Chicken Addiction! My city friends are threatening an intervention!

[IdealisticRoo]

It started in March, I got 7 pullets E.E. chicks from Murdochs, they are now grown and laying nicely!

I thought I would like to get some black Australorps, so I ordered 11 hens and 2 roosters as chicks, my neighbor wanted me to get him 12 RIR pullets, THEN Ideal Poultry was having a 99 cent bantam deal, so I go 25 of those!

Today I saw an ad on Craigslist for 30 Buckeye hens and 2 roosters from a good home who raised them from chicks and they have to move, so I got them! They are laying nicely and are settling in to my second hen house!

What next? NO MORE CHICKENS! I will have lots of fresh eggs, but no one wanting to buy eggs yet.

SIGH!

Proud parent of:
11 Black Australorp Pullets
2 Black Australorp Roosters and
24 Assorted Bantams (11 feather-legged and 13 non feather-legged)
(not to mention the 12 Rhode Island Red Pullets I am fostering)
6 lovely Easter Egger Pullets that are laying nicely
AND 30 Buckeye hens and 2 roosters!
2 tanks full of tropical fish
and Smoky, a VERY NEEDY Shepherd mix rescue dog!

 

[gryeyes]

Wow. Just wow.

I have 13 chicks in a brooder right now; one of them is a Buckeye. I would SO love to get more Buckeyes! Next time I see an auction for Buckeye eggs I'm snapping 'em up if I can. Buckeyes are not easy to get around here on the west coast, or the central Valley area of California.

But you sound like you are as addicted to chickens as am I. Congratulations on the CL score!

 

[mychookschick]

WOW!! OH MY WORD!!

I would love to be able to have that amount! BUT, My parents would throw a fit (not literally) if I had that many! LOL

 

[theoldchick]

Lucky you!

 

[secuono]

Jeez! That's a heck of a lot of birds! How are they getting on, pics?

 

[sheila3935]

You sound like me. I started in May with 2 RIR's for Mothers Day. Then got 6 more reds. Wanted different kinds so got 6 barred rocks. 5 were roos. Rehomed 3. Got 2 more 1 barred rock 1 black australorp both roos rehomed order 10 from Ideal 9 DOA the last chick died 3 days later but before she died I had to have her some friends so went to a farm and got 5 more 2 Black Australorps 3 mixes. Then on craigslist a guy had 4 naked necks 1 was a roo rehomed him and the BA then another craigslist had chicks bought 6 3 barred rocks 1 BA 1 delaware and the guy threw in 3 silkie mixes. Bought hatching eggs and 2 weeks ago hatched out 22 RIR's so now I have 48 we also have 4 dogs 2 ducks 10 rats 1 hampster 1 boa constrictor and 1 turtle.

 

[sixxchixx]

jealous of both of you!!! my SO and i recently went to the closest pumpkin patch place and they had a bunch of feather footed bantams and pheasants...... "awe honnie, i want those!!!! and he said... "tough luck Tawny ,you chose the chicks we already have "

and i thought..... thats what you think.... chicken math

 

[Pelican49]

Quote:
Have you tried your local feed stores? We have 2 that sell local eggs. Of course he gets 25 cents off each carton, but that's fine by me, he's supplying the refrigerator and the customers.

 

[fishnet1971]

i want to see photos of your hen house!!!!!!

 

[IdealisticRoo]

gryeyes - (and anyone else wanting any) as soon as I get my new Buckeye girls settled in, will put some hatching eggs up for sale. The guy I got them from ordered 50 str8 run from a breeder in Ohio. He did not have the name of or any details on the breeder he got them from, but as he was losing his home and moving and giving up his flock, I guess that is understandable. They are a motley looking bunch, being in various stages of a molt!

I had a day! I drove 2 hours, helped round them up and put them in the truck, after 1 escapee I realized that opening the camper shell was A BAD IDEA!

So I put the rest in via the cab and the little window into the camper shell! Then I drove VERY SLOWLY all the way home. I had to giggle when I stopped for gas and people were looking at me funny, because my camper shell was cackling!

I got home about dusk and unloaded the chickens into the Chicken yard, an area I just fenced off approx. 20' x 80'. Then I got busy in the former large henhouse, that had been used as a garden shed/ storage, since the new smaller hen house was nicer and more than adequate for my 6 E.E. pullets. I made several roosts out of 2 x4s and swept the floor and covered it in pine shavings before rounding the new chickens up and trying to herd them into their new home.

It was well after dark when I finally closed the door, finally having gotten what I thought was all of the Buckeyes into the Large Hen house. I found 2 hens outside in the morning, 1 squawking and 1 laying on the ground, I suspect foul play!

Now I have 29 Buckeye hens an 2 Buckeye roosters.

I headed into the garage and made a 6 hole nest box out of an old oak cabinet I had bought at the thrift store, thinking it might make a brooder. An hour later I was covered in sawdust and paint, but I had a nice nest box set!

I have been so busy tending chickens in addition to working, I have not gotten any pictures taken, but I will soon, I hope!

Proud parent of:
11 Black Australorp Pullets
2 Black Australorp Roosters and
24 Assorted Bantams (11 feather-legged and 13 non feather-legged)
(not to mention the 12 Rhode Island Red Pullets I am fostering)
6 lovely Easter Egger Pullets that are laying nicely
AND 29 Buckeye hens and 2 roosters!
2 tanks full of tropical fish
and Smoky, a VERY NEEDY Shepherd mix rescue dog!