How many feathered friends can one household hold?

[2mnypets]

Well as most know I now have 44 chickens with 24 of them being 4 days old. Now mind you we have the dogs, the cat, the canary, the dwarf hamsters and the fishtanks. So here is the story. I have a girl friend who is amazing with birds. She breeds cockatiels, doves, love birds and cockatoos. She is the bird guru I swear. There is nothing this woman doesn't know. Her knowledge just blows me away and leaves me hanging from a tree. However, three years ago she had to have a kidney transplant due to her diabetes. I offered her a kidney but her sister was a better match. So Friday comes with the new baby chicks and I have to work. Friday night we're just chilling out. She calls and says "Julie, I need you to take my birds. The doctor is really on me because my Creatine level is still elevated and she said it's because of the birds. I need to get rid of them and I don't trust anyone else. Will you please take them?" Of course anyone that knows me will testify that I can't say "NO" to an animal. Long story short is this....we now have 5 additions to our household. Four Cockatiels and a Dove. My husband did the last count and we're up to 57 animals and that's not counting the fish in the 65 gallon freshwater tank or the blue lobsters.
HMMMMM....wonder if the goat idea can still be turned from a no to a yes

 

[Sherry]

How wonderful. It's nice to know there are people out there who still know the meaning of the word "friend".

 

[justusnak]

What a great friend you are to take her birds! Wow, I know what you mean.....too many?? LOL
We now have....let me think.....13 RIR/MIX .... 17 Buff Orps....5 amaracuana(sp) 1 dom... 12 frizzles... 9 new birds we just got yesterday from another BYC member 4 cornish x ( havent made it to the freezer yet) and 2 turkeys!! WOW!! Thats not includeing the ducks(12)...and the dogs(4) and the parakeets ( 3) and the fish pond with over 75 goldfish in it! LOL Good thing my hubby loves me!

 

[4H kids and mom]

54 isn't that many at all, considering thats just a few shy of how many run my yard! And thats not including my INDOOR animals!

We have 1 dog...2 cats...1 lovebird...1 cockatiel...1 macaw...1 hamster...1 gerbil all living INSIDE!

Then we have the 12 Ameraucanas/Easter Eggers...2 Cuckoo Marans...2 Barred Rocks...1 Buff Orp...2 Cinnamon Queens...3 RIRs...2 Golden Comets...8 California Whites...23 Cornish Rock Crosses...4 Pekin Ducklings...8 Guinea Keets...and 2 goats living OUTSIDE!

AND I am getting at LEAST 4 more ducks, and 4 geese on Wednesday, and 1 more goat on Friday!

Bringing me to a grand total of..... 8 animals inside, and (69 currently) 78 animals outside (if I only get the 4 more ducks, 4 geese, and 1 more goat....hehehehe, but THAT could change too!) Which is an all-in-all grand total of 86 animals when all is said and done!

(And thats not counting in that I am considering a pair or two of peafowl! hehehehehehe! Might as well make it an even 90 hey??!! lol)

 

[2mnypets]

I have to laugh 4H Mom because when my hubby was counting the animals the other day I told him "Honey, don't feel so bad....we could have the small petting zoo that 4H Mom has

I had to edit my post because I was wrong with the number. It's 57 not 54 and that's not counting the rabbits. 4 dogs, 1 cat, 2 dwarf hamsters, 1 canary, 4 cockatiels, 1 dove, 44 chickens and upteen rabbits. I'm not even going to count the fish tank. Except for the chickens and the rabbits, everything else lives inside the house. Really we must get together and swap "war animal stories" there 4H Mom.

 

[4H kids and mom]

lol 2many! You and I really should get together!

My lovely DH and I spent all day yesterday adding on to the coop, and then building another addition (seperate but attached to the coop) for our growing meat birds (since we are planning to raise them year round) and waterfowl (since we are getting more!

)

The coop now measures 12' wide x 12' long and 8' tall. (We added an additional 6' in the width to accomidate the new pullets.) Then we added another 4 nestboxes (I think we still need a couple more....lets see 4 birds per box and 30 pullets is.... 7.5 nestboxes? Oh, ok then cuz we have 8! Guess we're good there! Yay!)

The meat bird addition now measures 5' wide x 12' long and only goes 4.5' tall because they don't roost or fly so we didn't need the additional height. We built it out of 2x4's and chicken wire so its airy because they get soooo hot.

And the new duck/goose pen measures 5' wide x 7' long and 4.5' tall and we built it the same way as the meat bird "enclosure". Now when I walk into the 'garage' it looks like a barn!

DH complains about the animals, but I always find him standing on the deck in amazment at how they all get along together and comments that I must be related to Dr. Doolittle! I take it as a compliment!

 

[2mnypets]

Oh that's really funny because day before yesterday, my daughter's best friend's mom said the only thing missing at our house is Dr. Doolittle...ROFL We are currently in the process of expanding our 10x10x8 coop to add an additional 10x8 at least for the new additions. That's after we already added a brooder box that is 10x2x2 along the back wall of the current coop. Yes, the hubby took your idea for the brooder in the coop. Then he wants to expand the enclosed run by 10' in length on one side, 8' in additional width and then an additional 20' for the other side. So I think that will make the total enclosed run to be approximately 318 square feet if I added somewhat correctly. Man, guess I should have started this thread in the coop section...lol Sometime this summer I'm thinking we will make the drive to get together to swap stories, eggs etc. Just what we need huh? I'd say that the hubbies could get together and whine, but my hubby is the driving force behind all of this. Oh and you must read the items I added to your post regarding the poultry problem......

 

[4H kids and mom]

Sounds great! I'd love to meet a fellow fanatic!

If you come later this summer, my organic vedgies and chickens will be ready, so we could have one heck of a barbeque!

The DH's will be fine grillin and drinkin beer and blabbin about how crazy we are...and then they'll be talkin about whos got the better chickens, and competing! lol

Oh, and I'm lovin your additions to my post! I am guilty of 24 and 25, and 27 is what we just did this weekend! My family rarely asks now about the babies, because they know I just cant help myself and will go on and on about them.

They usually try to avoid the topic all together, but ChickenDuck has taken to crowing whenever the phone rings, so I end up laughing "O, my silly ChickenDuck" to which they usually sigh and give in to my rantings about the little chicks digging up my garden, or the muddy dirty (but HAPPY) chickies that dustbathed in a MUD puddle last week after a long rain, and the ginormous meat chicks that look so tastey now and had me in a laughing fit when the DH picks one up and rubs its front saying "Look hun, I'm touching another ladies breasts!" but then he laughed when I reminded him that the chick he was holding with a BOY! He got this look on his face and he looked at the chick and says "Well, this is a little weird then, isnt it?" and I couldnt stop laughing!

Oh, and guess what? Next weekend we are painting the "garage" red with white trim because DH is tired of saying "garage" when it is sooo obviously a BARN! lol He says "Well, if its a barn, it should at least LOOK like one!" Gosh, I adore him! With him and my ChickenDuck...I feel like just such a lucky lady!

 

[2mnypets]

OMG you had me laughing so hard. I could just see it now. Actually, I thought I would be the greatest chicken mom and do that high thrill with a soft tone like to say "come and get the food". Well I must have said "Yikes there's a flippen hawk over head....DUCK FOR COVER" cause they all went nuts running over each other and tripping. Guess I need to work on the intonations. Poor things, all I wanted to do was communicate a little better. HMMMMM guess I better stick with just throwing the scratch around and let it do the talking.

 

[SpottedCrow]

Wow!! You really are a good friend...
Good luck with the new editions and hope your friend's doing better too.