How many chicks are too many chicks?

[osukrazykate]

So I am a new mommy to chicks as of last week. I have been wanting some chickens for some time now after researching for the last year and figuring out what breed I was going to want. We finally got our first batch of chicks. I love all of these cute little babies I picked out, everybody is doing really well. I picked out 10 bantams and 4 Amercaunas, but I had also ordered 12 silkie bantams. Now I am wanting to get more. They are so much fun and I can't wait for my silkies to get here, but I stopped by the feed store today to check on my order and see when they were going to be in and of course they had a fresh new shipment in and oh so cute. This shipment has shown me how much mine have already grown, it is funny kind of like kids you forget how tiny they were when they first were born.
Well, I actually some how forgot my wallet at home so I couldn't buy any, but silly me I still asked if they could hold some for me and of course they are so great they said yes. So ooooops I picked out 8 more. They are all so adorable! I think I have been bitten by the chick addiction bug. So I think this will bring me up to 34 chicks once I get my silkies too. Is this too many? I have a fairly large coop that came with our house, it is approximately 8 x 8 and I have been thinking of building a tractor coop too, maybe like a gypsy wagon (saw a pic of one on the internet).

Kate

 

[gritsar]

For standard chickens you need 4 sq. feet per chicken. You can get away with less with bantams and/or you have a extra large run or free range extensively. So using that rule of thumb, your 8 x 8 coop has 64 sq. feet and can house 16 chickens. The more space the better. Crowded conditions can lead to stress, pecking issues and health problems.

 

[rachaelc]

I was planning on only raising about 15 chicks and that morphed into 37. Yes they are so oo o CUTE. I want one of every kind.!
So I rationalized that a large wooster watio was in the first half which will be a meal or two.More like 7=10 Then there are always an incident or two that may take one or two before they reach maturity. This way I can really pick the ones I want and find homes for a few others with families who did not get as many hennies as they thought they would. It sounds like you have a few more then you have room for comfortably. But I can so empathize..
Rachael C mother of all

 

[osukrazykate]

Yes, I believe a second coop is in order. I will finish out the first and start on the second one. Since the first coop was already here and I didn't get to decide how to build it, this one will be my first to build. I am trying to decide what kind of style of coop I want to build. I believe I want a tractor coop for the second one so that I may move it all around the yard. Plus, yes I do believe I will be either giving some of the them away later or selling some of the them at the local farmers market.

 

[aidenbaby]

I started out wanting 3. Ended up with 6 and am down to 5. Of those, 3 are standard and 2 are bantam. I suspect that 1 or both of my bantams are roos though and if that is the case, I'll have to get rid of one or both. That is the LAST time I get straight run.

 

[bethandjoeync]

too many chicks?? huh?? there's such a thing as this?

we went to tsc, not expecting them to have chicks and well guess what they had a fresh batch of little fuzz butts, and yes I was considering more. we moved our 4 week olds to a larger brooder (large metal dog kennel) and now are rubbermaid tub is holding feed and wood shavings, no chicks in there

. but I walked out of there without chicks, for now!!! lol they had a tub full of (what I thought were EEs from what I have learned on this site) but they said they were GLW. I get home and look up picks of them and they sure don't look like them at all, looks like I was more on target with what they were. well, i have been thinking about them ever since. wonder if I will make it back up there tomorrow and take a few off their hands lol?