How many chicks to start with?

[LovlieLayers]

Hi all,

Planning my first flock foray, unsure how many chicks I should buy to get things going. In my city, we have a 4 hen max/no rooster rule. I'd like a mixed flock of a few different breeds, and I imagine I will need to bring a bunch of chicks home with plans to re-home the boys and/or excess girls. But how many of each breed should I go with? Does 3 each seem reasonable? I don't anticipate any problems finding homes for ones that need to go...backyard chickens are very common here, and I'm totally fine if someone wants them for meat birds.

And speaking of eating...at what age, generally speaking, are they old enough for butchering? Wondering if that could be an option when the roos start crowing...? Forgive my newb questions, starting from scratch with this hobby!

Thanks!

 

[Pork Pie]

I'd go for 4 of each so in theory, assuming a 50% will be female, you have your flock. At about 4-5 months you can expect a decent sized cockerel for eating, but it depends on breed.

 

[Bluechick2u]

Also you can put crow collars on the cockerels if you need them to grow larger past the crow stage, just a bit of velcro designed to hold cords from any home improvement store placed where neck feathers meet chest feathers, tight enough to get a pinky finger under but not too tight, and you have to check the collar frequently to be sure its not too tight, they'll need to be able to swallow pea sized items. This is what we did with great success, it lowers the volume of the crow down to a small sound since they can't inflate the crow bladder. Be aware, it's potentially dangerous if something goes wrong with it, which is why you check it at least once a week. But it makes life with cockerels bearable, and if you're going to eat them later anyway it's not a big risk.

 

[LovlieLayers]

Also you can put crow collars on the cockerels if you need them to grow larger past the crow stage..

Thanks for the tip! I want to be super proactive about the crowing thing...chicken keeping is popular here, but I'll be the first in my neighborhood to do it, and our homes are quite close to each other - really want to keep my neighbors' first impressions positive!

 

[Bluechick2u]

Also keep your feed locked up at night, and only give enough food each day that they will eat in a few hours, people lose their sense of humor about chickens when mice or rats show up, almost as fast as they do with a crowing cockerel.

 

[TominWa]

4 chickens allowed. Well, that sounds like 8 to me, but I am bad at chicken math. It might be 12.

 

[lazy gardener]

LL, welcome to BYC. First, you may be able to get sexed day old pullets. In that case, I'd recommend that you get just 4. If you are concerned that you might end up with an oops cockerel, you could get 6. The reason I suggest 6 is that you should never plan on rehoming just one bird. It's very difficult to integrate a single bird into a new flock. For the comfort of the bird being rehomed, I suggest that they be rehomed 2 or more at a time.

As for your coop and run, many folks run into problems b/c they believe the manufacturer who misrepresents his product. Almost all pre-fab coops are too small, poorly made, do not have enough space below or above the roosts, and do not have enough ventilation. The recomendation is for 4 s.f. of floor space (not taken up by nest boxes or feed/water containers) in the coop per bird, and 10 s.f. in the run per bird.

When choosing your breed(s) I suggest that for your situation, you choose docile breed(s) that have a reputation for doing well in confinement. You might start your research with Henderson's chicken breed's chart.

 

[aart]

Also you can put crow collars on the cockerels if you need them to grow larger past the crow stage, just a bit of velcro designed to hold cords from any home improvement store placed where neck feathers meet chest feathers, tight enough to get a pinky finger under but not too tight, and you have to check the collar frequently to be sure its not too tight, they'll need to be able to swallow pea sized items. This is what we did with great success, it lowers the volume of the crow down to a small sound since they can't inflate the crow bladder. Be aware, it's potentially dangerous if something goes wrong with it, which is why you check it at least once a week. But it makes life with cockerels bearable, and if you're going to eat them later anyway it's not a big risk.

Suggestions is moot due to....

no rooster rule

 

[jeria]

I ordered 4 sexed chicks as no rooster rule here in the city and a max of 6 hens.