People with more than 10 chickens

[Kimi BK]

(Well, OK, except for Eaglet!)

Not sure why Eaglet didn't come through on my first try...

 

[Tilhana]

I currently have 8 hens, 3 roosters, and 3 geese. But last summer I hatched a whole bunch of chicks for the first time, and maxed out at about 35 birds total. But we butchered a few and lost a bunch more to predators and a few to illness. Also had some bad luck hatching chicks under a broody hen - there was a bit of a learning curve for both me and the hen.

But after the first time hatching eggs in an incubator I was hooked. Chickens tend to have that effect on me. When I first got chickens I got 4, thinking, "let's just see how this goes." And within a day I was like, "yeah I need more chickens." Same thing with hatching eggs. I love getting new breeds - the more diverse the flock, the easier it is to name them.

I plan to hatch a whole bunch this spring, even though I'm going to have to sell or give away a lot of them. I'm actually planning to move out of state next year so I'll have rehome the whole flock eventually, but the experience of raising them is rewarding enough to do it anyway, just for the experience and to learn more.

I haven't had any issues with neighbors - we have a lot of people with chickens in my town, and the rest have loud dogs so they can't really say anything. We have no problem with extra eggs - give lots to our neighbors and family/friends who live nearby. The coop that came with this property is pretty big so I haven't hit that limit yet. We're on almost 3 acres so no pressure yet on land, either. During the day I run them on future garden beds, so the more chickens I have, the more garden beds I can prep.

 

[Peggsblueinc]

I want to hatch my own girls. What make is a good incubator.

 

[Tilhana]

The advantage to a flock that size, even though I name all my birds (eases identification), is that you don't develop a real attachment to them. Easy to make a meal from them. I'm not wired right, so it doesn't trouble me regardless, but my wife gets attached to the chicks, an attachment which fades to nothingness as they adult out and new chicks are hatched.

LOL I'm the same way. I love the little ones but as they get older I lose a lot of that attachment. I think since having kids I just don't have enough oxytocin left to really lavish affection on animals. And I would like to eventually have a big enough flock to be able to sell eggs and maybe even meat birds, so I'm not really looking for a personal relationship with each chicken.

/edit Culling IS work. Maybe if I skinned them, and otherwise kept them whole, it wouldn't be, but I'm not an efficient (time) butcher. I have to set aside an afternoon to do two birds, from set up thru parting, weighing, clean up.

Agreed! I HATE butchering. I'm thinking of looking for a local butcher to do it for me next time. I've heard it runs around $2-3 a bird, which is well worth it if it saves me an afternoon and a lot of unpleasant work.

 

[Dan Davis]

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.

How many hens do you keep at any one time?

 

[LizzzyJo]

I agree with @Mrs. K for myself personally - over 12 and you start to see your happy place become your chore. Not only the expense, but the cleaning, the injuries, the disagreements (chicken vs. chicken, hawk vs. chicken, you vs chicken, you vs spouse about chicken infrastructure... I digress).

I prefer to keep it under 12 to have fun and replace every few years. I let my girls brood when they wish to and sell pullets and harvest cockerels. It's a quaint mix for me of homesteading and hobby farming.

I have 12 right now, but am selling 3 that are 'replicas'. More is not always better.

 

[LizzzyJo]

I could definitely do with less chickens. Less food, less water, less eggs I have so many extra eggs! 19 hens all laying. I get minimum a dozen to 18 a day. I feed eggs to my dogs, my cats, and back to the chickens. We hardly make a dent

If you love where you live then I’d say stay put. A small flock is good. More of the joy and less of the work/cost. Unless.... a perfect home with land that’s in your budget popes up on the market. Jump on it! Haha.

I started giving eggs to my local soup kitchen and they LOVE them! Just an idea for the extras

 

[Tilhana]

I have walked the path you are on. I am 15yrs older and I can tell you, now that I am here: run, don't walk. Stop wasting time, you don't get it back, and building is much easier at 34 than at 50.

Go take a drive through that 'crappy' part of the state and see it with fresh eyes. It might just be other people telling you it is not the better place. Maybe it is better there, and other people just don't see right.

Your happiness will not look like other people's happiness looks. As to the work-is-easier-to-find idea, those things work out too. If you want to work, you'll always find it. If you are happy where you live, you'll figure it out much easier than working like a mule for a life you aren't enjoying.

Not that I have the benefit of hindsight, but I'm inclined to agree. What makes the cheaper part of the state "crappy" anyway? Maybe it's lower income and less access to 24/7 takeout and nightclubs, but personally I prefer country living.

Planning a similar move myself - took me years to convince my husband to leave his home state but I think the horrible climate and astronomical home prices finally convinced him. That and the rate at which we're outgrowing the tiny rental we're in...a house that's spacious for a married couple is positively cramped when you add 3 kids to the equation.

We still argue about our prospective new home state because he also worries it's going to be "crappy" - meaning, less access to "civilization," worse schools (seems irrelevant to me since we home school), lower incomes (to go with the cheaper houses and lower property taxes), etc. I feel like I'd rather have community, better climate, and a lower cost of living than be near the ivy league universities and a lot of museums. But I guess we won't know until we try. Personally, I'd rather try to improve my life and risk having to backtrack than stay in a place I don't like and always wonder if this is really the best we can do.

 

[Tilhana]

I want to hatch my own girls. What make is a good incubator.

Generally you get what you pay for. Don't go for anything that holds fewer than 12 eggs. I use the Hovabator, which is not the best but I think it's good value for what I paid, which was a little under $200. You definitely want one with an automatic egg turner - unless you're super dedicated and will be rolling them all 3-5x per day.

And make sure it's big enough that it can really insulate (hence the advice to avoid tiny ones that only hold a few eggs). There are a lot of good brands out there but I can't personally vet them. I had a decent hatch rate with the Hovabator - 19 eggs out of 24, and the rest appeared to be infertile or early quitters.

Also, get an independent thermometer and humditiy meter to keep inside the incubator. A lot of these incubators are notorious for being miscalibrated so you might think it's running at one temperature but if you put a second thermometer in you may find that it's off by like 3 degrees, which can make a big difference. So redundancy helps with those easy to avoid mistakes.

 

[My2butterflies]

I started giving eggs to my local soup kitchen and they LOVE them! Just an idea for the extras

That is something I’ve been considering. Not a soup kitchen, but maybe local church that gives to the community or just offer free eggs to families that could really use them.