Explaining Chicken Math

[magnumrebel]

Lets just all agree that we have a soft spot for those feathery rascals. Lol

 

[juneytunes]

You people are scaring me! We wanted 4-6 hen chickens, built a coop, got brooding area ready and ordered 10 that we are picking up tomorrow. Have to have extras for roos and loses, right. Also I wanted Buff & Lavender Orpingtons and we're getting blue (because I found them close by on Craig's List), does this mean I be ordering more soon, or the colors I originally wanted? I already have names picked out. I have the fever and have never had chicks before. Uht oh!

 

[CyndiChick]

Northie, go for the barn! You might as well since there is no cure for chicken math
Juneytunes, when you don't have chickens is when the fever strikes hard. It sneaks up and makes you order them and want that breed, ooh and that one too! LOL I want Wyandottes myself, but have to wait. Our coop is at max capacity or will be once the babies get grown up. And with me not working there isn't extra money for adding on. We already have a 14x16 ft coop, two 8x4 breeding pens, and two brooders in our bedroom closet....

 

[Keggen]

Northie, go for the barn! You might as well since there is no cure for chicken math
Juneytunes, when you don't have chickens is when the fever strikes hard. It sneaks up and makes you order them and want that breed, ooh and that one too! LOL I want Wyandottes myself, but have to wait. Our coop is at max capacity or will be once the babies get grown up. And with me not working there isn't extra money for adding on. We already have a 14x16 ft coop, two 8x4 breeding pens, and two brooders in our bedroom closet....

How are your breeding pens set up? Do they have their own coop?

 

[3riverschick]

Quote: Mine will, because next year, I am letting the hens sit, hatch, and raise their own chicks. I have planned 5 sq. ft. per chick to allow the breeding pens to also be used for grow out pens. plus 4 q. ft. for mama hen. Plan on, letting each hen hatch 7 eggs each. (7x5)=(1x4)=39 sq. ft. So I need 3 pens 4x10 ft. in area. I can raise the coop over the pen a bit and count the area underneath the 4x4 coop as run area. By the time they leave the spacious coop, they will be old enough to navigate back up a shallow ramp to the coop at night.
I need 2 sq. ft. per chick and 4 sq. ft. per mama hen inside the coop. (7x2)+(1x4)= 18. Needing a 4 ft. width on my coop, I can go for 4x4 or 4x5, depending on how the pens fit in my poultry area. So the yard only has to extend 5-6 ft. beyond the coop.
I've looked at a lot of plans and the space I have available. Combining the breeding pens and grow-out pens seems to be the best solution in the least amount of space. Plus, less moving birds from place to place. I can do 2 sittings in each breeding coop of 7 chicks each. Plus I have a nesting box in the main coop. That is 8 sittings x 7 chicks each = 56 chicks for the year for the flock. That is more than enough for my needs. After breeding season is over, the set-ups will be used for bachelor quarters for the cocks and holding pens to condition show birds.
Best,
Karen

 

[wildflowerrun]

Mine will, because next year, I am letting the hens sit, hatch, and raise their own chicks. I have planned 5 sq. ft. per chick to allow the breeding pens to also be used for grow out pens. plus 4 q. ft. for mama hen. Plan on, letting each hen hatch 7 eggs each. (7x5)=(1x4)=39 sq. ft. So I need 3 pens 4x10 ft. in area. I can raise the coop over the pen a bit and count the area underneath the 4x4 coop as run area. By the time they leave the spacious coop, they will be old enough to navigate back up a shallow ramp to the coop at night.
I need 2 sq. ft. per chick and 4 sq. ft. per mama hen inside the coop. (7x2)+(1x4)= 18. Needing a 4 ft. width on my coop, I can go for 4x4 or 4x5, depending on how the pens fit in my poultry area. So the yard only has to extend 5-6 ft. beyond the coop.
I've looked at a lot of plans and the space I have available. Combining the breeding pens and grow-out pens seems to be the best solution in the least amount of space. Plus, less moving birds from place to place. I can do 2 sittings in each breeding coop of 7 chicks each. Plus I have a nesting box in the main coop. That is 8 sittings x 7 chicks each = 56 chicks for the year for the flock. That is more than enough for my needs. After breeding season is over, the set-ups will be used for bachelor quarters for the cocks and holding pens to condition show birds.
Best,
Karen

All this did was make me want to create a setup like that, but the only way to do that is to put it in the backyard, where the ducks are going to go and where the dogs are.

Oh, that's right. My chicken math turned into getting 8 ducklings in a few weeks I told my boyfriend I wanted 2-3 ducks.... What I haven't told him is that in order to get 4 hens, I should probably get 8 ducklings, and that I may (aka am planning on) keeping a drake to breed.

But all this happens right around my birthday, so he can't argue, right? We already set a wedding date, so he's almost stuck with me now!

 

[CyndiChick]

Our breeding pens currently have a small shed (for lack of a better word). Its a boarded in area with the nesting boxes in it, hay on the ground beneath the boxes and an easy way down and up. We also have a grow-out cage inside the main coop, where the chicks go when they are big enough to be out of the breeding pen but not adult enough to be part of the main flock. When I get our big shed cleaned out, and can get decent pics, I'll post some of the setup. Its not fancy. Its cheap but its effective since we've learned from experimentation.

 

[kbh82310]

I've already started my list for next years order! Hubby said only 4 and so far I'm at 7 or 8. Then sun night I realized one of my 4 st run silkies is a blue/black splash and I'm thinking about making a breeding project out of it so depending on what sex my whites are I may need more silkies. Hubby was gonna build a coop and I think he realized how out of hand this is gonna get so he told me yesterday I can get a 10x16 lofted barn I've had my eye on for awhile now!

 

[magnumrebel]

I draw the line at brooding boxes in my bedroom closet. Haha that is die hard for sure. Lol

 

[Sallysec]

I just got my first chickens five weeks ago. We started at 3 (2 BR and 1 EE). We decided it wasn't fair so added another EE two days later. We decided four was enough. After exploring this forum I decided I would love to add a Maran to my flock. Thankfully DH has reined me in for now. We have one more transfer in the military and we can easily move four. I told DH once retirement hits I am getting my Marans. I don't even want to think about what chicken math my future holds.

Those marans get us new chicken keepers every time....pretty eggs ....that's how I ended up with EAster eggers. I've got a beautiful egg basket though.

I have suffered another attack of chicken math! I have 4 hens right now. I made a homemade incubator and set 3 eggs. only 1 hatched. now "jeepers peepers" is a very lonely 2day old. I found out my local mill just got an order of pullets. I planned on one chick as a friend to peepers put they have a minimum of 5. Sooo. 4 has turned into 10 in 3 days lol
at least my chicken math isn't as bad as some of the other stories i have read

It's only just begun.



To everyone new to chickens, I tell them...build bigger than you can ever imagine using. Because in a year or two your going to have to add on and it's easier in a big open space already. I now have chickens in my garden, in the main part of the backyard and am working on two projects of converting a shed to a coop and converting a huge section of the backyard to chickenland.