How many chickens do you have?

[humblehillsfarm]

Everybody manages their poultry differently for different reasons and goals.
I raise an extremely rare breed and a closed flock so I hatch my own and never bring in new birds. I always have at least 20 birds. Normally it is between 40 and 100. I usually have about 5 roosters going into winter. I think I have 8 now. I'll have to go out and count.

What breed to you raise? I am keeping my old coop for breeding purposes. I have a Maran pair and several Maran/EE crosses and an Ameraucana. I’d like to make my own F1 and F2 olive eggers and pure bred Marans. I am starting small for now! The remaining flock are my “rainbow flock.”

 

[humblehillsfarm]

We have 6 hens as that is all we are allowed within city limits.

I almost need a limit ugh but at the same time that’s tough. Six isn’t bad as far as limits go, though. I’ve heard as low as three

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Do you want the number I tell my husband? Or the real amount? Cause that would be either 10 or 33!

Please tell me he actually knows the correct amount

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Well I mean more than 10 chickens come to him for daily treats. Plus he sees the babies in the basement. So..... if he can't count, well he just doesn't need to know although he did ask me how many was in the basement the other day. I was like I dont know, but do you REALLY want to know?!? He knows, I'll give some away to friends. But we go through the chicken match every spring - summer!

I'm not sure anyone in my house knows the correct number except for myself, so I know what you mean. I am secretly saving some eggs for a broody too... Shhh....

 

[TomDooley]

Currently in the process of building a 16X16 shed that will have 2 coops 4X8 with a 240 square foot run each and one coop 8X8 with a 320 square foot run. also ill have a freezer, fridge and a sink for butchering and storing fresh meat. Oh and also a 55 gal fishtank for breeding tilapia.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I have several different groups and houses, but I have around 80, including culls and ones I'm trying to get rid of. About 35 keepers currently

 

[WallyBirdie]

'Probab

It's a safe way of saying "I don't know how many birds I have, but it's probably more than two."

'Probably more than two!' I love that!
I usually end up saying "Hang on, I know how many of each breed I have... That's Pumpkin and Sissy and Jane... Marla, Darlin, Oswald-..." (It goes on!)

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It's a safe way of saying "I don't know how many birds I have, but it's probably more than two."

When I had 7 buildings of chickens and someone would ask how many I had, it took a while to do the math. I want to get back there again but I'm dismantiling a grow out building and replacing it with two 3 unit breeding houses. My old breeding complex it currently unused as I have to repair some serious security issues.
I only have two buiildings housing birds now and I still don't know an exact number. What adds to the confusion is that about 5 of them have started sleeping in trees and i found a hen on a nest under some mowing equipment.

 

[WallyBirdie]

I have never named a chicken except once when I took one to the vet and the receptionist wanted to know the 'patient's' name. All I could come up with was Bar-b-que.
You should have seen the other people's faces in the waiting room when the vet tech called for Bar-b-que and I picked up the cage with a chicken in it and walked into the back.

I've always used colored numbered bandettes for identifying birds but for the last couple years, I've been using wing bands. I liked leg bands because I could read them from a distance and from even farther away, I could tell the age of a bird due to the color of the band.
The problem was that they would loose them. The issue with wing bands is they can't be read without handling the bird but on the plus side, they are with them for life.

I like the idea of using bands for identification- but I can't help simply naming them. All are pets, none are eaten. I don't even eat eggs; eggs are collected and gifted.
How do wing bands work?

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Usually somewhere between 40-50 but I have a lot of bantams so in chicken math doesn't two bantams equal one hen/rooster? I hope!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-math-101-–-with-quiz.75403/

Yes a bantam is only 1/2 of a chicken!!