Poll: Reason(s) for more chickens now than when you started

[WIChookchick]

I started out with 4 - 1 1/2 to 2 yr old production reds, and a free japanese bantam roo "if you can catch him, you can have 'im"...
then it was3 retired 4H show hens, 1 standard blk cochin, 1 SLW, and 1 Partridge rock (I had no clue what she was till I got on the internet and here and asked LOL)
Then a friend wanted to get some Polish bantams, I got a frizzle polish, 2 splash, and another one I can't remember. She got 3 or 4, we bought food together, but after
a few months, she quit buying food and after they matured into mostly roos, we had a guarantee on them being pullets so we were able to exchange the ones that were roos.
She still hadn't bought any food, so after a few more months I found all but two of the polish bantams homes.
So I got a WCBP roo, a blue cochin roo, 2 BSL, a pair of frizzle cochin bantams, the roo was hurt to begin with from a well known local breeder, and the chick nearly
featherless, I had to return the roo after he didn't get better, found another frizzle roo, and 2 buff silkie pullets. The frizzle pullet started to mature and suddenly
her legs quit working, she had been in the same coop with the other hens with no issues. I had to put her down, we had an upper respitory go thru our flock
and lost our silkies, I then got late in the year, a light and a buff brahma bantam pullets.
I lost those in the spring so stripped and cleaned the coop, moved them out and had no more losses.
We did lose some of our production reds to old age. We placed the japanese bantam and the blue cochin roo in a new home.
I got my silkie chicks in the spring and did a chick swap with a nice fellow near Lake Mills, my fav chick turned out to be our current rooster. And I got an unrelated pair of black silkies
and the hen went broody and had 4 chicks, 1 is our current big roo, he was unrelated to the hen who hatched him. One pullet was from our frizzle roo, she got the same leg issue and despite our
best efforts we had to put her down. We lost her father too.
Her siblings were not silkie so were cross bred bantam roos, we went to a swap and sold them and the black silkie rooster.
I got a free australorp, bought 12 hens from a local farm, she had either gotten them as chicks or hatched out in a classroom. We got a few production reds, white leghorns, and a BSL.
We sold all but 4. I bought an EE and a Light Brahma, which didn't settle into coop life very well so she went to a neighbor.
And then I saw an ad for OEGBs, they are a bit rare here so getting 4 for 10 dollars was a great deal!! We rehomed our WCBP roo, and one of the OEGB's since it would be 2 roos and 2 hens..
our WCBP's son is our new big boy roo!!
And then I saw about 2 weeks ago an ad for 3 cochin bantams and a GL bantam or OEGB.

So I started with 5 and now have 24 (I think)
1 standard cochin, 1 SLW, 1 Partridge rock, 1 mix breed roo (his mom is the SLW), 1 BL polish bantam, 1 GL frizzle polish bantam, 1 GL bantam, 3 bantam cochins, 2 leghorns, 2 BSL's, 1 australorp, 2 RSL/production reds.
4 silkies, 1 EE, and 3 OEGB's.
And I am planning on setting up breeding pens in March for the cochin bantams, OEGB's, and silkies, I am putting the frizzle bantam polish in with the silkies and the GL bantam in with the OEGB's.
Once I get some broodies, I am putting leghorn cross and SL eggs under them for my next generation of egg layers for sale.

 

[magoochie]

We knew when we moved out to the country we were gonna get some chickens. When we moved out here this past june, that was the first thing we did! We had the coop built within the first month.

A friend of ours was raising up some guineas for us because we are in the woods and we heard they were good for ticks. He gave us about 10, 8week old guineas and 1 turkey he got from the feed store.

The guineas ended up killing the turkey. Then the dogs broke into the coop and killed all but 1 guinea.

The last guinea we let roam and it disappeared within a week. fox bait no doubt.

So I found an add on craigslist for black australorp chicks that were about 6 weeks old. I bought 15 from her and gave half to our buddy that gave us the guineas. So we were at 8 birds. Then I saw another ad on Craigslist that was about 4 miles from us. He has a whole little hatchery going on. So we ended up getting another dozen chickens from him and 4 swede ducks. 2 blue and 2 black.

Then we were close to 30 birds. Well, we ate 2 of the ducks. And a predator got the other two. We gave a couple more chickens to our buddy, and sent a few to freezer camp.

We kept 12 through the winter. down to 11 now because we made soup the other day.

Now I have 25 coming from McMurray around Feb 7th! So we just finished the brooder tonight. We are figuring to kinda rotate stock every year, and probably start hatching our own this summer/fall. keeping a dozen through winter is just about right.

 

[Laurajean]

Your poll didn't have my reason: Adopted (rescued) my neighbors' chicken because she had no coop or proper living conditions. I asked them if I could take her, promised to give them all her eggs in return, if I could give them a better home. They agreed, and now she lives the good life.

 

[ruby]

I raised chickens all my life with my moma. Never got it out of my system. Moma died before she saw my beautiful chicken pen. I live on 11 acres, and have 27 chickens that will do me for now, any more I won't know their names!