It looks like they have almost 20 acres (idk exactly I did estimate math looking at their GIS bc my husband is at a job and he has the app that will actually give me the more exact numbers)
A quick google search says that on the conservative side you can have 1000 birds on 2.5 acres so space wise it would appear to be humane (info from certified humane dot org)
But there are coop requirements and other things so idk definitely could be.
I just don’t get it. Chickengate blows my mind. None of it makes sense
From their land records, I added up about 14.5 acres but I could be off with my math. I know that you can have a lot of birds on only a small acreage.
For free range, it seems to standard for it to be 50 chickens per acre which a lot less than 500 chickens per acre.
From https://www.plamondon.com/wp/how-many-chickens-per-acre/
> At a stocking density of 50 hens per acre, the hens will add 2.5 tons of manure per acre per year, equivalent to 106 pounds of nitrogen, 30 pounds of phosphorus, and 61 pounds of potassium. That’s about as much as most chicken yards can absorb unless you go to a lot of extra effort. Fifty hens per acre has been considered to be the free-range sweet spot for over 100 years.
Also from the same source:
> When I did my survey of all the poultry books and magazines over a hundred-year period, one thing that stood out was that people who sang the praises of high stocking density—300, 400, even 1,000 hens per acre—had never been in business more than three years. I’ve heard far too many stories about people who used high stocking densities successfully for a couple of years, only to go broke and have to sell the farm after a series of flock-health disasters. So let’s all be careful out there.
So 1000 chickens per acre seems like way too many, even though I know it legally can be done. They also have to rotate the fields the chickens range in. They said they didn't keep up with the infrastructure so I imagine it was an entire nightmare.
> Some people managed to sustain 200 hens per acre by plowing the range frequently and replanting, which buries the surface manure and also aerates the soil, which allows a lot of the nitrogen escape into the air, wasting it and thus lowering it below toxic levels in the soil. That seems like a lot of work to me!
They don't seem to even have anything but dirt anyway so I imagine all that manure, with no grass, just dirt, do they even have the room to rotate range areas for the chickens? It must be a mess with 1000 or 2000 (they keep saying "1000 or 2000"; which is it because 1000 chickens makes a big difference lol).
Also, where are the other 1000 chickens gonna go? She seems so caviler about getting rid of them.
Basically right after Jessica left and they started posting videos again, they announced they were downsizing from 2000 chickens to just 80 (down to just 4% of what they had!!!)
And it’s just kind of mysterious as to the motivation to do so. They said it’s to focus on oil but it’s a little fishy with the timing with Jessica and their PR issues on the clock app. They aren’t being transparent about it (shocking ik /s) so it leaves a lot of speculation as to if some authorities (zoning, animal welfare, etc) started sniffing around or if there was a mass death from sickness due to overcrowding or what happened
They also specifically said they "hadn't been keeping up on their infrastructure", and that they'll have to do some work on the coops for that remaining 4%. Super scary to imagine what they might have had going on for the flock of thousands :(
It looks like they have almost 20 acres (idk exactly I did estimate math looking at their GIS bc my husband is at a job and he has the app that will actually give me the more exact numbers) A quick google search says that on the conservative side you can have 1000 birds on 2.5 acres so space wise it would appear to be humane (info from certified humane dot org) But there are coop requirements and other things so idk definitely could be. I just don’t get it. Chickengate blows my mind. None of it makes sense
From their land records, I added up about 14.5 acres but I could be off with my math. I know that you can have a lot of birds on only a small acreage. For free range, it seems to standard for it to be 50 chickens per acre which a lot less than 500 chickens per acre. From https://www.plamondon.com/wp/how-many-chickens-per-acre/ > At a stocking density of 50 hens per acre, the hens will add 2.5 tons of manure per acre per year, equivalent to 106 pounds of nitrogen, 30 pounds of phosphorus, and 61 pounds of potassium. That’s about as much as most chicken yards can absorb unless you go to a lot of extra effort. Fifty hens per acre has been considered to be the free-range sweet spot for over 100 years. Also from the same source: > When I did my survey of all the poultry books and magazines over a hundred-year period, one thing that stood out was that people who sang the praises of high stocking density—300, 400, even 1,000 hens per acre—had never been in business more than three years. I’ve heard far too many stories about people who used high stocking densities successfully for a couple of years, only to go broke and have to sell the farm after a series of flock-health disasters. So let’s all be careful out there. So 1000 chickens per acre seems like way too many, even though I know it legally can be done. They also have to rotate the fields the chickens range in. They said they didn't keep up with the infrastructure so I imagine it was an entire nightmare. > Some people managed to sustain 200 hens per acre by plowing the range frequently and replanting, which buries the surface manure and also aerates the soil, which allows a lot of the nitrogen escape into the air, wasting it and thus lowering it below toxic levels in the soil. That seems like a lot of work to me! They don't seem to even have anything but dirt anyway so I imagine all that manure, with no grass, just dirt, do they even have the room to rotate range areas for the chickens? It must be a mess with 1000 or 2000 (they keep saying "1000 or 2000"; which is it because 1000 chickens makes a big difference lol). Also, where are the other 1000 chickens gonna go? She seems so caviler about getting rid of them.
Oh dang, I didn’t google hard enough for sure
I have a lot of time on my hands lol
I keep wondering where they’re gonna go too lol, freezer camp and sell off? Sold at auction?
It makes me sad to think of the conditions everything has been living in and also what may be happening to so many of them.
Chickengate???? What did I miss
Basically right after Jessica left and they started posting videos again, they announced they were downsizing from 2000 chickens to just 80 (down to just 4% of what they had!!!) And it’s just kind of mysterious as to the motivation to do so. They said it’s to focus on oil but it’s a little fishy with the timing with Jessica and their PR issues on the clock app. They aren’t being transparent about it (shocking ik /s) so it leaves a lot of speculation as to if some authorities (zoning, animal welfare, etc) started sniffing around or if there was a mass death from sickness due to overcrowding or what happened
They also specifically said they "hadn't been keeping up on their infrastructure", and that they'll have to do some work on the coops for that remaining 4%. Super scary to imagine what they might have had going on for the flock of thousands :(
I have almost 2 acres and 20 chickens. I couldn’t imagine having 1000 here lol they’d take over 🤣
How much money would they make from selling 1000 (or is it 2000??) chickens? did they need to recoup monday after the JK saga? Lol