Chicken math

[junior67]

Haahaa. Last year (almost a year after my dh said we should get chickens! but he said it late summer so no time to get them build a coop etc so had to wait till last year) we planned on chicks. I was thinking 8, my dh for some reason was thinking 4.... I think since our neighbor had 4 he figured we would too. I told him I was getting 8..... ordered those 8 then decided I wanted some EE too so convinced him to let me add 2 of those to my order. So my order was at 10.. 2 turned out to be roos, rehomed 1 and kept the other. Then 1 passed at 9 weeks old. So I now have 8. I am ordering 5 more for sure this year, hoping to hatch a few out and keep a couple, and hoping to pick up a few at another feed store since mine doesn't have those breeds. So wil be adding 10 more this year I think. haahaa. He hasn't even said a word when I mentioned it. LOL

 

[saysfaa]

Yep. I built for 4 to 6 hens. But which breed? I was pretty sure I would like flighty better than calm. Probably, having never had either. But the flighty option had so much bigger combs - how much more risk of frostbite in this climate and this style of coop?

When getting the chicks, I had to get more than that because even though I got sexed pullets, there is that 10% error thing, y'know. With no extra space for integrating, I had to make sure there were enough to be very sure at least 4 or 5... of the safer bet (more cold hardy breed). So I asked for seven of those.

And two of the leghorns. Better make it three for a better idea of what they are typically like and the 10% sexing error rate. And I had told my family not more than ten.

Then they brought the box out with an extra Australorp. So, 11 it was.

I did have to downsize to fit the coop, though, so five. Four would be better for the space now that they are all grown up but It would be hard on just one to integrate into another flock by herself. I really don't want to go below four. So I have 5 while I waffle.

 

[buckock]

Ha! Love this. Starting with 6 one year ago (almost exactly). I wanted 3 but hubby said get 6 because baby chicks don't always make it. All six little leghorns did. But hubby wanted brown eggs so we got 3 golden comets. 9 was too many so 3 went to a friend. But wait, 9 really wasn't that many for the nice coop so when hubby came back I had added 3 wyandottes from a farm swap. THEN... in November, hubby decided to get a SLW rooster. I said, if he gets a rooster then I get an incubator. First hatch in December had 16 (10 roosters). Second hatch in February had 9 (pretty sure 7 are roosters). So we built a chicken yard separate from the hen house. And... 13 more eggs in the incubator are due March 14 and I have a mixed group of 15 Red laced black, silver laced, and BLR wyandotte chicks shipping that day so I'll have ~25 more little beaks if all goes to plan. They'll be ready to move out to the big yard about the time the cockerels move on which will give me a chance to add 15 golden wyandotte chicks in late April... My friend with the three chicks from the spring (named Loretta, Patsy, and Dolly) is coming up in 2 weeks for an intervention. We'll see! Chicken math - 1 year later = 1,740 eggs, 25 baby chicks, 8 hens, and one rooster.

 

[junior67]

Ha! Love this. Starting with 6 one year ago (almost exactly). I wanted 3 but hubby said get 6 because baby chicks don't always make it. All six little leghorns did. But hubby wanted brown eggs so we got 3 golden comets. 9 was too many so 3 went to a friend. But wait, 9 really wasn't that many for the nice coop so when hubby came back I had added 3 wyandottes from a farm swap. THEN... in November, hubby decided to get a SLW rooster. I said, if he gets a rooster then I get an incubator. First hatch in December had 16 (10 roosters). Second hatch in February had 9 (pretty sure 7 are roosters). So we built a chicken yard separate from the hen house. And... 13 more eggs in the incubator are due March 14 and I have a mixed group of 15 Red laced black, silver laced, and BLR wyandotte chicks shipping that day so I'll have ~25 more little beaks if all goes to plan. They'll be ready to move out to the big yard about the time the cockerels move on which will give me a chance to add 15 golden wyandotte chicks in late April... My friend with the three chicks from the spring (named Loretta, Patsy, and Dolly) is coming up in 2 weeks for an intervention. We'll see! Chicken math - 1 year later = 1,740 eggs, 25 baby chicks, 8 hens, and one rooster.

That is funny! I tried to be so good with not adding since I knew I wanted to add a "couple" more this year. My coop only holds too many and kicking myself we didn't make it bigger. hahaa.

how old were your chickens when you hatched their eggs and how long had they been laying? I am going to try to hatch some in a couple weeks, but the one I want to hatch eggs from has only been laying a week now (and will start collecting her eggs tomorrow), but she is 11 months old today.

I have 8 babies coming April 15/16. hoping to hatch some and keep a couple around that same date. And hoping to go to another feed store and get some there (min there is 6). I am taking into acct I may get some roo's again this year, and maybe some won't make it. Any over 10 that are pullets and make it I am going to have to re-home. LOL

 

[citymeetscountry]

Hmm I’ll play but mine is mostly ducks…let’s get chickens! State minimum at TSC is 6. Ok 6 chicks. 1 died within days, 5 chickens. Oh crap one is a cockerel, oh well he’s my favorite! Oh boo he attacked the 5 year old, time to go meet Jesus. 4 chickens. Oh we should get ducks, we have a pond. Ok 6 ducklings please (remember that state minimum purchase of poultry?), lost 1 to a predator, ok lost a 2nd to a predator. 4 chickens, 4 ducks. Hmm I wonder if I can get one of our ducks to go broody, oh wait, there’s 20 eggs in the nest and they still won’t sit. Calls neighbor and borrows incubator. Sets 6 eggs, 4 hatch. Ok so that’s 4 chickens, 4 ducks, 4 ducklings. Crap I need to build a separate coop/house for drakes. Oh but I really like the chickens, no, no more animals. (We’ll see…)

 

[Battlepants]

Started with 3, raised up 5, adopted a rooster, separated out my silkie because she was too small to safely exist with my rooster, building a new coop to give to my full size group and the silkie will get the old smaller coop, then will need to properly fill both coops by getting some bantams for the silkie to live with and letting the full size group raise up some chicks, also considering building out a quail area inside the new coop since there will be surplus space and might be putting together a chicken tractor to get some Cornish X for meat.

Yea, the addiction gets real and it gets real FAST!

 

[buckock]

That is funny! I tried to be so good with not adding since I knew I wanted to add a "couple" more this year. My coop only holds too many and kicking myself we didn't make it bigger. hahaa.

how old were your chickens when you hatched their eggs and how long had they been laying? I am going to try to hatch some in a couple weeks, but the one I want to hatch eggs from has only been laying a week now (and will start collecting her eggs tomorrow), but she is 11 months old today.

I have 8 babies coming April 15/16. hoping to hatch some and keep a couple around that same date. And hoping to go to another feed store and get some there (min there is 6). I am taking into acct I may get some roo's again this year, and maybe some won't make it. Any over 10 that are pullets and make it I am going to have to re-home. LOL

Whee!

I set the first batch of eggs November 23, so the leghorns were 8 1/2 months old, the golden comets and golden laced wyandottes were 11 1/2 months old, and the silver laced wyandottes were 9 1/2 months old. They had all been laying for 3 months or so. I would definitely check to see if the first egg you collect is fertile before putting a bunch in the incubator. Our rooster has been doing his job (48/49 of the eggs we collected were fertile and showed development at five days).