this reply.

 

[m1chelle1]

I guess I could add that my three dozen chickens rarely (if ever) travel more than 100 yards from their coop... Usually, they don't travel more than 20 yards. That may be due to the fact that I feed them all they need, however, so foraging is more like their 'hobby.'
I tried for a few days delaying feeding them until the afternoon and they were very actively foraging in the morning (and going much further much earlier than usual) but that led to a severely reduced egg count Bc they didn't want to travel all the way back to the coop to lay!

My last Buffs roamed around everywhere. They easily covered over an acre in one day of foraging. They were excellent foragers. I plan on purchasing my next set from the same breeder, with the same parents, so my assumption is that they will likely do the same

 

[m1chelle1]

I do close to what you are looking into now. My property has about 18 acres that during the winter are less productive than what you might have. When the birds are truly free-range where there are a dozen or so adult-sized chickens, they forage what looks to be about 3 acres of the available ground. This is where I supplement with whole grains. Without the grains, the area they would forage would at least triple. I have good predator management over only about 6 acres using a combination of electrified chickens and poultry guardian dogs where latter take a lot of time and money to get into place. The free-range and predator exclusion zones need to overlap otherwise chickens start disappearing.

There are many ways you can promote more effective free-range dispersal and still keeping the birds centered on a protected roost and location for egg deposition.

Turkeys are a different ball game with most domestic breeds likely to cluster around feeders rather that foraging a larger area. I may try turkeys myself this year to get a better handle on their habits. I am very much interested in how they might treat Red-tailed Hawks.

This is one of the most useful replies ive gotten back so far, although I appreciate any and all feedback and advice. I love the electrified chickens, and am making note of this so that I can buy some myself! Ive never heard of that, but alas am not surprised they exist. The areas I am looking at vary from virtually "predatorless" to a much higher level , but im going to treat each as high due to that unknown factor. Was also thinking electrified fences? I know that will be $$$ on a larger piece of land, will likely be the exterior portion of the 5 acre free range block. Im going to rely on my handy alert dog to notify me of issues during the time and days that I am at home (which will be most of the time). She barks at everything, might as well make use of her as I can.
and for turkeys- yes, I acknowledge they are a whole other beast. I got some good advice in this thread as to a book on them specifically, so ill be investing some time into that. I may handle the birds in separate areas if the turkeys display little to no interest in roaming around and truly optimizing the foraging potential.....
hmmm what else?? theyres so much!!

 

[theoldchick]

Get the most land you can afford. Hobby farms have a tendency to run out of space real quick. A thousand acres should do you. (Just kidding!) But seriously get as much land as you can afford.

 

[m1chelle1]

Your county zoning will have something to say about this too... here is an example that comes from my local zoning (fowl count as small livestock). These numbers have to do with what is considered viable for the land, what it can support in terms of water, vegetation, and managing sanitation. Some land may not even be zoned to allow for chickens at all. Do your homework on the legal end and work to find a lot that fits your chicken goals. Do not buy the land first and hope that you can just do what you want with it.

View attachment 1247999

Yes! it will, thank you. I was in real estate for a year, during a previous life, so I am very cognazent of these zoning differences. I am not considering anything that is residential zoning, they just wont allow my eventual number of birds. So its Ag zoning. But I have plans to look into exactly what the zoning entails prior to purchase. Im mostly familiar with more ag zoning specifying the # of horses and cattle (in Colorado, anyway) so im curious to see if Wa specifies any specific # of poultry. we will see!

 

[m1chelle1]

With wanting to raise 50 turkeys a year for processing you may want to look into movable range shelters as turkeys put out a lot of waste daily any you shed or pasture would quickly become a stinky mess.

I currently have 17 turkeys, and I can get a 5 gallon bucket full from under the roosts within 3-5 days. That's not counting the outside poop.

I recommend you get a copy of Storeys guide to raising turkeys as it covers meat turkeys and their needs fairly well.

I am so buying that book, so done there. I have done some research on the range shelters you are referring to. I have mixed feelings on it, not totally against it, but from what ive seen, they need to be moved every few hours (what, 3-4 or so? Maybe depending) and such. Just not sure I would be as keen on a system like that as a single first time farmer. Im not against transitioning to something like this if I feel it would accommodate my poultry better, or if I have some major predator problem, etc. So it could be a future state. I will adapt to whatever system I can manage best, and whatever will eliminate poultry loss as well, so this could def be valid for me in the future, and will keep in mind

 

[m1chelle1]

My advice, is work into it a bit slowly. There is a learning curve, and advice only goes so far. A lot will depend on your climate, your predators, and the birds you get. I have several friends who have had chickens for years, not have real good luck with turkeys.

I would be leery of buying all those birds at once, trying to raise them all up and figuring everything out. Start smaller, and add every 6 months till you get to the number you want. This gives you a multi-generational flock, if a predator nearly wipes you out, you have not lost everything, and you can find and deal with the weak spots in your set up.

Mrs K

Love this advice. and it will be taken. I 100% understand this is the case. I will start out with a few, and move on from there. I have had chickens before but I haven't dealt with thurkeys so I need to get more educated there. In addition, I work full time (from home) so ill need to phase into that full time farming life from work, save up some $$ for bills, and then be able to jump into full time small farm owner (with more poultry) so just trying to balance all of that out as best as I can....
And yes! I agree with the multi generational flock, im going to need to manage my flock in this manner regardless, as when turkey season (November) comes along im going to need to begin hatching and growing new turkeys. will be interesting to see this in real life. Hope I can manage them properly!