Livingthehenlife
Chirping
- Apr 29, 2020
- 60
- 61
- 73
I am looking for true advice and a voice of reason. I started last year with 6 chickens and a few ducks. One year later I have 10 ducks, 22 chickens and 27 in the brooder with several hatching eggs to start tomorrow. I live on 3.5 acres that’s wide open and I free range my chickens. Ive never had a predator issue but I have a dog and electric fences. My neighbors farmed poultry for years and had well over 100 birds at once. I have sufficient coop housing but I use fencing for runs. I keep all my egg layers together including ducks. I keep all my adolescent birds together too. I let them out of their coops at 5am into the “small” fenced area about 240 sq ft. where they all eat and run around then after 2 pm they can go anywhere on the property and sometimes they go into my neighbors yard too, they have over 60 acres. I’ve sold 6 week old chicks pretty easily and I’m not worried about roosters too much. My question is, am I misjudging my ability to keep up to 100 chickens? Ideally I’d like to keep about 30 egg layers and a 20-30 dual purpose birds. Ive sold “extras” quickly and easily but I’ve become reluctant to sell anymore because all I can think about is keeping chickens and all the great breeds available. Am I in over my head but don’t know it? Am I ok and normal? My short term goal is to sell excess eggs and to produce my own poultry meat. Long term I’d love to breed a few types and strengthen my egg layer flock while selling eating eggs and hatch eggs and 6 week old birds.