Chicks Arrived & Advice Re: Buying MORE!

[User48]

My experience with MyPetChicken.com has been flawless. 5 chicks are here today, all pullets - 1 campine, 2 domingues, 1 golden phoenix, and 1 Rhode Island Red. I'm guessing they're all pullets, anyway, but one of the Domingues' is a freebie, so who knows.... At the moment, the Rhode Island Red is my clear favorite. She's peppy and plump and sweet and chirpy. We've named her Rosie. The others are also incredibly cute, but Rosie is truly a standout.

We are in the heart of farm country & surrounded by neighbors who are understanding. My husband continues to chime in with occasional comments about how he really wishes I'd gotten 1 rooster. The neighbors have said that even if they could hear the rooster, which is unlikely given the distance beween properties, they wouldn't mind. So now I'm thinking I'd like to order either a RI Red or a Domingues rooster. It might be nice to try and breed some chicks at some point, so it makes sense to get a rooster that can pair up with the breeds we already have (I know I'll have to separate them). I am also sorely tempted to get some Americaunas' (sp?) (probably 2) to get some blue eggs in the mix and maybe one more interesting looking hen - so that'd bring our total to 9. I'm feeling like it might be a good idea to do this now, so they'd only be a week apart in age (Meyer has all of the above in stock and they'd arrive next week), but then I'm wondering if it's too much and if I'll regret the rooster decision. Down the road I'll also be getting some silkies, because I'm officially hooked, but they'll be in a separate, smaller tractor which won't be in the works until the spring.

Anyone have any feedback about placing a new order so quickly? I'm always reading about how people fall in love with their chicks and buy more, but has anyone ever felt overwhelmed/like they bought too many? 5 seems like a nice, small number but I love the idea of having some blue eggs in the bunch and the idea of having a rooster has really grown on me. We have the room - a converted shed and a soon to built run plus a huge fenced yard that they can play in during the day when I'm home - just trying to do this right so that our future flock is happy.
So should I let the 5 we have get adjusted or should I bring on a few more now?

Any thoughts appreciated.

Laura

 

[Dawn419]

I say GO FOR IT!!! since you have room. We have a flock of 21 and can't wait til next year when we plan to order some more. They're contagious, aren't they!

 

[mdbucks]

Have you read the chickens are addictive post?? I say get a couple more, but will still have to keep seperate because even 2-3 week olds are tooooo rough for newborns(hatched) chicks

 

[silkiechicken]

Shoot! Might as well as go to a big hatchery and get a full order of 25! You know you're going to end up with that many aways, why spend another 25 on a heat pack.

 

[Newchickenmom&kids]

You cannot ask that question and hope to get an objective opinion here!!

We're all enablers!!
But seriously.....Of course you should get more....and more....and more....and....

 

[User48]

Thanks, as always, for the input. I wound up placing another order with Ideal because they had a RI Red rooster, which I really preferred over a Domingues (mainly because DH's dream rooster is consistently described as big & red), so I decided to go with them instead of Meyer. I also got a partridge silkie & a d'uncle - both straight run - so we may have more than one roo on board. Finally, I got a Welsummer and 2 EEs - the idea of a range of egg colors has really grown on me. Meanwhile, these 5 arrived at a perfect time - have something stressful to finish up for work, and walking in to check on them does wonders for the stress.

Thanks again for the feedback! I was half-expecting someone to write and talk me out of the roo idea, so I'm glad that didn't happen...

Laura

 

[rosyposyosy]

i got my breeds just for the eggs, we can only have 3 hens though (city rules) i have an americauna (oops!! i mean easter egger!) a cuckoo maran, and a cochin bantam. so i will have a dark brown egg, a blue egg, and a miniature creamish brownish egg

 

[Chelly]

My hubby also mentioned AFTER the fact that he wouldn't mind a roo (must be a guy thing) I have also been very tempted to buy more, and get a Roo in the mix.
I'll wait till next year, I like the smaller number of chicks we have now - and it will give us time to fix up any issues we might have with our shed to coop conversion!

Our little EE's are SO cute the one, Sandra is more dominant that the others, and the other EE - Peep, is - well noisy! But its really cool to watch their feather colors come out as they grow, and they both have the cutiest little tails!

 

[User48]

Rosyposyosy, your flock sounds perfect! I am particularly excited about being able to share blue eggs with others - especially folks like my MIL, who is ALWAYS giving to us in one way or another (prototypical Italian mother thing). I have this image of saving up a few eggs in random colors and handing them off to folks, and that image makes me happy.

Chelly, yes, I think it is a "guy" thing. If there is to be a rooster, it has to be a "big, red" rooster - none of those "fancy looking ones with all the colors." Pretty funny. There's an image of a guy holding a "Jersey Giant" on Ebay and everytime I see it, I think DH would probably think that rooster was the perfect Rooster specimen, red or not.

We're converting our shed, too. I've got it pretty much prepped for painting & then we're planning to add a window & take care of the areas at top/near the roof that will also need hardware cloth. I hope your shed project comes along well! Would love to see pics when you're done.

Laura

 

[Chelly]

Our shed is a MESS - or it was, it took us two weeks so far to empty it out! It was PACKED with tools and empty boxes and just JUNK....
I think I have a pic somewhere of it FULL - I need to take one now its empty!

It has two windows, I'm scared to try open them and the one has one piece of broken glass, I'm thinking we should take that broken window out, put in some hardware cloth, and then make a kinda door to close it up. We'll see how it turns out - it took us all morning to put together a little "tractor" of sorts for the girls, they had a BLAST outside! (we're probably short a few grasshoppers now)