6 or 8 chicks to start?

[yotetrapper]

I started with 6. By the end of that summer I had 14 or so. Now I have 200+. Don't say you weren't warned....

 

[Camelot Farms]

Quote:

200? You are my idol!!

 

[kasey08]

i started with 6 now i have 18 so yes agreed with everyone on here we LOVE chickens

 

[lizzy06019]

We, too, started with the idea of only getting 6. We ended up ordering 26!!! All arrived healthy and are currently 10 weeks old. They're all beautiful.

 

[MareeZoCool]

I started out with 6 chicks last June, 6 is a good number, go ahead and get 8, you'll be glad you did!

 

[HelenB]

I told my hubby that I'd get 12, max. Had 4, lost 2, just got 8 this morning, so, the current total is 10. One of the first 4 that survived the dogs in the coop scene looks a little bit roosterish to me, and we'll see how it goes with this batch. My current assortment is 2 each Gold Laced Wyandottes, Black Jersey Giants, Black Australorps, Buff Orpintons, and Wellsummers. I look forward to a nice little black and shades of golden colors.... (And, in the back of my mind - but what about Barnvelders, and Marans, and all the ones that come in blue????)

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

I started ordering 25. I was sent 30! Now with 2 hawk-nabbed, one hatched, three deaths, 11 roos dispatched, and 2 re-homed we are down to 12.
And I have ordered 15 more.
What I have learened from all this is you don't know what chickens you want till you have some. I only ordered more of ONE of my 9 varieties (and am getting 4 new kinds!) because I learned a lot from that first batch.
So of course this only applies if you are getting more than one breed, but If you have a good place to get them near by where you can get small ammounts, I say get as few as you can convince yourself to get, and as they grow and you discover your favorites, get more of those kinds.
I am astounded by the different temperments displayed even by different colors of the same breed. My 4 columbians are flighty and asocial (even with the other chickens) and are the most likely to lay eggs in stupid places. But my Blue laced Reds (even though 2 were roos) were all sweet and loveable. The gold laced are wary, smart, and calm, though not friendly, and are the most likely to run from roos ratehr than submitting. And the silver penciled are the dullest chickens in the flock. The roo seldom acted as such and the hens had no discernable personality. All those are wyandottes, but the differences are amazing. If I had it to do over I would have added more of some, gotten less or none of others... but of course I can only order in quatities greater than 25 where I am, so I can't be adding new ones all the time.
And I started out wanting to get only one kind!
Anyone who DOES only keep one kind please tell me how you do it with all these options available!