People with more than 10 chickens

[icy_flames]

I'm looking for honest opinions of your experiences. Is falling into the chicken math zone always better ( more breeds yay!) but maybe not? I know folks have different situations (selling eggs, need the meat , etc). I'm perfectly fine with extra eggs. Not using my birds for meat. I get too attached. I also greatly miss when my flock were chicks and being able to repeat that process every year would be awesome.

Basically urban owner here and I'm super jealous of you guys that can have as many as you want. Our city restrictions are not too bad but I have limitations to how many chickens we can own and have to monitor the noise. Boo!

I'm 34 working on a goal of someday owning a small home with a few acres. We are in Colorado and it is extremely expensive to obtain that kind of dream here, unless you go to a crappy part of the state. I don't want to leave CO

Wondering if it's really worth it just to collect more chickens My current home is in a very sought after market and near everything + we wouldn't have too much concern over keeping stable jobs if life happens.

 

[PirateGirl]

I like rotating in new birds instead of getting a bunch all at once. I add 2-3 new birds roughly every 2 years. This replaces my losses and now I have a variety of ages and stages so usually someone is an active layer.

 

[Morrigan]

Some things to think about when adding chickens:

--More work. More cleaning of coops and more chicken manure to deal with. More cleaning and refilling watering systems.

--What to do with the extra eggs.

--Making sure you have plenty of coop, roost and outdoor space. Generally the more space you have, the fewer problems you will have in your flock.

--Extra cost and hassle of supplying food.

I raise chickens for both eggs and meat, so my flock size varies between 15 and 30 chickens. Generally speaking, I enjoy my flock more when its smaller, not larger. For me, that is because I spend less time spent shoveling and composting chicken waste and it also allows me to know my individual flock members better, so I can better troubleshoot and maintain their health.

If I was totally ruthless, I would keep my laying flock down to 8 hens. But, DH and I have developed a soft spot for some of the older hens, and have the time, space and money to maintain a larger flock.

 

[Callender Girl]

I have 19 hens (including a house chicken) and a rooster, 10 runner ducks and a pair of geese. All I wanted originally was three, no, four chickens. And, that's how it began.

I tell myself every year: No more chickens, no more chickens. I successfully listened to me last year, but ... I just found out that a friend of mine has returned to working at a hatchery and has the ability to help me get baby chicks there again. I ... don't ... know ... how ... long .. I ... can ... resist.

I have my current coops filled to capacity -- except that one I used last year as a duckling brooder. With just a little renovation, I think it could house a couple of chickens, while I prepare to build a better coop.

Yes, more birds certainly equals more work, more expense -- and in my case, more joy!

 

[Mrs. K]

I could have as many as I wanted, but with too many- chores become work. It becomes quite expensive. I would rather have a smaller flock, and get new chicks each year, but I also am able of removing birds too. Chicken math needs to be both ways plus and minus.

I like a multi-generational flock, last year I had a horrifying wreck, and started over for the first time in over a decade. I will add 6 this spring, probably which will bring me up to a dozen. Probably let 3 go before winter.

A lot of people get on here, starting out, thinking they will have a forever flock, keeping the same chickens for years, more power to them. But often times, chickens often don't live beyond 3-4 years, they slow down on eggs, which I like getting. So I have a flock, I keep a flock, but the birds come into and leave my flock.

Under a dozen - everything is easy, amount of fresh water each day, amount of feed each day, easy to give away an extra dozen eggs to family or a loved one, easy to feed my family and bake and cook. Easy to care for the soiled bedding, easy to sweep out the coop. It is a hobby.

More than 20... you almost have to sell eggs, make routes, find people to buy them, then you have quite a bit bigger feed bill, the amount of water...and so on.

Mrs K

 

[Coops Dad]

We live on almost 20 acres out in the country and have (I think) 50 or 52 chickens at this point. Some are barnyard mixes just coming up on 6 months old that we're selling- last pullets we sold at this age went for $20 each at 5 months old. The rest are divided into a main flock of various types of hens with 2 roosters, and a second flock of gray Ameracaunas with a gorgeous gray and gold rooster.

We both give away eggs and sell them. In another thread, I estimated we got 85-100 eggs a week but I seriously underestimated. It's more like 175-200 a week, and some aren't laying yet due to youth, molting or keeping winter hours.

 

[SarahGfa]

I have enough space, but I keep my flock at 12 or less. I like being able to get to know the chickens and I can't do that when there are a lot of them. I hatch one or 2 eggs per year to replace the ones that die.

 

[Kholts]

I also have restrictions where I live. I am in a municipal district but still a town technically. I raise ducks & now chickens in my backyard.

We are only aloud 12 birds total. No roosters but drakes welcome. I haven’t had any complaints about my 5 ducks. Some neighbours didn’t even know I had any until late fall hit & they were wondering why they were still hearing ducks haha. I often see my super close neighbors giggling at them when they catch them in the pool. They are entertaining.

I’m just starting with chickens & am wondering if I will get a little more complaints when it comes to the egg song...I’m not fretting too much & as long as I’m under the number & keep up on chores there really isn’t anything my neighbours or the bylaw officers will be able too do. Except change the by law really.

I am with you & really want an acreage as well. I’d love to be able to have a coop with a rooster & hatch out chicken eggs.

 

[Kirkwooder]

We have a couple acres out in the middle of nowhere New York. We have access to the neighbors 40+ acres. My layer flock has ranged from 3 to over 100. Right now our flock has 30 +/- hens and 3 roosters.

100 is too many, it becomes a job that you never seem to be able to take a vacation from. 3 isn't enough, all the work of a real flock with none of the benefits. 12-24 seems like a really good range for me. We have a market for almost all the eggs we get and it pays for their feed. It really doesn't seem like any more work than having just a few.

We also raise and sell meat birds, turkeys, and have 100 */- quail for dog training and live sale this spring. It's a lot. We don't seem to make any money, but we always have eggs, chicken, turkey, and whatever else to eat, and we haven't bought any at the grocery in years.

Good neighbors are a must. Ours look after our funny farm when ever we are away and we pay them with poultry and eggs.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Since Aart tagged me I'll respond. I probably would not have seen this otherwise.

Aart I have a question, heard from someone once that older chickens aren't as good for meat, the flavor and toughness of the meat apparently is different (thought maybe they might not know how to slaughter and clean chickens appropriately...?)

As chickens age the meat changes. It gains texture and flavor. It's really apparent with cockerels going through puberty when those hormones hit but it happens to the girls too, just a whole lot slower. Most of the chicken you buy at the store are Cornish X meat birds, slaughtered at 6 to 8 weeks of age. Those are still extremely tender and frankly don't have much flavor. But if that is what you are used to you may not like the flavor or texture of an older bird. Many people don't.

You can cook and eat any chicken of any sex and age. The French developed Coq au Vin, a way to make a gourmet meal out of an old rooster, the toughest and strongest flavored chicken there is. It's not so much about slaughter and clean but what you do afterwards. As Aart mentioned aging to get past Rigor Mortis is essential. Then it's how you cook it. There are a lot of different recipes for that. Chicken and Dumplings is a traditional way to make true comfort food and stretch one chicken to feed a large family. Aart mentioned pressure cooking, that's one way to tenderize the meat. Chicken stew or chicken soup is a great use for older chickens, just cook them long and slow at a simmer, never let it come to a full boil. You can use a crock pot set on low, again long and slow.

If nothing else make chicken broth or stock. An old rooster makes the best but an older hen does a respectable job. It will still be better than the broth or stock you buy at the store. Even when I cook younger chickens other ways I save the bones for broth. When I butcher I save certain parts like the back, necks, and feet for that broth. I put that in a crock pot covered with water and flavored with herbs and cook it on slow overnight, which usually translates to 18 to 24 hours. I strain the liquid out, de-fat it, and have great broth. And I pick the meat out of the solids to get delicious meat great for tacos, chicken salad, or to add to soup. I often eat in on a sandwich for lunch. Some people think that meat is too soggy (too tender) to use like that but I think it's great.

And how old is too "old" for chickens, at what age do you slaughter them. I have an older hen (don't know her exact age, wasn't mine originally) and I see she takes a long time laying, but she's a great mom,

To me they are never too old if you know how to manage them. When hunters bring ducks, pheasant, or geese home they have no idea how old they are but they still cook and eat them.

I'd say she's also a bit chubby but my husband assures me she hasn't really gained weight (I dubious about that...)

All hens (and pullets) pack on extra fat before they even start to lay. If you slaughter a hen and a rooster you'll be amazed at how much difference in fat there is. That fat is put there for a hen to live off of while she is broody. That way she can stay on the nest incubating eggs instead of having to be out looking for food and leading predators back to her nest. They do lose weight while broody but that's just fat put there for that purpose. That may be part of what you are seeing.

Possibly something else. Many hens are a lot more feathers than body. Some broody hens pluck out some breast feathers while incubating. When they molt you can often see a tremendous difference in apparent body size. You think they are really thin and in bad shape. Nope, you are just looking at their body normally hidden under all those feathers.

Hens can have different body types too. Some are just naturally rounder than others. Some seem to be wearing pantaloons, big and fluffy back there, while others have a trimmer, more game hen type look.

If she is living with the rest of the flock and eating what they eat and has done OK for this long she's probably OK.