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

[AZBootsie]

I dunno??

wanted 6, bought 15....then a rooster.... found 3 Marans hens.....then bought an incubator....

We moved to the middle of no where about 3 years ago. Since I have had chickens on and off all my life, I was excited to have a small flock again. It took me until last August to get down to business. I wanted about 6 eggs a day to feed my family and give a couple of dozen a week to friends. The min chicks I could order was 15. A friend said she would split the order with me. After ordering them, she decided half was too many and planned on taking 3. That was 4 months ago.....Those pullets are getting close to laying now and still in my coop. Then in October, both of my daughters came to visit. They spent hours talking about "back in the day with our mama hens". That gave me chick fever and I found a free rooster. I saw some Olive eggs and decided I needed to have some. I lucked into 3 beautiful full grown GCM hens. Currently they are my only layers. Then enablers from BYC got me dreaming about an incubator. Of course all my EE's are pullets, so I still need a male Ameraucana to make Oliver Egger chicks. The lavender Ameraucana are so beautiful......so I ordered a brinsea and hatching eggs. The eggs my Marans are laying are fertile.....hate to eat a perfectly good hatching egg....so more eggs to incubate.

Good thing I finally finished my coop and run, because with hatching there will be more rooster. Feb. I will need to get started on some breeder/grower coops and runs for all the new babies.

15+1+3+ incubator.....

It just kinda evolved since Sept 22nd when the first day old peeps arrived at my post office.

 

[PepsNick]

I started with three girls last year for my chicken comeback and plan on having thirty-something, maybe 40 by the end of Spring.

I would say it's breed addiction. They're all so different, wonderful and beautiful, you can not resist. I also run an egg business so now I have 35 customers and very little eggs, so I'm screwed. Shouldn't be for long, though! I would like some more breeder quality, which I plan to get soon, but most that I get will be from hatchery, just because I live in the city.

 

[GammaPoppyLilyFlutter]

Parents said I could get 2. We found out that the minimum shipping order for Meyer was 3, so we ordered 3 GSL's to be my pets. They sent 4, in case 1 died, but they all arrived safe and happy. Then in November I tried o get my parents to let me buy 2 more for egg production and so that I could reach the city limit. We made some deals about getting my grades up, so I found out the perfect way to do both: the science fair for extra credit. So I bought some hatching eggs from Bargain after my parents agreed. Unfortunately, they all died either from infection or from shipping or for no reason right before hatching. So, my parents let me get 2 EE chicks from the feed store. Everybody loves the babies, even though they are now in the awkward stage of teenagehood. Now I have 6 chickens when I was supposed to have 2.

Ah, chicken math

 

[LC orps]

cant stop hatching eggse

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

When we moved to our ranch 8+ years ago we brought our chickens with us. I think we had around 12 BA hens, a pair of BO's, a Silver Spangled Hamburg Roo, 1 Dom hen and 1 Brown Leghorn hen. I think we'd gotten them from Murry McMurry hatchery. Anyway in less than a year we were down to 1 Brown Leghorn hen. Then we decided it was time to get more chickens so we ordered 100 Bantams from Murry McMurry Hatchery. We lost at least 20+ of those chicks in less than two weeks due to stress etc. We had around 70 chicks when we moved them to the coop. The week they started laying 1 hen went broody and hatched out 2 babies, sadly both died becauseI had no earthly idea how to care for them. Anyway I lost some and I gained some. I had babies coming out of my ears!!

Then I started loosing abunch to a Bob-Cat and our "Yard Cat". They killed between 60-70 of my Bantams and the next thing I knew I was down to 15 Bantams. Well a friend of mine was going to get a Pullet Assortment from Private Hatchery and I put in an order for 50 Pullets. Well all 100 chicks turned out to be Buff Orpington "Pullets" Well I ended up with 7 BO roosters and we had a Rooster Butchering day and we got rid of around 20 roosters..and I still had at least that many..

Then I found out about Button Quail and got a pair and now I have around 30 and I'm planning on hatching a ton out this Spring. Next thing on the list was Guineas, I have 11 and can't wait to get more! They're the goofy'est things!

Plus I have 3 incubators, I just finished a large hatch in my Hova-Bator which put 10 Buttons and 7 Chicks in my brooder then I ordered a Brinsea Mini Advanced and I have 7 Serama eggs that are due the 13th. Then Friday I picked up 4 new chickens, and awhile back I got 3 new roosters. I have Coops, Hutches, Dog Houses, Brooders, Barns filled to the top w/ Poultry.

This Spring I hope to raise Olive Eggers, Buff Orpingtons, Cochins and many, many others.



It used to be for Pleasure, then for Profit, now it's become an Obsession that can't be stopped!

 

[phasianidae]

started with 35 from Welp inc. in 2007, this summer it will be around 150.

 

[phasianidae]

could some GFM make a poll where we could put how many chickens we have, it would be interesting to see how many chickens the average BYC member has.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Quote:
Sure..I can make one.

ETA: minnesotachickenbreeder, what colors of OEGB do you have?

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Link to: How many chickens do you have? Poll
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=446186

 

[phasianidae]

Mrs. Fluffy Puffy :

Quote:
Sure..I can make one.

ETA: minnesotachickenbreeder, what colors of OEGB do you have?

thanks, I have Pyle, Blue Red, and Silver Duckwing​