How Many Chickens Do I Need for a Family of 6
The question is, how many chickens practice I need to feed a family of 4? In this guide, we will respond that question, along with various tips and techniques to ensure success in growing your backyard craven for meat.
Thinking of growing your lawn chickens to supply your household? The good news is, many people keep their own chickens and have successfully supplied their families with meat and eggs.
Nonetheless, in achieving this purpose, knowing how many chickens to keep at 1 time is very important so you won't break the bank instead. I'm assuming your reason for keeping your backyard craven-besides your passion- is to relieve a little bit of coin. Then, we have to ensure the "profitability" of this project.
Craven Meat and Eggs To Feed Family of Four
Let'due south assume we have a family of 4, each fellow member is going to consume at to the lowest degree i chicken per week. While there's no such thing as an boilerplate chicken and they can range between 2.5 lbs to over 8 lbs, let's assume that your average craven is 4 lbs, for the sake of mathematics.
The average adult needs 50 to sixty grams of protein and 2,000 to 2,500 calories per twenty-four hours to maintain their weight and health. So, how much protein is independent in a whole chicken? Below is the poly peptide content of different cuts of chicken:
- Breast: 54 grams of protein, or 31 grams per 100 grams
- Thigh: thirteen.5 grams of poly peptide, or 26 grams per 100 grams
- Drumstick: 12.4 grams of poly peptide in i drumstick, or 28.3 grams per 100 grams
- Wings: vi.4 grams of poly peptide in one wing, or 30.5 grams per 100 grams
And so, allow'due south say our boilerplate craven tin provide 170 grams of poly peptide, divided by 4 people, it'due south 42.5 grams of protein per person.
Obviously, however, this family of four won't only consume chicken, and and then we tin assume that each of them volition consume 1 chicken per week, which will supply them with around half of their total poly peptide requirements.
Meaning, this family of iv volition need 4 chickens every week or 208 chickens every year.
However, don't forget that there's some other feasible source of protein we can become from our chickens: the eggs. I chicken egg volition give the states 4.9 grams to 8.2 grams of protein. So, let's say the average is half dozen grams.
If each family member consumes an egg every 24-hour interval, then that will translate to 28 eggs per week, or 1456 a year.
So, is achieving those numbers actually viable in your backyard? Permit us discuss the technicalities.
Choosing Your Chicken Breed
Since equally mentioned, we are going to need both the craven meat and eggs, here nosotros will hash out two unlike chicken breed types: meat-only (standard), dual-purpose (meat and egg product), and egg-layers.
Standard Broilers Breeds for Meat
1. Bailiwick of jersey Behemothic
A purebred originated in the U.S. and can achieve 11 to thirteen pounds on average, making information technology ideal for producing meat. However, they grow relatively irksome (16-21 weeks harvest time) and need large amounts of food. For backyard chickens, y'all can feed them with supplemental foods including leftovers to supplement commercial pellets and reduce costs. Yet, not recommended if you are aiming to build a commercial meat business.
ii. Cornish Cross
The Cornish cross brood is extremely popular if you are raising your backyard chickens for producing meat. Why? Simply considering they can reach 12 pounds of weight in just vi to eight weeks. A recommended pick for both commercial meat businesses and lawn craven growers.
iii. Breese
Expensive and relatively small-scale, but upwards to seven pounds and take sixteen-20 weeks before yous tin harvest the meat. However, famous for producing the almost succulent meat and also for their tenderness.
Dual-Purpose Breeds for Meat and Egg
1. Dark-brown Leghorn
Information technology's of import to note that brownish and white leghorns are essentially the same breed. The simply major divergence is their plumage colors. Leghorns are famous for their egg production quality and can produce 280 eggs a year (so can hands come across the need of a family of four. The males can reach six lbs in 16 weeks, and their meat is decent in both gustatory modality and tenderness.
2. Buckeyeastward
Buckeye chickens are a bang-up option if you live in colder climates, for example in the northern U.S. The males can accomplish ix pounds in 16 weeks, and can produce up to 200 eggs per year. A decent dual-purpose choice if you want a steady meat and egg production all-year, fifty-fifty during the winter.
iii. Egyptian Fayoumi
Relatively fast growth although they have adequately minor sizes. The males can reach v pounds in only 14 weeks. Also, pretty decent egg production with 150 eggs per twelvemonth. What they are famous for, however, is that both their meat and eggs are high-quality.
Dual-Purpose Breeds for Meat and Egg
ane.White Leghorn
Again, white and brown leghorns are similar except for their feather colors. Leghorns can exist raised exclusively as egg layers, and as mentioned, tin produce 280 eggs twelvemonth-round. However, if y'all are raising leghorns for eggs, keep in mind that they are improve as caged birds than free-range (more on this later below). Leghorns produce white-colored eggs (even dark-brown leghorns)
2.Aureate comet
One of the best egg-layers effectually, and great if you lot want free-range eggs. It can lay between 250 and 300 eggs per yr, then information technology tin can hands supply a family of four assuming each member eats 1 egg every twenty-four hour period. Keep in mind, however, that the gold comet produces dark-brown-colored eggs. So, if you lot adopt white eggs, they are not for y'all.
Free-Range VS Coop: Benefits and Disadvantages
When raising our lawn chickens equally the food supplier for our family, we have two main methods: caged (using chicken coop) or gratuitous-range.
"Caged" chickens refer to any chickens contained in a coop cage without any admission to the outdoors, while we can label chickens as "gratis-range" when they have outdoor access at least some of the time.
If you lot are going to sell your meat and eggs, there is an increasing demand for meat and eggs that are free-range, since there are growing concerns about living weather in battery coops. However, even if y'all are going to consume the chicken meat and eggs yourself, in that location are some benefits and disadvantages to each method, as we will discuss below:
Benefits and Disadvantages of Coop Chicken
Pros:
- It's easier to raise caged/coop craven, the bloodshed rate of complimentary-range chickens are double that of caged chickens
- Easier to manage since you tin use devices like chicken feeders and other food and water devices.
- Coops can go on chickens split from their waste matter and unfresh feeds, and so it is easier to go along them gratis from diseases
- Manifestly, the overall cost for coop systems are (much) lower than free-cage
Cons:
- Cramped coop cages are, simply put, unnatural. So, it might foreclose behaviors similar nesting and dust-bathing
- Caged chickens can be more aggressive
- Physically caged chickens are weaker with reduced bone strength
- College feather loss on caged chickens
Benefits and Disadvantages of Free-Range Chickens
Pros:
- Free-range chickens are generally happier since they become extra exercise, with stronger muscles and bones
- Better and tastier products (both meat and eggs). Eggs from free-range chickens are richer in omega-3 and have less cholesterol than caged eggs. The eggs are also richer in vitamins A and E.
- Extra exercises will hateful the chickens are less aggressive and prevent destructive behaviors produced past stress and boredom like being ambitious to each other, feather picking, and playing with their food
Cons:
- Your chickens will be more vulnerable to natural predators similar devious dogs and foxes, so might not exist a skilful idea if you live in areas with these animals
- Your chickens are more than vulnerable to diseases and viruses
- They might lose their mode and never come dorsum, so you lot have to install fences and/or other parameters around the areas they tin wander
In full general, free-range chickens produce better eggs and meat, just they are much harder to manage. There are more risks associated with free-range similar the risks of encountering predators, the chickens eating unhealthy scraps, and and so on. And so, free-range is generally much more than hard and expensive since you'll accept to install parameters and other required equipment.
If, notwithstanding, yous live in an surface area without besides many predators around and you can manage the hygiene and security, it's going to be worth it.
Stop Words
Then, is it possible to raise your chickens to feed a family of 4? You'd need at least 1 craven per family member per week and ane egg a day. This, will translate to 208 chickens and 1406 eggs every yr. Are the numbers viable?
The respond is a sounding yep. Notwithstanding, you must choose the correct brood and also implement proper growing management in identify. If you want to achieve a steady supply for your family (and probably sell the rest), so raising them in a cage or coop is much easier and affordable. Withal, if you adopt better tastes and/or if you want to raise your chickens in a more humane condition, you can certainly try raising them free-range.
Below is a Pinterest friendly photograph…. so you lot can pin it to yourCraven Board!!
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Source: https://www.backyardchickenchatter.com/how-many-chickens-do-i-need-to-feed-a-family-of-4/
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