Please tell me a bit about your flock

[Fancie]

How big is your flock, and how did you choose that size..... Are they all one breed or are they mixed?

I have 3 silkies right now, and I haven't desided the my flock size will be. I think I want 2 - 3 trio (maybe quads) with a few random breed hens. I live on a quarter acer so not sure if thats too much chicken??

Also at what age do you decide if you will be keeping or selling a bird?


(love pics

)

Always many thinks, I love your replies!

Fancie

 

[LynneP]

My hens are 'mutts', brown egg layers bought locally from a co-op manager with a reputation for good chicks. Bought 12 because I hoped for 6 eggs daily, I'm getting 11 or 12 and able to gift friends with the spares.

Golden comets, very friendly, closed flock, and once an animal arrives on our farm, it stays...




Click on home page if you want to see the whole deal!

 

[digitS']

Fancie, I have all of 4 (count 'em, four) hens. I've had chickens many times but never over 12, I'm sure.

Usually, I get Black Australorps and don't really like to mix my flocks. Right now I have 2 BA's and 2 Barred Rocks (had those before, too). At this moment in my backyard the BR's are foraging on one side of the yard and the BA's are on the other. Just as well, one BR picks on one BA

. AND, that's why I don't like to mix flocks but that may be as much me as the birds.

The largest flocks were when I lived on the farm but I've had to live within a smaller space and find that 3 or 4 hens is sufficient for a small family. (Actually, ours is an "empty nest" household these days

.)

Now, that I've said that - there have been meat birds a number of times. Enclosed young birds are a good deal easier to keep on a small lot than the laying hens. I want the hens to free range at least part of the time. So, there have been 35 or so of the meat birds at a time.

Deciding which replacement pullets to keep comes by about 16 weeks. When the birds begin to reach maturity, their growth slows. May as well send the extras to "freezer camp" at that time. Keeping them longer can't be justified, budget-wise.

Steve

 

[Lesa]

I ordered the minimum amount from McMurray, figuring I would end up with about a dozen birds by winter. Well, I did lose 2 to predators, but went into the winter with 24 lovely ladies! The size of your flock would depend what you are hoping to get. Do you want eggs, are you interested in breeding, showing or just a few pets?? What is your coop size, etc. I would love to have more birds- but I think that will have to wait for next spring...

 

[ginbart]

Hi, right now I have 13 laying hens, 2 are WR's, 2 sex links, 2 EE's and 7 are RIR's.

I have 2 RIR roosters and One EE rooster.

I just wanted some hens for laying but now I have egg orders for more than the eggs I have, sooooooo

I have 14-4 week olds and as of this minute, 6 hatched yesterday and 3 more today. I'm going to give my FIL some of the pullets when they get a couple mouths older.

With these new ones hopefully I will be able to keep up with my orders this summer.

Happy Valentines Day to everyone.

 

[durtywater]

hi there...i have 20 rirs hens and 15 different mixed breeds ...most of them r about 11 months old besides like 8 of them which r 6months old i am getting about 16 eggs a day and a also have 2 rirs roos and a dommer roo...i also have 8 jap silkies too just for looks ....i have an order for 50 more rirs girls due to be here 6th of march...once the chickens arrives here its here till it stop breathing...which we dont like for that to happen but it does

 

[HorseFeathers]

We have 7 hens, 3 EEs, a Welsummer, an Australorp, a BR, and a Red Star. Wouldn't have it any other way... except more Welsies. We'll be letting the Australorp hatch some Welsie chicks this spring.

 

[columbiacritter]

My original plan was for a small coop with just 3 hens in it, then my husband found my McMurray catalog.

Mr. Chicken hater, yeah sure.

Now we have 5 hens, 2 buff orps, 3 wyandootes. A cochin rooster (he was adamant about not having any roosters) and two dutch bantam roosters. We also have 5 laying ducks, 3 campbells and 2 cayugas. On order we have 21 Japanese bantams and 4 barred rocks.

My original 4x4 coop became 8x8. Then we added a tractor for the Dutch boys bachelor quarters. Then we needed separate quarters for the Japanese bantams so that got built last fall. We also converted part of the greenhouse into winter qurters for the bantams.

Now he's talking about getting a Chick n Barn from Critter cages because I'm tired of building coops and he wants to get hens for the Dutch roos.

Dutch boys tractor

Japanese Bantam coop

Main coop

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

Quote:
1. 13 chickens and 2 ducks that live together in harmony...for the most part...

2. If it were up to me, we'd be chicken crazy! But sadly, there just isn't enough room for alot of chickens.

3. Mixed breeds and sizes. The banties and standards get along just fine.

4. Never sold a bird.

No one is for sale and everyone is here to stay until they leave this world on their own. Everyone in the flock has a place in my heart and a name to boot. That's how it'll stay.

Haha, pics? Alright, you asked for it!

-Lucy and Ethal, the 'Scovie girls

Warhol, the anti-social Polish X Leghorn (?)

Napoleon (sp?) our once fierce leader. He got involved in a brawl for dominance last year and lost miserabely. He's now the retired angry general.

Woodstock the indecicive broody. You never know when she's on or off, as she tends to growl alot anyway. I love her all the same.

Dash, my living nightmare. I hatched him as a chick with Woodstock's help and he became a monster after maturity. What a demonic creature.

'But I'm still a pretty demonic creature, right, Mom?'

Mary Tyler Moore (sp? again!) the Turken. I tend to just call her 'The Turken' though. Vulture-like but one heck of a layer!

Tosca, my pride and joy. Also hatched her with Woodstock's help. She was hatched from my favorite roo and hen. Half Polish and Sultan. Her father, the Sultan, died shortly after she became a pullet for sure, so now I cling to her. She's the only part of him I have left.

Norma, our docile Columbian Wyandotte. She's quiet but friendly. Our largest hen.

Patty, my favorite hen. She's Tosca's Mommy! I love this girl very much and she's truely special to me. Very clever and makes me laugh. I've been wishing her a long life for a while. I get too nervious that if someone has to go, she'll be the next one. That's how her mate went.

Cae, our ugly Silkie roo. Before my Sultan roo went, he wasn't very nice to me or anyone! After the death, though, he started acting friendlier to me and never attacked me again. No clue why he was this way. Jealousy?

Fuzzy, my dear, missed, beloved roo. He was the first to meet death's door just months ago. No one has passed away since then, and I'm very grateful. He was the victom to freak accident that I still wish I was present to pevent. But I won't go into details. He's burried in the yard with a stone over his body yeilding the message, 'The greatest treaure in a see of gems'.

A little blurry, but here are some of the chooks together. I haven't gotten a pic of everyone, so you may only see a few.

Now here's everyone!

Sorry it's long! I hope you enjoy!

 

[Fancie]

Quote:
My hubby is near the same way. he balked at my birds till it came to thin the numbers at the end of the year last year...(I had five and only wanted to winter with 3, so I sold a pair on eggbid) than he was like "you can't get rid of that one because..."

I'm jeolous of your jap. bantam coop


Quote:
Shes darling... I love all the pictures thanks!!