Day Old Chicks In October

Each year (or the last few anyway) we grow a small batch of 25-30 chicks to provide chicken meat through the rest of the year.

We chose to do this in the later part of the year for a few reasons. If we get them now and start processing birds in 8- 12 weeks then generally our work load will be lower. Also the much lower temperatures will mean that the birds can "rest" once prepared for a few days making the meat much more tender. We don't have the fridge space to do this in the summer.

Currently we're still buying in day old Ross Cobb chicks and this is something I'd liek to eventually move away from as they're not the easiest breed to work with. We've never had much problem with them going off their legs and things (common problems) but it's not something I want my stock to experience either.

In the future it would be great to have a breeding group of hens with a cockerel so that they could produce a much smaller, regular supply of birds through the year, without having to buy in any chicks. This is something I've talked about for years now and really need to get and do it!

Let me know what you think. Would 25 chickens provide your chicken meat for the year for your family? These birds do get big and one breast will generally provide our family of five with enough meat for a meal.

Brooder Extension

On my last post Jo mentioned that she didn't have anywhere to keep chicks under a heat lamp.

This is initially what put me off getting day old chicks. Every brooder set up I saw was in a shed or a barn and I don't have that kind of space available unfortunately. I've even had friends keep them in their dinning room before now but that isn't something I fancied as they soon start to smell!