How to Raise and Store a Year's Supply of Chicken - The Quickest and Easiest Methods!

How to Raise and Store a Year's Supply of Chicken - The Quickest and Easiest Methods! Five dollars and better a pound for a bird that never once stood on grass. That is what the store wants from you. Up this holler we put a whole year of chicken in the freezer for about half that, and I am going to walk you through every step of it in the order it needs doing. In this one I show you how many birds a family actually needs, how little ground it takes, why I raise Rainbow Rangers instead of the Cornish Cross everybody else runs, and the one mistake in that first week that kills more chicks than anything else on this earth. Then the chicken wagon out on pasture, when to stop feeding them, and how Granny bags a year of chicken so you are not standing in a cold basement hunting for supper. Stay to the end for the honest part. It is the thing nobody says plain about raising your own meat, and it is the reason most folk never start. WHAT THIS VIDEO COVERS How many birds a family of six needs for a full year How much ground it takes, and why an eighth of an acre is plenty Rainbow Ranger vs Cornish Cross, and why I will not raise the fast one How to read a chick before she is in trouble The brooder mistake that kills chicks in the first week Bedding, bricks, apple cider vinegar, and the feed schedule Building and moving the chicken wagon out on pasture Knowing exactly when to stop feeding and take them in Hauling them cool, and why I do not butcher my own How we bag and organize a year of chicken in the freezer Four things that keep a batch healthy start to finish WHAT IT COST US THIS YEAR Pastured whole birds from a farm near me run $5.35 a pound. We put right at 300 pounds in the freezer, which is about $1,605 worth of chicken if I had bought it. Here is what we spent instead: Chicks (58 ordered, a couple lost along the way) — $228 Non-GMO feed, roughly 4 bags starter and 20 bags grower — $344 Bedding, apple cider vinegar, ice, freezer bags, gas, electric for the heat lamps — about $100 Processing, figured at $4 a bird — $224 Total: $896. That is better than $700 saved, and it works out to about $3 a pound for pastured, non-GMO chicken you watched grow. A note on that last line. We actually pay $2 a bird for processing, so our real number came in lower. I figured $4 because that is closer to what most folk will pay, and I would rather the arithmetic work in your favor when you run it for yourself. We have butchered our own plenty of times and we know how, but for two dollars I am not buying a scalder and a plucker and giving up a whole day. Your numbers will not match mine exactly. Feed prices, what hatchery you use, and whether there is a processor near you will move it around some. But the shape of it holds up near about anywhere. The real worth of it is not only the money. It is knowing what is in your food, and knowing what kind of life that bird had before it got to your table. Tell me down in the comments where you are keeping your birds, how many you run, and what breed you like. I read every one of them. If this helped you, hit subscribe and come along. We put out something every week on raising your own food without wearing yourself out to where you quit. #RaisingChickens #MeatChickens #Homestead #Homesteading #BackyardChickens #PasturedPoultry #Broilers #SelfSufficiency #FarmLife #GrowYourOwnFood #RainbowRangers #FreezerStock #AppalachianLiving #HomesteadFamily #Poultry