Interactive lesson

Poultry through the year, step by step

Interactive lesson: how many eggs and how much meat a household needs, how many birds that takes, killing in batches, freezer space, the egg surplus and a kitchen with no waste.

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The whole lesson as text

1. What the household needs

The plan starts at the table, not in the henhouse.

The norm per AE — The homestead plan norm is 220 eggs and 35 kg (77 lb) of small-animal meat per adult equivalent (AE) a year. Poultry can supply roughly half of that meat.
Count adult equivalents — An adult is 1 AE, a child of 7 to 14 years 0.7, and a child up to 6 years 0.4.
A 2 + 2 household — 2 adults and 2 children (aged 10 and 4) make 3.1 AE. That is roughly 780 eggs, 15 a week, and 55 kg (120 lb) of poultry meat a year.
How many birds — 780 eggs take 4–5 hybrid or 6–8 heritage-breed hens. 55 kg of meat takes 25 slow-growing table chickens or 35–40 cockerels of a traditional breed.

Why: Poultry give eggs and meat at their own rhythm. Once you know how much the household eats, you know how many birds to keep, and you don't feed a flock bigger than you need.

The eggs include cakes, pasta and guests: for 2 + 2, roughly 100 eggs a year more than for eating alone.
The rest of the meat comes from rabbits, kids, lambs or a pig (H41-07 A meat plan for the whole year).

2. One bird, three meals

A bird in the kitchen is not just weight.

What a chicken gives — A slow-growing table chicken of 12–14 weeks gives roughly 2.2 kg of carcass and 1–1.5 L of stock from the bones. A cockerel of a traditional breed gives 1.2–1.8 kg.
An old hen for soup — An old hen of 1.3–2 kg gives 2–3 meals for 4 people and 3 L of soup: soup, risotto, a hearty soup.
Three meals — On day one a roast or paprikash, on day two risotto, pie or salad from the leftovers. The bones, neck and feet go into stock for soup.
60–70 meals — By the rule of one bird, three meals, 25 chickens give roughly 60–70 meals.

Why: Each bird gives several meals if you plan it. That way 25 chickens are not 25 Sunday dinners but many more meals.

A young chicken does not go in the soup, and an old hen does not go in the oven.
A goose gives 3.5–4.5 kg of carcass and 0.5–1 L of fat, a duck 0.2–0.4 L of fat.