Chicken math prevailed!

[Matieus27]

We started with 6 then I *had* to take the kids to the feed store with me and that brought home another 6, 2 of which are accidental meat birds (TSC and their mislabeled bins and employees that have never had anything to do with chickens) so technically just 4 since our 2 Cornishes will be culled in a couple of weeks now. Then I go back with the whole family because we need feed and I wanted my husband to show me what he was talking about us using for the run and, of course, we can't leave without a peeping box. Our count was at 18 total with 2 to be culled early (I'm so sad because they're so sweet!) and that was satisfying. Our coop is plenty big to handle this many and more. More. A friend calls to tell me new chicks are in and they're marking down chicks and I can't help myself, I want at least 3. So we agree to split the order. She gets them and then radio silence. For a full 24 hours. Husband sees my disappointment and can't stand it so off to TSC we go and you can't buy less than 6 so.... chicken math. 24 chicks, 3 separate brooders, plenty of love to go around. After researching so much, I'm fairly certain that out of our first 6 Australorps, only 2 are actually Australorps. Unless 4-5 week old Black Australorp juvenile feathers are barred....? So I think we're actually looking at either Cuckoo Marans or Barred Rocks as both were for sale at the same time and many were in the same bins together. I really wish that TSC would hire people during chick days who have some kind of experience with chickens. Husband is officially, lovingly, referred to as the Chicken Man around these parts. We have one specific "Australorp" that adores him. Picture for cuteness. View attachment 1882468
For now, our flock stays at 24....... until I have to go back to get feed and they end up getting something in that I just can't say no to. Does everyone have this problem? I can't help myself.

I'm a chicken hatching addict so i buy eggs just for the purpose of hatching so I can feel you on the cheeping babies all over the place. I have bought chickens in Atwoods the first batch i bought i bought 5 chickens and ended up with 4 cockerels and one pullet then i hatched some out ended up with all pullets not one single cockerel then i bought some other eggs and ended up only getting one to hatch it was a pullet as well then i went to Atwoods and got a chick out of the Banded pullet bin and lo and behold I chose a cockerel out of the pullet bin I have the darnedest luck so I have decided that when i need chicks i will just hatch my own.

 

[MissMarple]

Just figured I would put this in rather than rewriting my story:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/many-little-hands-farm.1327131/#post-21657277
Chicken math has definitely been... interesting for me in the last year, and for the whole family in the last two years.
I think that earlier in the spring we were up to like 170 chickens.... and most of them were in the house at the time...
Plus I was leaving the house at 6:40 every morning and not coming back until a little before 3 in the afternoon... It was difficult, but we got through, and now we're back to 99(I think), and we'll be getting more next year. Waiting on getting a new coop moved so we can get indoor chicks outside, can't wait for the smell to go away... And can't wait to stop having to chase puppies chasing chickens around the living room

Wow!!!!!! Read your story and it's so cool!!!! Hah! I'm with you on the can't wait for the smell to go away! Goodness!!!

 

[MissMarple]

Here are the some pics that I have. Pics of inside, courtyard and outside.View attachment 1883670 View attachment 1883671View attachment 1883672

What amazing pictures!! Love seeing all those babies! Gorgeous mix of feathery friends!

 

[MissMarple]

You're definitely not alone. My chicken math is more like algebra as I excited started my flock with five CCLB pullets from a reputable breeder out west. My husband bought me the supposedly impenetrable universal poultry cage from TSC. Oh, the night before my babies arrived, a friend called to see if I would take her daughter's three, four week old chicks.
Older chicks went out first. No problems. Six week old $20 each pullets go out and they a rat snake eats one... Then coons ripped two more violently through the bars. Wrapped it in hardware cloth. Coon elimination commenced. They dug under the frame and ate through the chicken wire buried in the ground. Installed boards with sharp screws protruding. Went to TSC bought six Black Sex Link pullets, not what I wanted but the best of what they had. Go to TSC and they had Americaunas. Closer to what I wanted so six more. Meanwhile a friend gave me two laying spangled orpingtons and a six week old sex link. Two lost to migrating Hawks. Chicken algebra.

Maybe that's what happened to me... I stink at Algebra so I planned for 6 and ended up with 24. Makes so much sense now!!!!
Oh! What do the Spangled Orpingtons look like!?
So sorry for the loss of some of your chickies! But yay for chicken algebra multiplying your flock!

I can't wait to add to my troop next spring! we live within a very short drive of heartland hatchery in MO, and have had a wonderful experience with him there, we got 2 turkey's and 10 chicks that my children hand picked with him throwing in an extra chick for free, and Everytime we go to the feed store or I see HH post on FB about chicks and or eggs for incubation I wanna jump in and get more, and it doesn't help that my enabling DH tries to talk me into more chicks and I have to be the voice of reason (since I am the care giver and culler) but I am in secret wanting to get more to satisfy my addiction ....soon very soon! I'm still waiting for my first group to start laying me some breakfast!

Heartland Hatchery! Sounds like a good one to research too!
Chicken Man tried to talk me into ducks but we haven't done it yet. I'm dreading going to TSC the next time ((while also secretly planning a trip......)) because there's no telling what we might come home with. What kind of chicks did the kiddos choose?? I let my son pick and that's how we went from one Buff Orpington to three!

 

[starri33]

I LOVE Charlie!!!!! I do not!! Any idea where I might find that? Is that in the swap area? (Oh Lord, my husband is going to divorce me... )

If my husband hasn't divorced me, you are probably safe, , Mine has had to build me two coops, start off with one run, add a extension to that and once the new coop was done, build another run on to that..lol.. so my feathered children have a 10 x 10 coop and run, that is where Charlie is at the moment, then the rest of them are in a 8 x 24 ft coop and the total over all size of the runs are 864 sq ft.. He doesn't know it yet, but he's going to be redesigning the run for Charlie and the girls, we're going to steal part of the run extension. I've already been eyeballing the coop where Charlie is.. thinking about adding another 2 ft +/- onto that. This is the link for finding your state. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/find-your-states-thread.270925/

 

[MissMarple]

This is all so interesting!!! Seeing I'm not the only one.... I got myself in a big pickle a few years ago do two chicken math.. I live on 4 acres so I have tons of room I've had chickens for the past 20 years and the past 15 adult years, a couple years back I really got into all the different colors and breeds I went to three different feed stores and bought an array of baby chicks instead of always getting just sex links... Two of these two of those two of them that two of them... I had about 20, up until then I only used to keep around 8 to 10 chickens, then I lost a couple and I bought jubilee orpingtons which of course I couldn't pass up... Then while cruising Craigslist I saw that a farm was shutting down on me or me and they were getting rid of their 18-month old layer hands for real cheap like by 10 and I'll give you a special price kind of deal.... So somehow I left with 20... Which brought my account up to around 50 chickens when they only wanted a few for just eggs.... I also breed rabbits standard Rex... And it just so happened to hit around the time where are three of my females all gave birth in the same week tit 8 or 10 rabbits each.... Before I knew it I was waking up at 5 in the morning to take care of all these animals 3 hours before work...and then coming home and doing the same before bed literally living a farmers lifestyle hahaha... Then something struck and I had to get surgery....uh oh...well I had to put my animals up for sale and I cleared out my entire lot within a week and a half it was actually eerie... Surgery went perfect and I slllllowly got back into it I have 5 leghorns and that's all...when I got the LEGhorns Friends at the feed store they were already 18 weeks old... And I bought 350 lb bags that way I wouldn't be tempted during chick season heheheh.... It was a good learning experience... It's so easy to get carried away especially when they're small...every once in awhile I get the itch and then I open my refrigerator and see that I have 10 dozen eggs.... Just from the 5 years have... Just offering another view to chicken math/calculus
Good luck ...stay strong

All these different Orpingtons I'm seeing! What the heck do Jubilee Orpingtons look like? That's pretty awesome! So you're a chicken pro! And rabbits! Awwwwh, you don't want to add moooore eggs?? And sweet little fuzzy balls of fluff to later integrate with the big girls... Hahah!! (I feel like I'm a bad influence...Come back to the dark side of carried away chicken math! We have.... feathers...?) Glad surgery went great and you're back to chicken-ing!

 

[MissMarple]

If my husband hasn't divorced me, you are probably safe, , Mine has had to build me two coops, start off with one run, add a extension to that and once the new coop was done, build another run on to that..lol.. so my feathered children have a 10 x 10 coop and run, that is where Charlie is at the moment, then the rest of them are in a 8 x 24 ft coop and the total over all size of the runs are 864 sq ft.. He doesn't know it yet, but he's going to be redesigning the run for Charlie and the girls, we're going to steal part of the run extension. I've already been eyeballing the coop where Charlie is.. thinking about adding another 2 ft +/- onto that. This is the link for finding your state. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/find-your-states-thread.270925/

Oh, this is great! Our girls will be moving into (hopefully very soon) a 12x12 coop and they're getting the entire back corner of our backyard... I have no idea how big it is... it's big. Lol! I keep finding new and different things for Chicken Man to build/add. I'd do it myself but... ya know... he's the one that's good with the math and the building and the... things... Thank you so much for the link!!!! Going to go look up my state now.......

 

[MissMarple]

My hopes were for 3.
My actual math in my first year or so has been 6 pullets + 1 rabbit + 6 (4 chicks and 2 ducklings) - 3 chickens + 6 chicks + 2 ducks. So we are at 15 chickens, a rabbit, and 4 ducks.

I had always wanted 3 chickens so I built a coop. My wife was wondering what I was doing and when I told her I got a firm no. A year goes by of talking and I finally get the go-ahead. In the mean time I have learned that New York requires chicks to be purchased in lots of at least six. So I head on down to TSC and much to my surprise the chick area was gone that was there just a week before. The employees said I was out of luck and all local TSC and Agway's were the same. Then a Facebook marketplace find lead me to find 6 eight week old pullets. Score! Go to pick them up and come home with 6 pullets and a rabbit. Still not sure how that happened, but it did. The rabbit, Butterscotch, lives happily in a little section of the coop that the chickens can't get to.
Fast forward to next late spring I convince the wife again to get 6 more chicks from TSC to increase our numbers. Head in down to TSC and, would you believe it, they just finished the week before again! So back home we go with nothing in hand. I do so research and find out about Cackle. So I order 6 more chicks, or that's what I tell my wife. A few weeks later they arrive and we open the box. Boy was she not happy to find what I actually ordered - 4 chicks and 2 ducks, plus a bonus of 2 chicks. What she was happy about was I got her 2 brahma chicks which she really wanted so I made it out alive. Unfortunately those 2 chicks didn't make it past day 2. But the rest have grown up to 4 month old pullets.
Just after the chicks arrived we had an attack in our coop and lost three chickens. So now we were down to 3 layers.
Then a few weeks later on a trip to TSC for food would you believe it, chicks were back! So head on back down with the wife and she picks out three brahmas and we get three others.
Then someone I worked with asked if I could foster some ducks for him while he was trying to sell them. Of course I can't let them go as that's just against the rules so now they are permanent residents. So our three chicks are now at 15, 4 ducks and a rabbit. Oh my.

That's some serious animal math!!! Your coop sat empty for a year?! Oh sad to have missed chickies two times and coop attacks!! But yay for Marketplace and Cackle (And TSC for replacement Brahmas!)!!! I've been compiling a wishlist for Cackle and researching other hatcheries also. I mean, technically you got 6 chicks from Cackle.... just.... 2 ducks as well. Lol! Wow! What a way to acquire feathered and furry friends!! A roller coaster!! Love this!

 

[MissMarple]

TSC closes in an hour............ y'all tell me not to go.... tell me to wait.... I mean, that I have plenty and don't need anymore...

 

[starri33]

Oh, this is great! Our girls will be moving into (hopefully very soon) a 12x12 coop and they're getting the entire back corner of our backyard... I have no idea how big it is... it's big. Lol! I keep finding new and different things for Chicken Man to build/add. I'd do it myself but... ya know... he's the one that's good with the math and the building and the... things... Thank you so much for the link!!!! Going to go look up my state now.......

That is going to be a nice big coop. if you go by the text book sq ft needs per chicken, that coop will hold 36, 4 sq ft in the coop per bird and then 10 sq ft per bird in the run. While we're rural, I still had to stay within county guidelines for the size of the building I could have without having to have a building permit. 300 sq ft. I could add on to the new one if I needed. lol, I went with the shape I did because of the dimensions of lumber.. wanted as little cutting having to be done as possible. My coops aren't all that purdy, but they are sturdy and keep them dry. I live in the desert so we don't get all that cold.