Can yall believe it’s been a whole year since my wife and I got our first chicks?  For the first few months I posted several videos about building the coop and how the chicks were doing.  After the chickens start laying, there is not that much to post about.  They are chickens, they do their thing, they lay eggs and that is about it.

Now that the hens are a full year old I thought it would be good to post some kind of up date to let people know how things are going.

Between the last weekend of February and the second week of March 2012 my wife and I bought 15 chicks.  Two of the chicks died a few days after we got them.  After those first two died, we have not lost another chicken.

As some of yall may know chickens are part of my long term SHTF survival plans. In the next few months my wife and I are looking at moving to the homestead. After we get moved we are going to build a 30 foot X 75 foot chicken yard, along with a 20 X 16 chicken coop, then expand the flock to around 50 hens and maybe 5 roosters.

My experiences from the past year will help me build the next chicken coop and chicken yard.

Observations Over The Past Year

[Read the rest of this entry...]

In this article I hope to talk about how my chickens are doing in the winter time.  All of the hens were bought as chicks within two weeks of each other. The first chickens were bought on the last weekend of February 2012, the next batch were bought the first week of March. The final batch were bought around March 7th or 8th, 2012.

Part of my long term SHTF survival plan includes having a self-sustaining chicken flock. In a previous thread we talked about how many chickens a family may need for a TEOTWAWKI event.

My wife and I have a small flock of 13 hens:

4 – Rhode Island Reds
2 – Silver Laced Wyandotte
2 – Barred Rocks
2 – Australorps
2 – Black Jersey Giants
1 – Speckled Sussex

My observations are based off a rather small sample size, so we will have to take part this thread with a grain of salt. When my wife and I get moved to the homestead, we plan on adding 12 – 13 Dominickers.

As the flock size increases, the sample size increases. Hopefully next year I will be able to provide a article with a larger sample size.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

Wondering what is the best chicken breed for your flock is? Victoryfarm made an outstanding video about some of the chicken breeds they raise.

Some of the chickens discussed in the video:

Barred Rocks
Rhode Island Reds
Hybrids

My experiences with the Barred Rocks and rhode Island Reds have been opposite of his. My Rhode Island Reds seem to be a little more fussy then my Barred Rocks.

Both of my Barred Rocks are pretty tame, and only 1 of my Rhode Island Reds is tame.

I have raised Barred Rocks twice, and both times they have been hardy during the winter time.

This is my first time raising Rhode Island Reds, but so far I like them. My grandmother raised a lot of Rhode Islands when my dad was a kid.

Chickens are one of the best livestock a family can have for a long term SHTF / TEOTWAWKI situation. Chickens (depending on their breed) are excellent foragers, they can eat just about anything, do not need a lot of care, and produce food in the form of eggs almost daily.

If you and your family are prepping for a collapse of society event, how many chickens would you need?

Before we can get close to answering that question, I feel there are some questions that first have to be answered.

Land – Do you have a backyard of nothing but grass, do you have wooded property, open fields that cattle, goats or horses roam in?

During a long term SHTF event, chances are the feed stores are going to be closed, that means you will not have access to commercial grade feed. It achieve their maximum egg production, chickens need a balanced diet full of vitamins and minerals. The calcium the eggs are made out of does not appear out of thin air.

This is where the quality, and variety of the land comes into play. Chickens need seeds, bugs, green leaves,,, just a wide variety of food sources.

My chickens laid their best when they were able to free range and had access to commercial grade laying pellets.  During this time, they were laying around 8 – 10 eggs a day in August and September 2012.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

In a previous article we discussed what would be the Best Chicken Breeds for SHTF.  If you have not done so, I suggest you read that article as well as this one.

In this article we are going to be discussing how to design your chicken flock for a long term SHTF / TEOTWAWKI situation.

How many chickens would you need to produce enough eggs for you and your family? What about breeding, chicken coop and chicken yard size?  Do you want focus on egg production, meat production, or somewhere between the two?

This chicken flock article is part of our Indefinite Sustainability project.

Egg Production

Why would eggs be important during a long term SHTF situation? Its because of their fat, amino acids and protein content.

A couple of weeks ago two of my grandsons spent the night at my house.  For breakfast the 6 year old ate 4 eggs, the 3 year old ate 2 eggs.  That is 6 eggs a day just for those two grandchildren, what about the rest of the family?

Why my current flock of 13 hens, my wife and I get anywhere from 5 – 10 eggs a day.  The 10 eggs were during September and October before the cold fronts started pushing through.  After a cold front pushes through, egg production drops down to about 5 – 6 eggs a day.

While the cold weather is here, I need to keep an eye on the chickens to see which ones are laying and which ones are not laying.  Some chicken breeds do better then others in cold weather.

How many people do you anticipate being in your group? I would say plan on having 1.5 – 2 chickens per person for steady egg production.  Part of the egg production is going to depend on the breed of chicken, the weather, quality of the food sources, and other factors.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

What chicken breeds are best for a long term SHTF survival situation?  Most breeds are good foragers, but we want something that would make a good meat chicken, good layer, good breeder, is friendly with other chickens and deals with confinement well.

Chickens are an excellent livestock choice for SHTF / TEOTWAWKI.  Eggs are a good source of protein, fats and essential amino acids.  Chicken meat is a good source of protein.  Chickens can be let out out of the chicken coop during the day, and they will return to the coop at night.  Which is unlike other livestock that will wonder off if let out of their pen.

My suggestions are the Barred Rock (which is part of the Plymouth Rock family), Rhode Island Red and the Australorp.

Barred Rock

The Plymouth Rock is a dual-purpose (for meat and egg production), cold-hardy chicken that makes a well-rounded choice for the homestead or backyard flock owner.  The Plymouth Rock is the family that the Barred Rock belongs to.

Barred Rock are usually friendly, easy to tame, hens are not usually aggressive.

The Barred Rock lays a large light to medium brown egg.  On average, a healthy hen will lay 3 – 4 eggs a week, which equals to 156 – 208 eggs a year.

The Barred Rock is a cold hardy chicken. During the winter some chickens stop laying. The Barred Rock lays eggs through the winter, but in a decreased capacity.

Hen weight – 6 – 7.5 pounds

Rooster weight – 7.5-9.5 pounds

The Barred Rock is a good forager who will seek out its meals. When given the chance, they will explore fields and tree lines looking for food.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

To be perfectly honest, the Barred Rock chicken is one of my favorite breeds. My first exposure to the Barred Rock was back in the late 1980s. My first wife and I got some chicks around 1988 0r 1989, raised them for around a year or so, then butchered them.

The Barred Rocks my new wife and I got in February 2012 are very much like the ones I had back in the 1980s.

Some of my favorite points about the Barred Rock:

Friendly – one of my rocks will walk right up to me, let me pick it up and pet it. The other rock stays at arms length, but does not act scared.

Foraging – Barred Rocks seem to be excellent foragers. They are always wanting to get out of the coop to explore. When I open the coop to let the chickens free range, the Rhode Island Reds and Rocks are the fist ones out the door.

Good layers – My rocks lay just about every day. If they do not lay everyday, they lay about every other day.

Good meat chicken – Its been a few years since I have butchered a Barred Rock, from what I remember these chickens have a good thick breast and plenty of meat on them.

Cold Hardy – The Plymouth Rock (aka Barred Rock) was developed in the New England part of the United States.  With the Rock being cold hardy, they are supposed to keep laying through the winter, but with decreased production.

Quiet – The hens do not make a lot of noise.

Raising chickens for SHTF

In another article we talked about some of the best chickens for survivalist, of which we discussed the Barred Rock.

If there was some kind of long term SHTF situation, the Barred Rock would be at the top of my list, right next to the Rhode Island Red and Australorp.

The BR has some of the main characteristics that I would look for in a chicken – friendly, good forager, good layer and good meat chicken. What more could you want form a homestead?

The light on dark colors provides the BR with natural camouflage to help avoid predators. The Roman author Columella noted that white chickens should be avoided as they are not very fertile and are easily caught by eagles or goshawks.

Have you raised Barred Rocks? If so, how was your experience?

Do you think the BR would make a good breed of chicken for a Homestead or a for a long term survival situation?

Are you thinking about getting chickens for urban survival, or as part of your long term survival plans?

Lets say SHTF, what are the breeds of chickens you should focus on?  In my opinion, some of the better chicken breeds for survivalist are the Rhode Island Red, Barred Rock, Speckled Sussex and Australorp.

Rhode Island Red

Cock / Roster average weight: 8.5 lbs
Hen average weight: 6.5 lbs
Good foragers
Dual purpose for egg production and butchering
Egg production: around 200 eggs a year

My grandparents kept Rhode Island Reds back in the 1960s and early 1970s. Dad told me Rhode Island Reds are good at foraging and finding their own food.

Early 2012 my wife and I bought 4 Rhode Island Reds for our flock. Out of all the chickens we have, the RIR are the most friendly and affectionate. When I open the door to the coop, the RIRs walk up the ladder to greet me. I can pick up my RIRs as easily as I can pick up the family cat.

From time to time my wife and I will let a couple of the chickens out of the coop. The Rhode Island Reds go to work scratching through the leaves looking for something to eat.

[Read the rest of this entry...]