"Careful what you wish for"

Hi, I'm new to byc and chickens. I live in Northwest Arkansas. I've wished I had chickens for years. A friend acquired 6 one day old chicks RIRs, after a week he decided couldn't keep them so I jumped in feet first and took them home. While at our local farm & ranch store they clearanced out some 3 week old s/r white Cornish Cross chicks. I had no idea what I was doing...still don't for that matter. To my thinking "there will be some roosters and I should allow for some deaths" so I bought 10 of them. A week later everybody is still alive. I need a coop, hubby and I unload the old shed only to discover it's in really bad shape with rot. We've reclaimed what could be salvaged for a rebuild. Another week later all the chicks are still alive. We have company over. In telling about all our chicks and coop project our visitors know someone wanting to get rid of a coop. I bought the coop and it came with 9 laying hens and a rooster.
Now there are 26 chickens and all are still alive. Dang my luck. I lost my father 3 years ago and I can hear him telling me "Careful what you wish for little girl." And he is laughing so hard from Heaven.

Hello and welcome to BYC!

Hi welcome to BYC , that's called chicken math. It happens to us all, just part of the chicken addiction.

Very nice intro and entertaining to hear how you went from 0 to 26 chickens so quickly!

If you have questions always feel free to ask and be sure to share photos of how your birds are doing as well.

Thanks for joining us!

You still need to be careful - did you know Cornish cross are meatbirds? They eat like pigs, grow very fast and need to be processed early before they outgrow their organs and die. I believe they are slaughtered around 8 weeks of age. If you don't mind that, you should have a few chicken meals for the freezer

Welcome to the BYC flock! We are glad you joined us!



Yes, as Drumstick Diva said, be prepared to process your Cornish between 7-9 weeks of age. If you wait any longer than that, they will usually start dying of heart attacks.

By the way, is your coop big enough to house 26 birds? General rule of thumb is 4 square feet per bird in the coop and at least 10 square feet per bird in the run. This means your coop should be a little over 100 square feet and your run should be about 26'x10'. Of course, once your Cornish are processed you will not need as much room, unless of course chicken math strikes again! Beware of chicken math!

Happy your dad is having a good laugh in heaven Hi! And welcome to BYC

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!