Don't you just LOVE chicken math....We only wanted 13 max...Well we're up to 21 and have 13 more coming.....And only 5 are meat birds....
Me too....My brooder is in the house....Hubby asks when does the coop need to be done by..I say a couple weeks...I've said a couple weeks a couple times now...He works on the coop on his weekends and he's starting to give me "the look"...And he says he put it on skids so he can move it..Right now, it's pretty close to the house, he says so I (meaning we) can keep an eye on them....
We must be kindred spirits...lol....I have lost ALOT of sleep in the early weeks (they are about 5-6 weeks now) We have 6 indoor/outdoor dogs and the room I had them in (girls' room) didn't lock....One night I heard peeping, loud peeping and saw red light....I jumped up, there was my daughter's dog on the bed just watching them...When I came in she laid down like she was sleeping...I got her out...So when my husband built me a brooder box with a lid, I've gotten a bit more sleep...I still wake up to check their water during the night...I also have ducks....I have to upload pics of my other babies....Love my babies...
Not trying to enable (not avoiding it either) but If you just want her to have a brood do 3 that way if one doesn't hatch or she loses one, you have a lesser chance of a lone chick! Even the DH can't poke a hole in that logic!Oh dear.... I have another broody. That is not a problem for me. I would cheerfully order some more Black Java eggs from another line and put them under her and build another coop. But my hubby just doesn't understand chickens math. I told him that the easiest thing would be to just leave two eggs under her and mark them. That way the most we get is two more chicks. I could try to break her but I dont currently have a wire cage to put her in so I didn't really explain all that to him.
I just don't see the downside to more chickens. Maybe he'll eventually see the light.
You are proof chickens are a gateway livestock.
Not trying to enable (not avoiding it either) but If you just want her to have a brood do 3 that way if one doesn't hatch or she loses one, you have a lesser chance of a lone chick! Even the DH can't poke a hole in that logic!
You are proof chickens are a gateway livestock.
Well you get a few chicks to raise so you can get fresh eggs. You go to BYC and learn all about chickens. You find out that they lay pretty well the first year but then the second fall they molt and don't lay as well so the next spring you have to have a few new pullets so they can lay eggs while the others molt. Then one hen won't get off the nest and you go to BYC and find she is broody and you see all those wonderful pics of moms and babies. You certainly can't deny your broody girl motherhood, so you let her set. You go on BYC and find out that sometimes they up and quit setting prematurely and folks just stick the eggs in their incubator. Well, you don't have an incubator. So, you study about incubators on BYC. You decide what you can afford and you buy or build one. BUT..,,will it work? You need to get some eggs and try it out. You hatch those little guys and it is so exciting! That is my chicken math and I think I might have to blame BYC. Can't be my own inabilities of self denial.
