Have you ever had this problem? IF so what did you do?

[A.J.'s]

My flock started out as 10 hens, peacefully living on 10 acres of free range and a wonderful little house that I, an old grandma, built all by myself and was proud.
Then I tried hatching eggs and my flock suddenly became 45 hens and 5 roosters and DH had to come in and build a bigger hen house and I started selling eggs, not to be confused with making enough enough money to buy feed.
Then last month I suddenly found myself with two incubators and 2 dozen eggs in them gently sitting on a table in my bedroom and low and behold I had 20 to hatch.
What am I going to do? DH is too old and feeble to go at it again and hes furious at me. I certainly cant do it and the hens are throwing a fit now at how tightly they are stacked in that hen house.
At roosting time you should hear the fighting that goes on before they finally calm down accepting the spot they fought for.
There is no market here for Chicks. Not even for free. Im deep in the country and boonies and all these folks have had their fill of raising chickens and going thru all this mess. They gladly come to me for eggs and occasional Roos, but as far as taking on a flock.. no way.
Has anyone ever double deckered a hen house? Like first level 4 feet and second level 6 feet? awk!

 

[KattyKillFish]

when i "accidentally" hatch too many chicks, i just raise them until they are barely big enough to eat... a bit after they are fully feathered and start gaining fat.

 

[fuzziebutt]

Put up a sign at your local co-op, or call in on the radio's swap shop. Maybe someone needs an extra hen or a Rooster. GOod luck!

 

[gypsy2621]

I understand your dilema, the thrill we get from saying "I hatched these babys myself".

Is there any young folk near enough to help you set up a larger hen house? or help add an addition to your coop?

Children or Granchildren of an age to use hammer and nail?

Trusted friends of an age where they could come for a sunday get together and do a barn raising,( yep even for a chicken coop)

Church Members who would come over and for payment a nice dinner or a few layer hens or a cookiing chicken or 2.

This is a situation where I wished I lived close enough to everyone in the world to be able help do what needed to be done.

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

Hi Sorry to hear your having problems When I get that way I take mine to a friend who has a feed store. She can sell all I can hatch and we split the monies. Theres also Craig's list and as a last resort the auction. There a guy at our local auction who sells Buff orps every month we go . He usually has between 2-6 dozen chicks for sale and he does sell them. Hope these ideas help. I also remember seeing a two story coop but it was for banties.

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

I think a multi level chicken coop would be the bomb!

I don't have a seperate floor for mine, but I do have shelves we put in so they can get up onto different levels - a top floor would actually be sort of cool, with ramps going down in a couple places for them to choose their route of exit.

Maybe a trap door to stick your head up through to peek and see if they laid any eggs up there

I'd build mine sort of like a pirate ship (think One Eyed Willie's Treasure Chamber)... but that's just cause I'm odd

The chickens (the ones that can fly) like to go up into the loft of the barn, anyway, so why not a second floor? MUCH easier than building a second coop (believe me, I've made hubby build me 4 so far - we're working on a new pen for ducks and runs off the three new coops - and a duck shelter today.)

take pics if ya do it

meri

 

[gritsar]

Almost a year later we're still not sure why we built our coop 8 feet tall.

We've seriously considered making it a double decker. With a covered ramp so nobody falls the plank when they climb up to bed, why not?

 

[melissastraka]

I wish I lived closer...I would be there in a min to help

 

[cwc362]

A.J.'s :

My flock started out as 10 hens, peacefully living on 10 acres of free range and a wonderful little house that I, an old grandma, built all by myself and was proud.
Then I tried hatching eggs and my flock suddenly became 45 hens and 5 roosters and DH had to come in and build a bigger hen house and I started selling eggs, not to be confused with making enough enough money to buy feed.
Then last month I suddenly found myself with two incubators and 2 dozen eggs in them gently sitting on a table in my bedroom and low and behold I had 20 to hatch.
What am I going to do? DH is too old and feeble to go at it again and hes furious at me. I certainly cant do it and the hens are throwing a fit now at how tightly they are stacked in that hen house.
At roosting time you should hear the fighting that goes on before they finally calm down accepting the spot they fought for.
There is no market here for Chicks. Not even for free. Im deep in the country and boonies and all these folks have had their fill of raising chickens and going thru all this mess. They gladly come to me for eggs and occasional Roos, but as far as taking on a flock.. no way.
Has anyone ever double deckered a hen house? Like first level 4 feet and second level 6 feet? awk!

Where are you in Tennessee? I need some layers- LOL I'm down here in West Tennessee - Carroll county- Sounds like you need the chickaholic twelve step program LOL - Don't feel bad- I've been there and done that too!!

 

[cajunlizz]

A.J.'s :

My flock started out as 10 hens, peacefully living on 10 acres of free range and a wonderful little house that I, an old grandma, built all by myself and was proud.
Then I tried hatching eggs and my flock suddenly became 45 hens and 5 roosters and DH had to come in and build a bigger hen house and I started selling eggs, not to be confused with making enough enough money to buy feed.
Then last month I suddenly found myself with two incubators and 2 dozen eggs in them gently sitting on a table in my bedroom and low and behold I had 20 to hatch.
What am I going to do? DH is too old and feeble to go at it again and hes furious at me. I certainly cant do it and the hens are throwing a fit now at how tightly they are stacked in that hen house.
At roosting time you should hear the fighting that goes on before they finally calm down accepting the spot they fought for.
There is no market here for Chicks. Not even for free. Im deep in the country and boonies and all these folks have had their fill of raising chickens and going thru all this mess. They gladly come to me for eggs and occasional Roos, but as far as taking on a flock.. no way.
Has anyone ever double deckered a hen house? Like first level 4 feet and second level 6 feet? awk!

OK ... lets start off by you telling us what size is this hen house ?

Trust me , I know what you are saying . We have over 100 in our flock ... started off with 1 - 8x12 ft. coop and a 12x 32 ft. run ... WE NOW HAVE 2 coops and 3 runs .

Its called Addiction !!!!!!!!!!!​