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

[Lilysbackgardenchickens]

Hello, I’m new here! Kind of! I had chickens for a few years until about 4 years ago, then many life changes occurred. Now that I have my own home in the country and land, I wasted no time in ordering baby chicks.

They all arrived in good shape, however the hatchery I used did have order minimums for each breed. Instead of waiting for another hatchery, I thought it would be ok, I can handle 20 chicks.
Well, I absolutely can handle that many chicks and definitely have the room for it, but they are 7 days old now and I’m wondering if this is too many for what I had in mind.

I don’t have any other pets, I’m not really a fan. I do love chickens though and am pretty sure they are my spirit animal. Of course the eggs are my logical reason for why I must have them, but truthfully these girls and my little guy are going to be loved and cared for to the end of their days.

So here is my question, should I rehome some of these chicks? I want them to be happy. I’m not sure from experience but it seems like I’m having a harder time bonding with this many chicks. I feel like a flock this large will be hard to keep bonded with me in the future, and that they may enjoy being in a smaller flock as well.

I have 7 australorps, 3 buff orpington, 5 silver laced Wyandotte & 5 barred rock. I also have a few other breeds I really want to own in the future.
Any advice, experience, etc is very appreciated!

I have a flock of 40 and a small plot so I think that they should be fine make sure they have enough space

 

[Iluveggers]

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.

Is there a church or legion nearby that would take your eggs & distribute to those in need? If you are concerned about wasting maybe you could find a few families that would appreciate the food!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Is there a church or legion nearby that would take your eggs & distribute to those in need? If you are concerned about wasting maybe you could find a few families that would appreciate the food!

Thank you. I reached out to the local churches. No interest. Same with the local food bank.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Thank you. I reached out to the local churches. No interest. Same with the local food bank.

Does your community have a Facebook page? I don’t have a large social circle and most of my neighbors have chickens of their own so I had a fridge full of eggs. One day I decided to put on my small town’s Facebook page stating I’ll be at this location at this time with this many eggs. I sold them all!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Thanks all, but we've hijacked the thread, and I found an alternative arrangement for my excess eggs. The fact that more than half of half my layers are currently molting doesn't hurt either.