How many chicks will you hatch in 2026?

[2ndTink]

I have one of those! Well, 99% sure I do anyway, hatcheries don't like to tell what breeds go into their colored layers but it's the combination that makes sense. View attachment 4292821View attachment 4292823
She's my best layer, large light blue eggs.
View attachment 4292825
A better picture of her comb. It's really big for a modified pea comb, but plenty small enough to avoid the touch of frostbite my olive egger and rhode island red got last year.

She's the dominant hen and can be a little mean to the other girls, but nothing extreme. She's not a cuddler, and doesn't let me catch her up unless she's shut in the coop but is easy enough to grab off the roost.

She is beautiful and super gorgeous blue eggs

 

[2ndTink]

It's been a really long time since I had either of those breeds, and my ameraucana was pretty flighty from what I recall. I'd say probably more leghorn. She's definitely my loudest chicken, when she started laying I could hear her eggsong from nearly a block away (though somehow my next door neighbor didn't know we had chickens, she's an older lady so maybe is a little hard of hearing)!

it seems there's always one extra loud one in every bunch that's funny your neighbor didn't know you had chickens

 

[AinaWGSD]

I know, and that was after two batches of cockerels moved out to the farm!

 

[2ndTink]

I know, and that was after two batches of cockerels moved out to the farm!

Really!?!

 

[LikeTurkeys]

I have one of those! Well, 99% sure I do anyway, hatcheries don't like to tell what breeds go into their colored layers but it's the combination that makes sense. View attachment 4292821View attachment 4292823
She's my best layer, large light blue eggs.
View attachment 4292825
A better picture of her comb. It's really big for a modified pea comb, but plenty small enough to avoid the touch of frostbite my olive egger and rhode island red got last year.

She's the dominant hen and can be a little mean to the other girls, but nothing extreme. She's not a cuddler, and doesn't let me catch her up unless she's shut in the coop but is easy enough to grab off the roost.

This sounds like an awesome cross. Could be a really cool way to increase blue egg production! And she is lovely

 

[LikeTurkeys]

That's great! So 50 chicks every 5 weeks, you should be knocking on 500 chicks this year pretty easily

don't let me get carried away! I have a goal for 300 and they stop selling after May so I have to be careful not to hatch past then!

 

[Kung_pao]

I’m at 32 so far this year and I might set two more dozen and then I swear I’m done lol.

 

[2ndTink]

don't let me get carried away! I have a goal for 300 and they stop selling after May so I have to be careful not to hatch past then!

The carried away part is where the fun starts isn't it? Or stress, I always get those two mixed up

In our area sales were really crazy last spring then all of a sudden they just stopped.

 

[2ndTink]

I’m at 32 so far this year and I might set two more dozen and then I swear I’m done lol.

Just "done", or are you "done, done", because there is a difference

 

[LikeTurkeys]

The carried away part is where the fun starts isn't it? Or stress, I always get those two mixed up

In our area sales were really crazy last spring then all of a sudden they just stopped.

Both haha. I tend to keep more birds if they don't sell but a lot of times it's panic rushing to set them up in a bigger area. For some reason sales cut off realy sharply May/June (at least in my area). Last few years I was feeling optimistic from the spring rush and hatched a ton only to have a hundred or so left over - I'm determined not to repeat my mistakes