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WesleyBeal

WesleyBeal

Chirping
Nov 28, 2016
230
70
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Douglas County, Minnesota
Howdy all.

I've been searching/reading this site for a few months now.

I started my first flock in mid-June with 42 straight-run day-old chicks (ordered 40, but they threw in a couple extra).

I lost one to exposure at 4-weeks, and have butchered 14 roosters.

I'm now at what I hope will be the flock for the winter, with 4 roosters, and 23 hens.

The 4 roosters are made up of 2 Buff Orpingtons, 1 Plymouth Barred Rock, and 1 Golden Laced Wyandotte. I would be down to 1 Buff Orpington, but the nieces, nephews, and wife went and named the runt of the flock, "Teeny," when the chicks were all small little yellow puff-balls in our garage. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping the 4 roosters can get along well enough that it isn't necessary to cull any more of them.

For the hens, 16 are Buff Orpington's, 4 are Barred Rock, and 3 are Wyandottes. They started laying on the 16th, and I'm busy collecting eggs throughout the day while they learn to use the nest boxes, working to make sure I don't end up with broken eggs and subsequently egg-eating chickens.

Today I realized I may want to post a question or two in the forums, and it occurred to me I hadn't actually "joined" the site.

So here I am. See you all around.
 
Greetings from Kansas, WesleyBeal, and :welcome! Great to have you aboard! Sounds like you're well on your way on your poultry adventure. If I was going to offer any advice I'd say you might have two roosters too many for your number of hens. 8-10 hens per rooster is pretty standard so the hens don't get overbred and constantly nervous from being pursued all day. Best wishes and thanks for joining BYC!
 
Hi and welcome to BYC! Redsoxs gave already you some great advice, so I just wanted to say thanks for joining us!
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Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.

I'm going to try to last a little while with 4 roosters to my 23 hens.

I keep waiting to lose birds to predation, but thankfully haven't yet. So far hawks are all that has shown interest, despite there being plenty of other predators in the area. My coop is secure, and I've got electro-net around it, but I normally let the chickens day range outside it.

I'm not doing that now, as they just started laying, and I'm hoping that confining them to the electro-net yard will help them get in the habit of laying in the coop, and not wherever else they find. I think a week or so after they all start consistently using the nest boxes and not laying elsewhere in the coop, I'll let them day-range again.

As it is, I try to make sure there are plenty of places for them to go, both in and out of the coop, to separate themselves from one another as they feel the need.

Too many corners isn't helping convince them the nests are the best places to lay an egg, but they're getting there. I'd guess that 2/3 of the eggs are laid in the nests at this point. I've also - finally today - gotten a hold of some fake eggs to keep in their nests.

My hope was to keep 3 roosters of different breeds, so that I'd be more certain of having genetic diversity come spring when I hope to hatch some new chicks. Then the runt got named, as well as becoming the most tame of all of them. Of course, I don't plan to breed the runt, so here I am with 4 roosters.

Not too mention that - while I can certainly do it and part of the point of this whole endeavor is to put meat on the table, I get no joy from butchering the chickens. I will though observe how things go, and cull as needed. I keep reminding myself that I'm raising a flock, not individual birds.
 
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It sounds like you're thought through your circumstances pretty well. Had to chuckle about the runt roo being named...DH & I always said if it has a name, it's not dinner, lol.

Good luck and make yourself at home here!
 

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