babies not on the morning truck:(

[Rafter 7 Paint Horses]

25 chickens....crazy.....definitely not!!!

Now...500 chickens....that's crazy....And that's me!!!
Then add over 100 rabbits, 50 + goats, horses, emus, dogs, pigs, and whatever else we happen to bring home at the moment, makes me certifiable...

aran...if you are worried about them sending extra males for warmth & don't want them, why not just order a total of 25 chicks of what you want? Sorry if I'm adding to the addiction.

Jean

 

[AccidentalFarm]

Quote:
ENABLER!!!!

Ha, Jean that is the same thing I was trying to oh-so-subtly suggest to Aran.

 

[BirdBrain]

Okay Aran,
So I have this question...I can't blame lack of sleep, but maybe I can blame my confusion on the cold my kids gave me. If the chicks hatch on monday and are shipped on tuesday for you to receive on Thursday they would be 3 days old. Wouldn't it be better to just let them ship the chicks on Monday? That way there would be no danger of them arriving while you are on shift. Is there a standby person who could pick them up for you, like your wife? Now don't throw tomatoes at this next suggestion, but what if you waited the 4 weeks until your residency was complete and timed their arrival for then? You could put in your order now so that they would not be sold out of what you want and then maybe you would have a better chance of getting them in a timely manner. I'm with AF and Rafter...take the plunge and get all 25...at least this way you get exactly what you want. And look at it this way, maybe your wife can't can't count!?

I hear you AF. You are calling me an ENABLER too!!

--Bird

 

[aran]

hmmm my post didnt stick from before...so ill type it again!

All is good here with my chicks...I have the coop about 75% finished after a HUGE day of building. I had a confusing email from ideal saying they couldnt ship monday because the RIW and production blacks would not be hatched by then. Well i dont want those two chick types anyway ...i got them last time...they whites all died and the blacks are doing fine. So i emailed back...not sure what that was all about. Ill keep you posted.

pics to come in the next couple days.

aran

 

[aran]

oh yeah sorry bird not to answer your qs:

i DO want them to ship them on the monday so they arrive wed when im home...thats what im waiting to hear if they will do. I just cant get them if they ship them on the wed to arrive friday because im on call. My wife is unable to pick them up friday either. She is also a physician and subject to the same crazy hours as me

I TOTALLY CANT WAIT 4 WEEKS ARE YOU MAD!???!?? ( jk)
no seriously, i finish residency in a few weeks but then i am not starting my attending job at the hospital until september 1st ( have to study for and sit the boards in the meantime--> august 27th is the actual date of my boards). Soooo i will have NO extra moneys until i start the attending job and i totally cant wait until september to add to my flock
So im just gonna go for it now and keep living the dream my wife and I have had since we were teenagers to live on a little piece of land that is ours and have our kids, our chickens, a goat, horses and whatever other animal i can think of on my farm

im sure you "enablers" can understand the not being able to wait part! Also i have "conned' the wife into allowing 25chickens and not a chicken more! and since we have 7 already im allowed 18 more which is what im ordering ( more or less!) Now if "more" pullets should arrive at the "generosity" of the hatchery then that wouldnt be my fault would it?

 

[BeckyLa]

Maybe you and your dw could consider what dh & I finally resorted to. All we needed was 1, I say 1, EE or Americauna roo for his 6 EE hens. Just 1. After several months of fruitless searching we gave up and ordered 25 straight run chicks. The idea is to get the best roo he can along with a few more hens and sell the rest. In about another month they will be old enough for him to pick who he wants to keep, culling down to a reasonable number, and by selling the rest we hope to get out money back.

Another thing, I have gotten much better results from a phone call to a hatchery than I ever did by email.

 

[BirdBrain]

**************ENABLER ALERT***************

Aran,
It is called "Contingency planning"...you order the 25 just incase (lets see 25 mins 18 equals 7, okay) , just in case 7 don't make it.

When they all make it, what can a chicken lover do? You can't turn a poor chick out into the street......I wonder if she would go for that.

I gotta go do something more producive with my time besides dreaming about chickens. My folks have my birds (5 lovely golden laced cochin roos) and I miss them terribly. Seriously though, I hope your birds, however many you end up getting, will arrive safely and be a terrific enjoyment to your whole family.

Wow, 2 physicians in one family. That is going to be some schedule to keep. Having a homestead where you can decompress will be "just what the doctor ordered. I was a nurse in my previous career, now I am just glad to be keeping the home fires burning.

--Bird

 

[aran]

i hear ya mate...by the way how come my smily things dont show up as little faces all the time? I know ...totally irrelevant.. was just wondering


I like your idea of the 25 chicks thing but my wife has read this and has said "get the 18...if some dont make it then we have a flock of less than 25!"

...Ill work on her

 

[aran]

becky...for the most part ideal has been prompt and very helpful with their emails...i have not called them since the last chick died from the first order (we lost 4/11). I am too much of a wuss to ever cull anything even chickens ( and I LOVE EATING CHICKEN!) these guys are just pets and nothing more. I am looking forward to the eggs though! By the way what is EE?


The biggest concern I have with owning 30+birds ( even 25 is a big number to house) is making a coop large enough to keep them all happy and warm inside. The coop I built yesterday is 8x6x4 and its just for the first group of chicks...I will build a second on of similar size for the next group. I figured I can get about 10-12birds in each one. The plan being I could have one coop at each end of the run so that if there are birds that dont get along I can separate them by dividing the run in half.

 

[AccidentalFarm]

Hiya Aran- sounds like you've got everything under control! Don't mind us, we can't help but suggest more chickies. It's an addiction. We love applying peer pressure.

EE- stands for Easter Egger, which is an Ameraucana cross and not a true (recongnized) breed. They are called Easter Eggers because they lay eggs of various colors.