Disclaimer: My husband didn't exactly love chickens when I wanted to get some, so when I say he "allows" me to get chickens, I mean that we discussed it and came to an agreement, and by "not allowed" I mean that I am sticking to my side of our agreement.
In our city, we can legally have up to 50 chickens. My husband and I both agree that 50 is too many for the size of yard we have and the work it will take to keep that many chickens out of our vegetable garden area, which is also important to us. I've been wanting to draw the line at 20; where he was happy to have 0-5. Recently we decided that I could have 10 adults and a various number of chicks, but 10 was our max. Our chicks are becoming adults and right now we have 11 birds total (8 laying; 3 should start any day).
My husband has suddenly discovered the joy of taking our eggs to work and giving them to coworkers, and even though we are getting 4-7 eggs a day, he is finding that's too slow for the amount he'd like to gift to people. Today he told me I could have up to 15 adults!
That's another 4 chicks! The store I get my chicks from just got a new shipment today. Well, of course not all babies survive and not all sexed pullets are actually female, so I think I will get 6 chicks and hope that 4 make it to adulthood. Actually *I* hope all of them do, but I'll explain to my husband that the likely number is 4.
Chicken math at work.
A local feed store apparently has Welsummers, and I'm going to check them out on my way home. If they really do have them, I'll get one or two of those before going to the other store with the kids and picking up the rest of the babies there.
Our current flock is:
3 Rhode Island Reds
3 young ameraucanas (pure bred, not from a feed store)
2 silver laced wyandottes
1 Polish
1 Easter Egger
1 Dark Brahma (she's huge and fluffy; an awesome chicken!)
We will likely get 2 Welsummers, a gold spangled hamburg, a silver spangled hamburg, a partridge wyandotte and a white cochin.
I'm thinking about turkeys too, but I need to research housing for them first. I don't have a separate coop or run for another species and am not going to build one. I'd love a home-raised Thanksgiving turkey, but if I have to build a coop for it, I am not saving any money!
In our city, we can legally have up to 50 chickens. My husband and I both agree that 50 is too many for the size of yard we have and the work it will take to keep that many chickens out of our vegetable garden area, which is also important to us. I've been wanting to draw the line at 20; where he was happy to have 0-5. Recently we decided that I could have 10 adults and a various number of chicks, but 10 was our max. Our chicks are becoming adults and right now we have 11 birds total (8 laying; 3 should start any day).
My husband has suddenly discovered the joy of taking our eggs to work and giving them to coworkers, and even though we are getting 4-7 eggs a day, he is finding that's too slow for the amount he'd like to gift to people. Today he told me I could have up to 15 adults!
That's another 4 chicks! The store I get my chicks from just got a new shipment today. Well, of course not all babies survive and not all sexed pullets are actually female, so I think I will get 6 chicks and hope that 4 make it to adulthood. Actually *I* hope all of them do, but I'll explain to my husband that the likely number is 4.
Chicken math at work.A local feed store apparently has Welsummers, and I'm going to check them out on my way home. If they really do have them, I'll get one or two of those before going to the other store with the kids and picking up the rest of the babies there.
Our current flock is:
3 Rhode Island Reds
3 young ameraucanas (pure bred, not from a feed store)
2 silver laced wyandottes
1 Polish
1 Easter Egger
1 Dark Brahma (she's huge and fluffy; an awesome chicken!)
We will likely get 2 Welsummers, a gold spangled hamburg, a silver spangled hamburg, a partridge wyandotte and a white cochin.
I'm thinking about turkeys too, but I need to research housing for them first. I don't have a separate coop or run for another species and am not going to build one. I'd love a home-raised Thanksgiving turkey, but if I have to build a coop for it, I am not saving any money!
