Raising meat chickens is a great way to start raising your own family's meat. Should You raise meat chickens on your homestead? Can you enjoy PROFITABLE pastured poultry from your own farm? We answer that question in this episode of Homesteady. As we examine homestead chickens closer, we have to wonder: are chickens a "gateway animal?" Does buying chickens lead to more chickens, then to pigs, goats, sheep, and even (perhaps) a cow? John Suscovich from the Growings Farms Podcast and Farm Marketing Solutions became a full-time farmer. NOTE: Today is our first time using our YouTube live-stream from last Tuesday evening! Did you know we will be live AGAIN this and EVERY Thursday event at 9:00 PM EST Cornish Crosses' were Aust's first meat bird. Purchased at Tractor Supply Co, and treated more as pets, it was a very different experience at the beginning. Aust is able to reflect by re-reading an old Homesteady blog post on how his perception of raising chickens for meat has changed with experience. Now, Aust raises pastured pork along with meat chickens, and that pork is one of the most profitable of his homestead endeavors. For Aust and Kendra, meat chickens were a gateway to raising pastured pigs; for John, chickens were the gateway into a career. John and his wife both wanted to farm; but they didn't own any land. Not only that, they had been homeless for two years, embarking on a cross-country bike trip across the United States. After touring farms and craft breweries, they knew that living on the farm was the life for them. But, John had a fascination with chickens, and knew how to process meat birds. Becoming a pastured poultry farmer seemed the next logical step. NO money, NO job, NO land; John saw only opportunities. The broad decision of going into agriculture was passion-based...but it had to work on a spreadsheet before it was going to work on the field. John went door to door until he had accumulated several offers from landowners with hay fields he could use to begin his chicken business. He used chicken tractors to develop a mobile pastured chicken business. John started with Joel Salatin's chicken tractor design, and then...innovated. He designed a custom chicken tractor to meet his own needs. With a background in technical theater design, John was able to parlay his skills into his ideal chicken tractor. (See! EVEN THEATER can help on your homestead journey!) As John was selling chickens, people started to ask, "Where did you get those chicken tractors?" and another arm to his business was born. Chickens for meat are great for a homesteader. Their infrastructure is mobile, they are affordable, they only take eight weeks to mature to processing if you use Cornish Cross chickens, and they are a very manageable animal. Running two or ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVnfLC67Bh0

So you have chicks coming!?! So exciting.. but now what? In today's video we show you everything you need to be ready for chicks! THIS VIDEO SPONSOR - BUTCHER BOX! GET FREE GROUND BEEF FOR LIFE - https://bchrbox.co/homesteady JOHN SUSCOVICH STUFF - https://www.thisishomesteady.com/build-john-suscovich-stress-free-chicken-tractor-raise-meat-birds/ WYZE CAM - https://amzn.to/3bdihpv ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DkAntoZ8mU