How many chicks?

[klen]

I'm starting with 9 in 2 months, but the coop will hold 15.... I've been reading up on the chicken math here. Thought I should be prepared.

 

[nanawendy]

Started w/ 9... 2 years ago... Today I have 57

and I want more

 

[Sparklee]

Quote:
Rule #1. Never count your chickens. You don't count up how many friends you have, nor how many relatives you have, so why count your chickens?

Besides, as the other posters have illustrated, the number of chickens you have is a very fluid thing. First 3, then 8, then one dies, so you buy 5 to replace it, then you give two to the neighbor's dog and 2 to a friend, and then your broody hen hatches out 8. You will just wear yourself out if you count your chickens. Save your energy for the important stuff.

We started out with whatever hatched out of nearly 50 from a friend. It was around 20+. Then we went on from there.

I do not know how many chickens I have. No need to ... unless maybe their house gets crowded, but none of their homes are crowded right now, so we're perfectly fine, plus most of them run around in the grass all day. I presume we have many less than a hundred.

I also don't count my shoes, jackets, pans, rakes, power tools, socks, blankets, throw pillows, flowers in the yard, fence posts, plastic lids, spices. You get the idea. Some things you just don't count. One of those things is chickens.

 

[nanawendy]

now that makes sense

 

[backyardmenagerie]

I started with 6 pullets.
Then I decided I wanted to try raising meat birds, so I got 10 Cornish X.
Then a friend of mine wanted to get rid of some older hens in her flock, so that was 5 more
Then I wanted a silkie as a broody to hatch eggs, so I got 4 chicks (so one is sure to be a hen!)
Then I saw some really cute ducklings, and couldn't resist! So I got 4 ducklings
Then the feed store had some super cute EEs that I was eyeing, and a lady came up and asked which ones I was looking at, and bought THOSE ONES! So I went to another feed store and got 2 EEs and a SLW, because... she was mean! And now I really wanted those chicks!
Then my mom brought home 2 more ducklings, because one of the original 4 was a runt and she wanted to make sure it had friends it's size

How many are we up to now? Oh, then there were the turkey poults...
Somewhere in there I got Dominiques, and fell in love. I'll be placing an order for Dominique chicks soon. And my Lav Orps should be hatching out next week.
I don't actually want to count all of that up....

ETAa: nevermind, it's in my signature! Gee, that was nice of me to remind myself of how many animals I have.

 

[newchickmom]

I got my first batch of chicks 3 years ago. I started with 25. This year I lost about 40 over the winter (to fox) and now have 10 hens and 2 roos left. I now have 34 chicks in the brooder pen with a hen and 20 meat bird chicks in the smaller coop (8 x 12).

 

[CrazyCatLady76]

We have 6 week-old Golden Comets, and that's really our absolute max. We live slap in the middle of town, with our two nearest neighbors the sort of old ladies who run along behind you with a leaf blower cleaning up any grass your mower has thrown into the street...while you're still mowing, and the other close neighbor the sort who, if you set the blade above the very lowest setting, suggests 20 minutes after you finish that you should probably mow soon because your grass is getting tall. I'm already going to have to sweeten 'em up with eggs to keep down the grousing about what we've got, plus the logistics of building something big enough to house more than that but light enough to move is going to be a PITA.

 

[bakerjw]

I am constantly being told that I have too many chickens and that I have too many to care for as it is.

My response is...

The only difference between feeding 20 chickens and 40 chickens is that you double the amount of feed that you put in the feeders. Other than that there is little difference.

I started with 8 pullets (the girls) and then added 10 more (The Chicklets) and hatched out 11 more (The messy munchkins) and picked up 8 more pullets (The Bob squad) to keep Bob company (bob died though) and then hatched out another 14 (the pipsqueaks)

So I have 2 runs.
The girls and messy munchkins (13 total) are in one run and coop.
The chicklets are in the larger run.

The Bob squad is in a tractor coop atm.
The pipsqueaks are in a brooder until I get a chance to divide out the tractor to accommodate them.

It takes time to get everything ironed out.

 

[a123andpoof]

We are starting with 24, just have 2 more to get. So 25 is a good number XD Oh just though I would add our coop should hold about 30 so have a little more room for that chicken math....and then I need the parents to move so I can add more....because i really like chickens...

 

[HoldensLandingChickGirl]

Quote:
LOL! I am very glad we don't really have neighbors. We live in a really nice neighborhood - but that's way down at the bottom of the driveway. We are up here on the mountainside with only one neighbor we can see.