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 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...]

When the SHTF do you have a sustainable food source already setup? Or do you plan on bugging out to the wilderness with your family and foraging for food? Given the options, I would rather stay at home and have fresh eggs and oatmeal – eggs from my chickens and oatmeal from my food stockpile.

In mid-late 2011 my wife and I talked about getting chickens. I started looking at coop design, types and breeds, drawing designs for my own coop, working up a bill of material, cost,,, just general plans.

February 25 2012, our first chicks.

August 23 2012, got 10 eggs.

First 5 chicks were 3 Black Jersey Giants and 2 brown Speckled Sussex. 1 black Jersey giant and 1 Speckled Sussex died.

Next set of chicks were 2 Barred Rocks (aka Plymouth rock), 2 silver laced wyandottes and 2 australorps.

Next set were 4 Rhode Island Reds.

[Read the rest of this entry...]