Raising Meat Chickens

One of the things that drew me to homesteading was my passion for good, nutritious and healthy food. And while in our modern-day society we are able to source many great foods from grocery stores, bulk food co-ops, and even online I wanted to be more self-sufficient. Growing a garden is great, but there is way more bang for your buck when you start raising your own meat. So that's exactly what we started doing here at Heavenly Hills Homestead!

While we don't raise all of our meat on our homestead, we do raise all of our chicken, turkey and pork right here on our property. . We don't have cows, but we look forward to that venture in the (hopefully) near future. We are able to buy beef by the whole or half from local farmers in our area. We also hunt, so technically we aren't raising the elk and venison our family enjoys. As of 2023 we are raising about 75% of our meat, and that has reduced our grocery bill and improved the quality of meat we are consuming.

When outsourcing our meat I prefer having grass-fed and/or pasture-raised, organic, non-GMO and free of antibiotics. Purchasing that quality of meat from a grocery store is not only expensive but also harder to find in small-town north Idaho. The next best option would be to find a farmer near you, which is a fantastic for people who can't or don't want to raise animals for meat. This is what we did when we still lived in the suburbs and it was great! We got a high quality product while supporting a small business/farmer. A true homesteader however will eventually want to start being a producer instead of strictly a consumer. That is one of our goals here on our own land.

Chickens are a "gateway" animal of sorts for many of us in this homesteading world. Usually people start with some egg laying hens, then maybe add a rooster and before we know it we are adding ducks, geese, turkeys and meat birds. I believe chickens are one of the easiest birds to raise for meat. They are the least expensive to start, have the quickest turn around, and they provide a delicious and versatile product. Besides, who doesn't love chicken? There are a few things you ought to know though before venturing into raising chickens for meat.

What breeds of chicken are best for meat?

Technically speaking you can eat any breed of chicken. In fact we butcher our old egg-layers who have stopped laying and feed our family on that meat. But an old egg laying hen will not produce much meat, and they are often tough and chewy. I find that old hens and unwanted roosters are best when slow cooked or canned for a shelf-stable protein source so that they are more tender and satisfying. If your goal is to produce good sized chickens with tender meat, large breasts, thighs and drumsticks you will want to choose a chicken that is specifically bred for meat production.

There are several breeds that are excellent for meat. One of the most common is the Cornish X or Cornish Cross. These birds have an excellent feed to meat ratio and will produce huge birds. I find that the cornish provide the most similar taste and look to a store-bought chicken (although they are more flavorful and nutritious when raised outside on grass and given organic feed as opposed to the ware-house raised birds you'll find at the grocery store). Cornish X have white plumage but because they grow so quickly they will have some bald spots between feathers. They can be ready to be processed at only 8 weeks old, often weighing out to 5+lb carcasses, although we have frequently had Cornish Cross weigh 9+lbs when butchered between 8-10 weeks old. These birds are known to literally just sit in front of the feeder and gorge themselves, so they do come with a higher risk of health issues and higher death rates. I find that we have to manage them slightly more by only feeding them what they need instead of having their feeder available 24/7. Cornish will quite literally eat themselves to death... which is a gruesome thought, but makes for a nice, large finished bird if managed well. Cornish X are definitely the best bang for your buck when it comes to raising meat birds.

Another popular breed for meat chickens are the Freedom Rangers or Red Broilers. They have beautiful red-ish brown plumage and more flavorful meat than the cornish cross. These are slightly slower growing birds, usually ready to process between 10-12 weeks old. And because they take a few weeks longer to produce a full-sized bird they tend to have fewer health risks and death before you can process them. They provide excellent meat and do best when raised on pasture and rotational grazing. I find that this variety as well as the Ginger Broilers give that sought-after "heritage breed" taste and benefits without having to wait 16+ weeks of growing before they are ready to go to freezer camp. Freedom Rangers are the happy medium for a homesteader wanting to be practical about the cost of raising meat but also have a relatively quick turn around from chick to processed bird.

The third-place winner for common meat breed is the Ginger Broiler. Similar the red rangers they are slower growing, taking 12-14 weeks to grow to full size. Their plumage is lighter in color than the red ranger with hues of red and gold. They also provide a more flavorful chicken than your typical cornish cross and do well on pasture and rotational grazing. Because these birds take longer than the cornish they also have less health issues. All in all I find that ginger broilers are very, very similar to the Red Rangers, and an excellent option for a homesteader who isn't bothered by a few extra weeks of feeding.

Where can you source the best chicks?

You can source chicks from a variety of places from your local feed store, a nearby farmer and even ordering online. Chicks are usually available in the springtime and into the summer months when baby chicks thrive the best.

Tractor Supply and stores like North 40 will sell chicks each year and can be a good resource for people getting started. My first batch of egg laying hens were bought through Tractor Supply and that was a good experience for me. Now though, I prefer to order my chicks online. This might sound odd to someone who hasn't done this before, but I promise it is simpler than you might think. The chicks are shipped off in a cardboard box with bedding and lots of air holes on the same day that they hatch, and arrive at your closest post office within 24-48 hours. Freshly hatched chicks can survive 2-3 days without food or water so as soon as they arrive you'll want to get them home, warm, watered and fed. Sometimes you may lose a chick or two but with a reputable hatchery with great breeding stock you should have hearty little chicks. I have had one instance when the post office "lost" my chick order for an extra day, and i didn't get my birds until 72 hours after hatching, which ended badly for the poor birds... But when I called customer service at the hatchery we used they sent us a replacement order without any cost to us. We still got the chicks we needed and it was only one week later than we had planned due to the post office misshap.

My preferred online hatchery is Murray McMurray, although I have also ordered chicks from Welps hatchery before. I love that I can order weeks to even months in

advance for the specific breeds and quantities of chicks. This enables me to budget things out for the homestead better, as well as ensuring that I can get what I want when I am ready for it (sometimes buying chicks in person means they might not have the breeds you want or the number of birds you need). Murray McMurray has excellent stock and by far the healthiest chicks I have seen compared to other hatcheries. They also have many rarer varieties of birds and pride themselves on bringing back more heritage breeds from the brink of extinction. They are family owned and opperated, and compared to other hatcheries are a smaller business. We love supporting them, and you can shop their website here (not affiliated);

How many chickens do you need to feed your family?

How many chickens should you raise to feed your family, you ask? Well that depends. It depends on how many people you have in your family, how often you eat chicken, and how much space, time and effort you are willing to put into this project. When we started out our first batch of meat chickens we had 20 heritage breed birds we bought as chicks froma neighbor. Because I will often farm sit for them they gave us a great discount on the chicks so it was a win-win for us. But it took about 16-17 weeks for those birds to get even close to butcher weight and in the end their finished carcasses were small (our biggest was around 4lbs). And while that fed us and got our feet wet with meat birds we knew that if we wanted to raise our own chicken we would need to get more serious about it.

So I sat down and crinched some numbers. We have a family of four, and we eat chicken 1-2 times per week. Thats at least one whole bird, if not two per week between various meals. with 52 weeks per year we are needing around 100 chickens to fill our freezers to have enough chicken for our family for one year. Now those calculations might be different for you if your family is used to chicken breasts only, or maybe some drumsticks here and there. I learned over time that its best to utilize the whole animal, which means we will cook with the thighs, the drumsticks, the wings, the breasts, and then make bone broth with the leftover bones. We also really enjoy a whole roasted bird once per week to once every other week. Learning to cook the old-fashioned way is a must have skill when living on the homestead.

To calculate how many chickens you would need I would reccomend that you sit down and think about how often you eat chicken per week, how many lbs of chicken are you using to feed your family a lunch/dinner, do you ever make meals for others like freezer meals or meal trains, and just do the math. Whatever you need per week, multiplied by 52 weeks in the year, and you have a rough estimate of how much you should raise for your family.

If thise number seems daunting at first don't fret! There is no shame in starting out small and growing over time. Like I shared before, our first year we only raised about 20 chickens and they were small at best. That year we definetly supplemented with storebought chicken and that was okay. Over time you will get better and be able to do more, raise more, and feed your family from what you grew at home.

Supplies and materials needed.

There are several things you will need to succesfully raise your meat birds beyond just the birds themselves. The first being a brooder set up for while they are babies. There are countless different ways to set up a brooder for your chicks, and many youtube videos and blog articles on the subject. But I will tell you simply how we do it. We have a large rubber water trough that we bought from a local feed store that we lay a nice layer of pine shavings on the bottom. We will have the small feeders and waterers needed place atop a board to keep the shavings out of them, and some chicken wire over the top of the trough so that the birds can't get out and nothing can get in. Then we have heat lamp/s to keeo the babies warm until they are big enough to live wihtout the heat lamps.

You will then need a place for the birds as they grow out of the brooder and until they are ready to process. Some people free range, some do electric netting, and others use chicken tractors or even a chicken run. We like to have our birds rotationally graze, but where we live there are lots of predators. So we have chicken tractors for our meat birds. They are essentially boxes with wheels that have a small roof for shelter and lots of air flow due to the chicken wire walls and overhead. Its a great way to keep the birds contained and safe from the bears, cougars, coyotes, ravens, hawks, eagles, and any other critter who would want to get at them. And because of the wheels we are able to roll the birds onto fresh grass as needed.

Lastly you will need the materials to process them when the time comes. I have a YouTube video about how we do that proccess here;

Food, water, and lots of poop.

If you want your animals to grow (let alone survive) you'll need to provide them with plenty of food, water, and deal with their poop. And let me assure you that they will poop a lot. Chicken feed is pretty easy to come by. Just visit your local feed store and they should have a few options for a poultry grower feed. Poultry grower is different than an egg layer feed in the nutrients included so make sure to get the appropriate one. If you do a little research you may even be able to find a local grainery where you can buy feed in bulk. Since we have a larger number of animals we choose to buy our feed in bulk by the ton and that saves us severl hundred dollars on feed per year.

We choose to feed all of our animals twice per day (morning and evening). I think that this is healthier for the animals so they aren't going long periods between feedings, and also so that I can have my eyes on them several times throughout the day in case any issues arise. You'll need to ensure that your animals always have plenty of clean water to drink as well. And as they are animals I can tell you that they will make their waterers dirty on the daily so we will empty out their waterers, scrub as needed, and refill with fresh water as often as they need it. You never want to withold water from an animal! So make sure that they always have good, clean water available.

Lastly you'll need to deal with the poop. Since we rotational grace our animals are fertilizing the pasture and forest and we aren't having to handle their poop. But if you have your birds in a large run or in a stationary spot you'll need to either scoop out their waste and compost it, or cover it with bedding to absorb excess moisture and cut down on smell. Again, we find the rotational grazing option the best, and our land has definely benefited from all of that natural fertilizer!

In conclusion

Raising animals is work. It is. But I think that it is some of the most worthwhile work you can do. We are able to provide healthy, nutritious and delicious meat for our family right from our back yard. And because I'm not paying someone else to do so I am able to save money along the way. Of course you are still investing by purchasing chicks, feed and some infastructure. But even with all of that we are spending a fraction of what we would be paying to buy chicken at the loacl store, or even from another farmer. Our family is also able to make a little pocket change by selling a few birds to family and friends which further offsets the cost.

My children and I also benefit greatly from learning how to better care for animals. We are practicing good stewardship of our land and creatures by ensuring they are well fed and cared for. We are learning about the circle of life by getting our animals as babies and raising them up, processing them and eating them to nourish our bodies. We arespending time outside in the fresh air and sunshine. We are creating good habits by checkin on our animals multiple times per day. We are becoming more self-sufficient by not relying on others to provide everything for us. We are able to further love on, support and nourish others with the excess that we raise. I don;t believe there are any downsides to raising meat at home!

As always I hope that you enjoyed this blog post, and that you check out the various videos and links I have here for you. I am praying that you found this helpful and that perhaps you will consider starting to raise some animals to feed your family too. We love this homesteading life that God has blessed us with, and I think you will too.

Until next time, welcome to the homestead!

Ashley