CHICKEN MATH STRIKES AGAIN - Page 16

No hope. ..I'm trying to be strong. No more hatching until 2013...yeah right!!! with luck I''ll get to summer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mabhera 

No hope. ..I'm trying to be strong. No more hatching until 2013...yeah right!!! with luck I''ll get to summer.

feels like summer to me now 

Quote:

Originally Posted by chickenmanII 

Sorry horsymom,  there is no help for us.  I don't think it can be stopped once it's started.

Yep, we're all doomed! I never would have thunk that I'd be a chicken lady but sure am enjoying them. I am increasing the flock because I can't keep up with the demands for the eggs. It is so rewarding to know my gals are healthy, happy, free-range and providing such good, quality eggs for people.

I don't even have chicks yet and chicken math has set in!

I was originally planning to get 3 chickens in a little city coop, even though I live on acreage.  It was just for a few fresh eggs for my hubby and daughter, since I don't really eat eggs (vegan-ish.  I eat meat/eggs only once or twice a month, only when I really crave it, and follow a vegan diet the rest of the time.  So I'm not a vegan, but make vegan choices 90% of the time, and don't do dairy.)

Then I discovered BYC...Wow, look at all the pretty colored eggs!  I definitely need a white, a light brown, a dark brown and a blue/green.  So that's 4 hens.  But no more than 4!

So I began researching coops.  I was planning to buy a coop kit for my 4 hens.  And NO ROOS!  A dozen or so eggs/week on average would be plenty!

But...the coop kits are so spendy.  I could just build a coop from a plan for the same amount, and make it as big as I want.  After all, I want happy chickens, don't I?  With lots and lots of space?  We have the room, after all...and though we're not particularly handy, DH assembled our daughter's play structure all by himself.  And my dad's a retired engineer and has built all kinds of things for us.  With a good building plan, we could make a pretty sweet coop!

So I bought two sets of plans - TheGardenCoop and CleanCoop's "Shiloh" plan.  The Garden Coop can fit around 5 chickens.  The Clean Coop "Shiloh" plan can fit about 15.  It's the same amount of work...why not build the one for 15 chickens, you know, just because???  Great, it's decided!

But I really want to free range/pasture the chickens during the day.  A roo would really come in handy for added protection, right?  And I should get extra chickens because we may lose a few until we figure things out - not sure what my daytime predator situation will be.  And having a roo means fertilized eggs that we can hatch for fun and sell off the chicks! 

Oh, and wait, what the heck are Olive Eggers???  Ooooh, I could breed some of those if I choose the right 1st generation of chicks...

So maybe now it's time to order the chicks!  Wow.  There are some really cool looking chickens on the Meyer site.  Hmmmm, since I'm building a coop for 15+ chickens, why not order a few more?  My parents would love some eggs, so would our neighbors, and I could hang a flyer at DD's school to sell off any extras.

So the order's placed!  I got 2 white layers (Golden Campine, Ancona), 2 blue/green layers (EE's), and 4 varying shades of brown layers (Welsummer, Blue Laced Red Wyandotte, Golden Laced Wyandotte, Barred Rock.)  And an EE roo.  That's 8.  Just right!

But gosh, I'd really love to breed the the EE roo with a barred dark brown hen for sex-linked Olive Eggers (I just read through the whole Olive Egger thread, lol).  So I just emailed Meyer to add a Cuckoo Marans hen to my order.

So that's 9.  ENOUGH!

But then DD asked me, "what about those little poofy chickens you promised we'd get?"  Oh yeah.  I did tell her we'd get some Silkies - showed her the pics and everything.  Well I do still have space in the coop.  I could add 3 silkie hens - a black, a white and a buff.  So next up is to find a local breeder who will have chicks around the time my Meyer order comes in (mid-August) so that they can all be raised together.  I'd been advised on BYC not to get hatchery silkies, since I want them nice and poofy!

So that'll be 12.  And I'm certain that's IT!  Well, until they start producing cool fertile eggs and I decide to hatch some Olive Eggers and any other interesting combos that catch my eye.

And I really wanted a BC Marans, but Meyer was out.  Will need to get my hands on one of those too. 

LOL, so the first coop, that's not even built yet, will be full on just our 1st generation of chicks.

We're on 5 acres, but most of it's not cleared (I'm in Washington state, so lots of woods).  So what have I been doing?  Getting bids to clear a couple of acres to make room in case I love keeping chickens so much that I want more.  And DH and DD really, really, really want a couple of dairy goats...and I've read that ducks are pretty cool.  Good eggs and they eat slugs!  We have sooooooo many slugs it's impossible to keep a garden.  A couple of ducks would be a terrific addition.... 

And the extra land cleared means we could even plant an orchard.  We've already squeezed in as many fruit trees as we can fit, but I want more!  The orchard space could double as pasture space for the chickens.

What happened to this San Francisco city girl?!  I'm going to have to quit my job just to take care of our budding farm, lol.

Yes, EricaD, that is how it starts.  All well planned on paper, harmless enough.  MMMMUUUUHHAAHAHAA!

Started with the six minimum from TSC - four red pullets and two st. run buff orps.  Thought my coop was big enough for six - turns out it will only be big enough for four.  So we bought another coop - but then we had room for eight chickens, so we (of course) got two more - blue silkies from a breeder.  Up to 8 chicks.

   Started to suspect that both of the orps are roos.  Still don't really know.  But, if they are, that isn't nearly enough hens...so I just ordered one pullet each of a bunch of different breeds from Meyer, and I'm gonna pick them up in July (earliest I could get a blue laced red wyandotte).  My goal was an additional 8...but I ended up ordering 9.  At least I didn't accept the meal maker!

  Started with 6, and will soon have 17.  I still think I'm pretty much winning at chicken math. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aeropennchick 

Started with the six minimum from TSC - four red pullets and two st. run buff orps.  Thought my coop was big enough for six - turns out it will only be big enough for four.  So we bought another coop - but then we had room for eight chickens, so we (of course) got two more - blue silkies from a breeder.  Up to 8 chicks.

   Started to suspect that both of the orps are roos.  Still don't really know.  But, if they are, that isn't nearly enough hens...so I just ordered one pullet each of a bunch of different breeds from Meyer, and I'm gonna pick them up in July (earliest I could get a blue laced red wyandotte).  My goal was an additional 8...but I ended up ordering 9.  At least I didn't accept the meal maker!

 

  Started with 6, and will soon have 17.  I still think I'm pretty much winning at chicken math. 

I dunno. A dozen to 34 + 5 turkeys is pretty good chicken math. :p

Ok, so we started out with a 20 chicken limit. We have tons of acreage, so we can handle that many.

Well, we got 13 chicks, you know, so we can get some later. Then I was craigslisting, and I saw 8 bantams, and of course, I HAD to get those. Then I saw another ad the day we got those bantams, they had 22 chickens for sale. Again, we purchased. Well, I said I AM DONE! Then I had quite a few, but then something happened one day, the WORST DAY OF MY LIFE!! we went up to check on everybody, and what did we see? Almost nothing, a predator had come and got all but 10 of our chickens. 

So we left that alone for awhile, And then We had to sell 3 rooster bantams. :(

down to 7 now. 

Well, what could we do but make sure the coop was secure then buy some more :)

We bought 24 hens. :)

That was that for that year. This year, I took a serious chick plunge and bought.. 60 hens, and 100 roosters (roosters were for meat)

and now, that is where we are now..

I have 21 brand new chicks just out of the incubators, now milling about in a brooder.  Next to another brooder with five six-week old  Polish chicks sent to me (but they're delicate and won't go outside til next weekend). 

Uhhh, outside I have around 50-ish chickens, nine ducks, and a pair of Toulouse geese.

It all started October 1st, 2009 with "I think four, maybe six chicks will do."  Brought home 8.  And so it goes....

WEEELLLL I started with 5 then decided to get 1 more chick! 3 months later i got 3 straight run chicks from a friend and got rid of 2 (roosters)  then I got 4 full grown polish and hatched 4 mutt chicks but 2 died.....

5 +  1 + 3 - 2 + 4 +4 - 2 = 12!!!!!