Chicken Math

[Mybackyardpeepers]

Oh, and forgot to mention that of my original 8 breeds, two were straight run bantams, so got 3 of each of those just in case. So, 12 total, lol.

That's how I originally was able to get more, 3 out of 5 were rooster. So got 3 pullets after lol.

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

I started off with my wife saying no chickens. I brought home 5 and hide them in the shed. She went out to the shed to get her gardening tools and found my chicks. We took a trip down to TSC and bought 20 more chicks in various colors. We got sick of buying chicks so we bought an incubator 2 years ago and hatched about 60 chicks. this year we bought another incubator and hatched 60 more. Now we have between 150-180

What do you do with all those roosters? That is what is stopping me from incubating.

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

I’ve been trying to figure out if my husband has a breed preference (so I can buy more ) and he really likes our silkies.

Mostly, my husband just likes keeping me happy, and chickens do that. I do 95% of the chicken duties so he’s happy I’m happy.

Same here I do all the up keep, but he did help build the coop.

 

[Cryss]

1 1/2 years ago the family decided that 4 hens would be a cool thing to raise. We'd have fertilizer for our garden, eggs every day, and stewed chicken dinners every 2-3 years when they stopped laying. We realized this meant adding 4 birds once a year to replace stewpot birds so our top limit would be 8 birds. That seemed to be logical chicken math. That was in November of 2017.

We brought home 2 Buff Orpington pullets and 2 Lavender Orpington pullets. Oh my goodness how cute! How funny! I'm in love! By by January we discovered one Lavender was a cockerel. No problem, breeder guarentees gender. I decide to get a little crazy and go for an Easter Egger for cute green eggs. Breeder informs me my Lavender cockerel is worth more than the EE pullet so I can have 2 hens. I get REALLY crazy and go for a Silver Laced Wyandotte with my new EE. Yeah ok, so now I have 5 birds. Not a big deal.

Ummm...uh oh. A month later my other Lavender crowed. I love him! Now what! I call breeder to complain but tell him I'm keeping this one. He informs me that he still owes me a pullet, that's what I paid for. Oh! Another free bird? But I've learned here at BYC that you should never introduce only a single bird. Soooo...I decided on Barred Rocks and paid for the second one. They arrive I think it was April '18. Now I have 6 pullets and a cockerel I never planned for. 7 birds, 5 months of raising chickens.

Summer was glorious! About 1 1/2 + dozen eggs a week! Then fall. Expected egg reduction but still got about 2-3 a day. As spring approached a Rock became a bully. Sadly I rehomed both rocks, can't split up buddies. Now I have 4 hens, oh and rooster. AND 1 EGG A DAY! EE never resumed laying. One Buff went broody. One buff is having softshell problems. Those Rocks were good layers! what to do? Cull? I can't do that! I'm in love! (Who knew you could love chickens!!) Solution? 4 new pullets! Fun pullets now. An Easter Egger to resume getting green eggs. A Frost White Legbar for some pretty blue eggs! A Black Copper Marans for chocolate colored eggs! And a White Leghorn for a pop of white eggs! Boy have my reasons for chickens changed! And now I have 8 females! Oh, and a rooster. 9 birds. I wanted 4. I have 9. 18 months in and I've more than doubled in spite of giving away 2.

I'm building a big walk in coop now. Hmmmm....big enough for 16 birds, tops. Would only 4 more be so bad? That would only be 12.

Chicken math. It's very real.

 

[jaks2578]

Is your TSC still getting chicks in? Ours stopped a while ago, but RK gets them in year round with the exception that you have to buy 6 minimum. Hmmmm 6 minimum never thought about that!

No more chicks at TSC. The others we purchased from Craigslist and the local feed store.

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

1 1/2 years ago the family decided that 4 hens would be a cool thing to raise. We'd have fertilizer for our garden, eggs every day, and stewed chicken dinners every 2-3 years when they stopped laying. We realized this meant adding 4 birds once a year to replace stewpot birds so our top limit would be 8 birds. That seemed to be logical chicken math. That was in November of 2017.

We brought home 2 Buff Orpington pullets and 2 Lavender Orpington pullets. Oh my goodness how cute! How funny! I'm in love! By by January we discovered one Lavender was a cockerel. No problem, breeder guarentees gender. I decide to get a little crazy and go for an Easter Egger for cute green eggs. Breeder informs me my Lavender cockerel is worth more than the EE pullet so I can have 2 hens. I get REALLY crazy and go for a Silver Laced Wyandotte with my new EE. Yeah ok, so now I have 5 birds. Not a big deal.

Ummm...uh oh. A month later my other Lavender crowed. I love him! Now what! I call breeder to complain but tell him I'm keeping this one. He informs me that he still owes me a pullet, that's what I paid for. Oh! Another free bird? But I've learned here at BYC that you should never introduce only a single bird. Soooo...I decided on Barred Rocks and paid for the second one. They arrive I think it was April '18. Now I have 6 pullets and a cockerel I never planned for. 7 birds, 5 months of raising chickens.

Summer was glorious! About 1 1/2 + dozen eggs a week! Then fall. Expected egg reduction but still got about 2-3 a day. As spring approached a Rock became a bully. Sadly I rehomed both rocks, can't split up buddies. Now I have 4 hens, oh and rooster. AND 1 EGG A DAY! EE never resumed laying. One Buff went broody. One buff is having softshell problems. Those Rocks were good layers! what to do? Cull? I can't do that! I'm in love! (Who knew you could love chickens!!) Solution? 4 new pullets! Fun pullets now. An Easter Egger to resume getting green eggs. A Frost White Legbar for some pretty blue eggs! A Black Copper Marans for chocolate colored eggs! And a White Leghorn for a pop of white eggs! Boy have my reasons for chickens changed! And now I have 8 females! Oh, and a rooster. 9 birds. I wanted 4. I have 9. 18 months in and I've more than doubled in spite of giving away 2.

I'm building a big walk in coop now. Hmmmm....big enough for 16 birds, tops. Would only 4 more be so bad? That would only be 12.

Chicken math. It's very real.

I really love how you make sure not to leave out the rooster . My problem is all the chicks for sale post are almost 2 hrs away, even if I sweet talk hubby he would give me hell about wasting gas on a 5.00 chick. . I don't see the problem!

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

No more chicks at TSC. The others we purchased from Craigslist and the local feed store.

I think at this far into the summer only RK has them, oh except mail order and that 35.00 each delivery (I leave that disclaimer out with hubby) and CL they are to far away.

 

[Cryss]

I really love how you make sure not to leave out the rooster . My problem is all the chicks for sale post are almost 2 hrs away, even if I sweet talk hubby he would give me hell about wasting gas on a 5.00 chick. . I don't see the problem!

I googled "Chicken hatchery near me" and found my breeder 20 minutes away. "Chicks for sale" might not reveal very local breeders. Couldn't hurt to try.

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

I googled "Chicken hatchery near me" and found my breeder 20 minutes away. "Chicks for sale" might not reveal very local breeders. Couldn't hurt to try.

Ok great. I'm gonna need to figure out where to get my replacement silkies!

 

[Cryss]

AND REMEMBER you aren't going 2 hours away for a $5 chick! You are going 2 hours away for TWO (or more?) $5 chicks! Can't introduce only one, she'd get bullied with no friends.