Hi guys, I was wondering - how many chickens do you guys have and why? What do you use them for? Let's talk about it!
I'm up to 32 +3 guineas, with 9 eggs in the incubator and 7 more under a broody hen. Why? Becuase i can... I like selling eggs to friends not for a profit just to give people a better option. And eventually for meat too. My select counts right now are 3 guinea (2 female 1male) 2 sebrights hens for kids 4h projects 12 mixed flock hens 1 rooster 11 7 weekish pullets (i believe 1 is a rooster 6 home hatched chicks almost 3weeks old at least 1 deffinatly male Making my 35 current I will stop after thus incubation though or I'll have to build a second coop
Chickens? Or birds in general? I have somewhere around 30 chickens, 9 ducks, and 5 quail. "Because I can" pretty much sums up my flock too. I have the quail for pets, the ducks for pets, pest control, and eggs, and the chickens for breeding to the SOP, eggs, pest control, and somewhat for meat, if I can get around to it. I have a duck egg in the incubator right now and I will be setting more chicken eggs soon.
I have twenty-one currently and a broody hen with eight eggs under her. I also have two turkeys. I use them for eggs, really, but they're also just fun to have around. The eggs are just a perk. I have way more than I really should because I free range them and there's always a chance for some losses, unfortunately. I also like watching how they interact with each other and warn each other of predators. Safety in numbers is something I considered too. I have a white leghorn, two cochins, a buff orpington, a silver laced wyandotte, a golden laced wyandotte, two ISA browns, a rhode island red, a black sex link, a dixie rainbow, a barred rock, a random black breed, and three easter eggers. I have five chicks I hatched a week or so ago as well. My silver laced cochin is their father (and the father of all the ones my broody is sitting on) and the mothers are my barred rock, an easter egger, a black jersey giant that I recently lost, and my buff orpington.
The answer to this question is always the same....not enough! Because chickens are addictive and there are so many varieties that anyone would want more. Plus, it is so much fun hatching out more. I have 10 buff laced polish, 3 speckled sussex. These will be a year old in August. I recently added 3 more speckled sussex including a cockerel because i NEED one to have hatching eggs. And i was at a really big swap so i found some young Tolbunt Polish, which i have wanted for years. So i bought 5 of them. And at another swap i got a deal on a dozen Crested Cream Legbar eggs, so i was Forced to hatch those. I think i have 9 of those chicks, plus a couple of my BL polish because i needed to fill up my Brinsea Octagon. That is all my chickens except i accidentally hatched a SS x BL polish last night because i thought it was a guinea egg and put it in the bator. Oddly enough although the egg was brown, the chick is buff! Did i say guineas?
Yes, i bought guineas to control ticks. We have 13 wooded acres and have been plagued by ticks. I pick them off the dog every day. I have 14 guineas, only 4 of which are hens. Almost every day i collect 4 eggs from them. They are nutty birds that will drive you crazy, BUT the keets sell really well. So far i have sold ALL of the keets i hatched very quickly. I have 2 batches in the incubator, and a waiting list of buyers. Let us not forget quail. Coturnix quail are interesting, cute birds than CAN start laying as early as 6 Weeks of age! Mine are around 8 weeks old so i was forced to buy some Silver quail eggs, just in case. They hatched! I have about a dozen of those. And while i was at that big swap i got a dozen more eggs, plus 18 from someone else because they were a GOOD deal! And just in case those others don't lay and i am forced to eat them.