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[NellaBean]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=447343

I have gotten most of my saddles from her. I have a bunch of the regular $3 ones, and then 3 of the SUPER CHICKEN ones (they are around $7). They do work well, plus they look cute! hahaha

 

[NellaBean]

Nick, I probably couldn't see the info I am going to ask for as I am at work and it blocks most of our stuff....IE, I cant see any of your pics! Anywho, I would slowly upsize, not do a mass buy/hatch/etc like you plan to. I don't think you realize the increase in work/cost/noise/etc that you are going to have. How many birds are you aiming for? With 25 hens and no free range, you could easily be feeding $20+ a week. And what will you do with all the eggs? Selling them works in theory, but keep in mind, if you do end up getting 2 dozen a day, can you sell that many? And what about during winter when they slack off....can you afford $80-100 a month in feed costs when you get 2 eggs a day? And "filling up" your coop now means you have no room for replacement layers.....so you will have a bunch of hens all the same age...they will only "pay their way" for so long before you either have to start assuming "retirement costs" or replace them. And you know how loud an egg song can be. What about when the other girls chime in and you have 15 hens all singing the egg song at the top of their lungs?

I don't want to rain on your parade, but before you get in over your head you may want to think about it. I went from having no chickens ever in my life......to 14 the first year. That was fine and manageable...then I hatched some out, and it went up to about 2-3 dozen. Then I bought a zillion chicks and had 150. And it was ridiculous. You can't even imagine the mess that large quantities of chickens make. Mess, noise, cost......if you are in a suburban area, you really would do well to stay under a dozen. Seriously. You will enjoy them more. I have about 3 dozen adults now, and just over 2 dozen younguns growing up. Even that is "a lot". And I let them range over a fenced half acre. Chicken poop everywhere, they go through over 50lbs of layer feed a week even with free ranging and lots of scratch, leftovers, etc.

You're young, you go to school and do plays, you have a girlfriend and friends.....you really are not going to have the time to keep up with it. Because who wants to spend every free moment doing "chicken chores"? It's sure a lot more "fun" to have fewer animals, and you can take better care of them. I take good care of my chickens, but seriously, when you have large quantities, you will not notice the things you see now. I say go for Quality over Quantity. You have 4 birds now. Move up to a dozen. You could even still get the big shed like you want to now, but guess what....if you only had a dozen hens in it and it was sleeting outside, leave em locked in. Need to go on vacation? Fill up the feeders/waterers and leave em locked in. You don't have to rush outside first thing to let them out before they incite a riot, the coop stays much cleaner, and the birds are just happier.

And next year, when you have 2 year old girls, you can add a few more to keep up your laying......believe me, think very very seriously before adding on so many. It sounds awesome on paper but its a LOT. OF. WORK. You may see people on BYC who have lots of birds, but most of these people have help, or dont work, etc.

 

[speckledhen]

Nick and his family just need to buy my little corner of the world, complete with coops and some laying hens, and then he can go crazy all he wants.

I am glad I no longer have 55 birds--I was getting over 3 dozen eggs daily and sometimes, gave away 10-15 dozen to the homeless shelter. That was really too many for the two of us. Even now, I have ten dozen eggs in the fridge and not all my 28 girls are laying.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

Quote:
And some of us are just down right crazy. Totally out of our minds.

Like me.

 

[Serrin]

Listen to Nella, Nick! She knows exactly what she's talking about. And frankly, took the words right out of my mouth that I really wanted to say to you last night. While all of us here want to encourage your enthusiasm for chickens, you do need to think long and hard about what you're getting yourself in for.

My first flock numbered an even dozen. In the first year, we were doing great on eggs, with more than enough for ourselves and our neighbors as well. Now we're up to 18 girls and 4 boys. The egg production is far more than we can possibly consume and I'm constantly calling neighbors to stop by and pick up a few dozen. It's loud around here on any given day as well. What Nella said about egg song...omg! You just have no idea until you have a large flock!

And all it takes is one loud mouthed hen to get the whole flock going!

And if you've never kept one rooster, let alone four of them around, let me give you some kind of an idea of what you're in for there. CB usually starts it. Then Brutus and Red chime in. After a few minutes, Chief will add his voice from inside of his coop. Oh, and did I mention this is all happening at the ungodly hour of 3AM? Most non-chicken people think that roosters only crow at dawn. HA! I wish I had a nickel for every time one or more of my boys crowed in the night, or in the middle of the afternoon, or just around supper time, or any of the other 101 times a day they engage in a crow fest!...... I'm telling ya Nick, IT GETS LOUD!

If that happens at your home, you'll have neighbors you never even knew you had, coming out of the wood work to complain to authorities about your chickens. And that brings me to my next question. Have you even researched the limitations on backyard flocks for your area? They might have something to say about the size of flock you can have!

Some areas even have restrictions on the keeping of roosters as well. As in NO roosters of any age allowed!

Please, don't take this as us trying to squash your dreams or enthusiasm, Nick. We're just trying to help you avoid some of the pitfalls and disappointments that the rest of us have already gone through. Experience is a great teacher, and if you can learn by the experiences of another, then you're that much further ahead in the game. Nella's advice of expanding slowly is some of the best, most sound advice you'll ever receive in your young and budding chicken career. I hope you'll heed it.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

All great advise Nick. I wish I'd had good people like this to help me out when I started out in poultry. I'm an old guy and still learning more each and every day.

I too want you to have your chicken dreams come true, and I know all of us will help you any way we can.

Like Serrin said, we just don't want you to repeat some of our mistakes.

Good luck!

 

[kathyinmo]

Takin' a break ..............

OMG, if winter was like this all the time, I swear I wouldn't have any chickens at all! This is absolutely ridiculous.

It's like this, but snow instead of dirt! It is non ending!

 

[speckledhen]

I know that if I lived in a cold climate, no way I'd want chickens, not unless I could have a small coop attached to the house. Maybe I need to move to the Ft. Benning, GA area if this is a sign of winters to come here, but down there, I'd be afraid of floods. That's why I live on a mtn!

 

[PepsNick]

Thank you so much everyone. In that case, scratch the above. But would it be okay if I still buy a smaller shed, so I can keep the two flocks together? To be honest, I don't really have a chicken addiction where I just want more and more because they're cool. I run a small egg business, have almost fourty customers and four chickens. Demand is high, and I need more eggs desperately.

35 max chickens is the law here. Crazy to think!

 

[speckledhen]

Nick, I think as long as you think things through, you can do whatever you like with your flock. Just think of what you really are wanting to accomplish and make plans with that goal in mind, of course, thinking about the restraints of your location in the city.

Or you can just buy my place and move in and I'll even leave you some chickens!