Do I have too many baby chicks? Should I downsize now?

[Ursuline Chick]

My understanding is that a young rooster can easily cover about 15 hens.

 

[Ivahribal]

If you have sexed pullets, then keep the ones you want, and have room for, and sell the rest. Make sure you sell them in groups of 2-3 miminum. I use Craigslist to sell any surplus chicks I have and they usually sell quickly. There are some strange folks out there though, so use caution.

I was thinking of doing this. You are right about the weird folks, I couldn’t just sell them to anyone. I bet there are some chicken mamas around my neck of the woods who would really enjoy a few of these babes.

IF you have the space, a flock of 20 is easily manageable. The question is more what you plan to use them for - what are your expectations??? If you just want two eggs a day, you have too many chicks, and no need for a cockerel. Now, if your neighbors will help out, then 20 chicks, depending, could be producing upwards of a dozen eggs a day during peak, or just a few at end of season.

If you don't plan on growing your own replacements, from your own flock, again no need for a cockerel. If you plan on meat birds, suddenly cockerels make more sense... If you got a straight run, and plan on having birds as pets, then unless you rehome, a mixed gender flock of 20 will have behavior problems from too many cockerels and will quickly grow in size if you incubate or have a broody Australorp...

So don't ask if you have "too many", first ask why you have them at all? That will help inform how many, and of what, you will need.

They are definitely manageable, but are they happy in a flock this big? And they are going to be free range. My rooster is going to look out for the girls when im not there. I have them because I love chickens and for the eggs. Which I did mention in this post. I enjoy them and want them to trust me and not be afraid of me because there were too many of them for me to establish that trust in the beginning.

I’m not going to be hatching any of the eggs. And for a responsible chicken owner, I would think it’s perfectly fine to have a variety of breeds in my flock. Regardless of if I have a rooster or not.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

They are definitely manageable, but are they happy in a flock this big?

Your rooster and flock would be fine. I have 17 chickens and two roosters and the girls are worn out by them.

It sounds like you're well equipped to handle 20 chickens, so if you want them, keep them.

 

[My Pretty Pekins]

I agree with @humblehillsfarm. You sound like a great chicken mama!

 

[bikerchix]

also if they are free-ranging there will be losses to predators.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I was thinking of doing this. You are right about the weird folks, I couldn’t just sell them to anyone. I bet there are some chicken mamas around my neck of the woods who would really enjoy a few of these babes.


They are definitely manageable, but are they happy in a flock this big? And they are going to be free range. My rooster is going to look out for the girls when im not there. I have them because I love chickens and for the eggs. Which I did mention in this post. I enjoy them and want them to trust me and not be afraid of me because there were too many of them for me to establish that trust in the beginning.

I’m not going to be hatching any of the eggs. And for a responsible chicken owner, I would think it’s perfectly fine to have a variety of breeds in my flock. Regardless of if I have a rooster or not.

That helps. You can see my flock in my sig below (actually, I need to update it with the hatching and the new incubation I started). Like you, its "mixed", including SLWs. We also free range. They have a two story hen house (due to the ducks) of about 80sq ft upper story, second house urgently being built (what I should be doing now) in a 900 sq ft run. I just finished a second, larger run around two sides of the first (where the new hen house is going), and my birds free range approx 4+ acres (very irregularly shaped).

My Roo is having no seeming difficulties covering a LOT of hens. If I end up with a few infertile, its not a big deal, the incubator runs essentially 24/7/365 though I plan to grow up two replacements for him and swell my flock to 50 +/- while moving up my culling dates.

My current problem is too many eggs - I'm in a remote area, and can't seem to give them away beyond a couple dozen each week. My wife and I eat all the duck eggs.

 

[Ivahribal]

T

Technically a 14x10 coop can fit 35 birds (4sq/f each bird)
Tips for happy birds:
Lots of roosting room-different heights, multiple food areas at feeding time, fresh water as often as possible I do mine every day-2 days.

I would watch out for your rooster count. They say 1 rooster to 10 hens. So if you end up wanting to keep roos I would pick 2 max. I would also try to get them in same brooder, birds that grow up together tend to have less issues when it is time to move to the big coop

Thank you! I actually was wondering about that... if they should just move all together into a larger brooder or grow out coop instead of splitting them up. I have all girls and one black australorp rooster. So that would be too many for him then? I had a feeling that might be the case the more I’ve thought about it over the last few days.

 

[wamtazlady]

Several years ago I had a dozen chickens with a large variety of breeds. It was neat. I could tell them apart and they all had names and personalities. At first it was great getting so many eggs. I quickly discovered that 9 or 10 eggs a day for 2 people was way too many. I started giving them away to family and friends. That took care of some more eggs but even then I was not able to find a place for so many eggs. When I could not give away enough eggs I had to cook the eggs and feed them back to the chickens.

The moral of this story is that just because a few of something is good, too many might really be too much. I now keep a flock of 4 hens and a rooster. I still get enough eggs to share with a neighbor. The chickens are happy in their spacious coop and run built for 12.

 

[Anne02]

T


Thank you! I actually was wondering about that... if they should just move all together into a larger brooder or grow out coop instead of splitting them up. I have all girls and one black australorp rooster. So that would be too many for him then? I had a feeling that might be the case the more I’ve thought about it over the last few days.

My Black Australorp roo has 19 gals. I'm not sure about fertility, but will be finding out soon, as I'm putting eggs in the 'bator Saturday. He does have like 2 or 3 girls that are his favorite, but nobody gets too beat up.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

So that would be too many for him then?

That's not too many hens for him.