Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Chickens, turkeys, and guineas will all roost with one another and for the most part
will get along just fine. Ducks and geese will sleep happily together on the floor below
the others with minimal, if any, problems. Ducks are so personable and easygoing that
they get along with anybody and anything. Geese are usually so busy trying to be just a
little bit better than everybody else that they remain somewhat aloof and separate from
the other members of the barnyard.
You also can add pigeons into this menagerie. They'll inhabit yet another niche in the
barn, and will mix well with the others. In some cases, even pheasants can be allowed to
run loose in an open pen with other poultry and will get along just fine.
Never add free-roaming quail to a mixed barnyard; their tender size and docile
disposition make intermingling dangerous. Keep them separate from other species.
Out of the Past, Into the Future
The practice of poultry raising has changed rapidly in the past 60 years. Even though
the total number of chickens remained fairly stable in the United States from 1940 to
1969, the number of farms raising them dropped from more than 5 million in 1940 to
fewer than 500,000 in 1969. Agricultural censuses have become more complex and de-
tailed since that time and the government now keeps tabs on, among other things, total
numbers of animals, numbers of species, and the sizes of the farms where the birds are
raised. The farm census of 2007 offers a snapshot of how the numbers of raising facilit-
ies have continued to drop (see box below).
According to that census, 0.3 percent of farms with laying chickens raised 76.2 per-
cent of all laying chickens raised in the United States in 2007. That means as a beginning
poultry raiser, you join a very large group of smaller farms collectively raising a tiny
group of all of U. S. chickens. The remainder of the nearly 350 million birds was raised
by fewer than 10 thousand corporate facilities. Since the media have begun to examine
corporate farm practices believed by some to be unhealthy or inhumane, the small farm-
er is challenged by the stigma attached to poultry raising. Naturally, corporate farms also
have the majority of the poultry-raising capital — an additional hurdle for small farms
hoping to get the attention of a questioning consumer.
On a positive note for backyarders, the number of farms annually raising between 1
and 99 chickens rose to 135,843 in 2007 from 90,124 in 2002! While small producers
are on the upswing, the number of large-scale producers has dropped.
Although the pendulum is swinging, and the number of backyard producers grows
each year, the total flock numbers raised on small farms and in backyards will likely
never again reach the numbers seen in the 1940s and 1950s. Still, it is encouraging to
see more and more folks interested in producing their own food, and heartening to learn
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