6 have turned into 17. What to do???

[Cowgirl71]

You'll be fine... Just make sure to build a nice big coop!

I started out with 70 chicks from McMurray spring 2009 (laying pullets and meat birds). Couldn't wait for the eggs, so I got 12 hens and a rooster.

I was up to almost 150 birds this spring. It seemed like I was spending all my time refilling feeders and waterers, cleaning bedding, opening chicken doors in the morning and closing them at night, washing and trying to sell all those eggs... Finally I couldn't take it anymore and put up an ad on Craigslist. I got down to 51 adults and 37 two month old Easter Eggers. Then another box of chicks came from McMurray...

and so now I have 62 chicks in the basement. And another box of 34 chicks due in May from Ideal Poultry...

I have the bug BAD!!! Has someone found the cure yet?! Please, anyone? You could patent it and sell it for big bucks you know... I'd be willing to be your guinea pig, in exchange for hatching eggs!

 

[hunter109]

you think you got it bad i stated with 15 and now i am going to have 32 i just couldnt help my self

 

[kagedgoddess]

Your coop sounds fine. Post pics on the coop threads so we all can see and critique.


Cowgirl, you are WAY worse than me! Lol. I dont think ive gotten to 150 yet. I do sell them off though so i can get more!

Eta: dh just made me count. I ll be near 140 by the end of may. (yikes!)

 

[zengrrl]

This is soooo the wrong group to be talking numbers and chicken math. We start with addition, imagine subtraction and before you know it we've advanced to calculus....

I say 20 is a nice even number....

 

[white01]

Quote:

i only wanted 15 hens no roosters, now have 46 with 39 eggs in bator, (ps have 6 roos

)

 

[hunter109]

thats cool i have 15 golden comets and then got three more dreeds comming here next week

 

[teeville5]

We jumped in for the first time in early March without being prepared at all. It was a bit nerve-racking, but we made it through just fine. We got 20 chicks at first (we lost 1). Last week I decided to get 6 more so I had 25, but got 10 one day and 4 more the next. If I had it my way I would get more.

 

[earnhardtlvr]

Quote:
My head's swimming! I lost count. I live on about 15 acres (parents' property) and my house has an ooold smoke house that I thought might make a good chicken coop. The room I've fixed up is about 10 x 15 with shelves for the eventual nesting boxes, a sandy clay floor, and some dowels in one corner for roosting. There's also electricity to it with a light and an overhead outlet. Does this sound like a good, safe setup? Should I add anything particular? The walls are block, door is wood (patched to close up any accessibility by varmints), and ceiling is open rafters, though pretty tall. Should I close the ceiling? If they have lower roosts, will they even bother going up that high?

I love this forum. I read constantly and have learned so much already.

That's so cool! We live on about 17 acres (my parent's property) and we converted the old smokehouse to a coop also! LOL Urs sounds exactly like ours! If u look at my BYC page I have numerous pics of it on my page! I have their roost on one wall and nest boxes on the other wall. The floor in mine is cement, so we r putting some sand and wood chips down. We have electricity to our building also so that if I need to hook up a heat lamp I can. There are two overhead lights also. We cut 4 windows out and there was already ventilation below and up high, so we didn't have to worry about that. We r building a portected run this weekend that will give them around 625 sq ft to run around outside! Good luck and let me know if u run into any problems u run into with using the smokehouse.

 

[earnhardtlvr]

Quote:
check out my coop on my BYC page. It is a converted smokehouse also...the girlies aren't ready to go out there yet. We r adding a protected run (about 625 sq ft) this weekend so when the girles r ready...they will have a nice home and play area!

 

[AZSummer]

Sounds like pops has the chicken bug. You'd better build the coop for 50. He might not be done yet. Wait til he discovers silkies and frizzles and...