Somebody, save me!

[Intheswamp]

Quote:
Milestone?

Oops, sorry about that, lost my composure there for a moment. Ahem, I'm alright now. Really, I am.....

 

[beachchickie]

You must be very young, cause us oldies NEVER count half birthdays. Sounds like you are beyond hope. Hopeless and helpless to fight it just like the rest of us. Do your birds a favor and get about 1/4 that many. You will enjoy them more and they will enjoy the coop more. Keep us posted.

 

[MiniBeesKnees]

Big birds four feet square per each
I just do Bantys and I figure three each...MAX.
My coop is 100 square feet and I figure 24 or 25 over the winter when I heat it, and sometimes it's three or four days in a row I don't let them out.

I have 27 now and will have four dozen within a month, but most of them will be chicks.
Over last winter I only had eleven in the coop, and I gotta tell ya they just rattled around in there.
I could see where three times as many would not be crowded.

Mine have summer homes with seven small covered pens...
three small ones about 24 feet square each...
three big ones about 40 square feet each...
and one medium sized one.

They are on a rotating schedule to be let out to free range.
I have four different breeds and I am wanting purebred eggs.
So I play this game called rooster roulette.

I think I'd aim for no more then 50 for the first season.

First thing I'd do however is make sure they are legal. You might get away with a few but what you are planning is a good sized chicken endeavor.
Even without roosters you can expect three or four dozen eggs a day...what are you going to do with them?

Silkies are known for two things...going broody, and not willing to perch very high if at all...
So they are going to be more of them on the floor than is normal in a coop of chickens some of which will be in nesting boxes or on the roosts.
Eighty chickens all on the floor looking to go broody on infertile eggs that may be covered in poo since they may roost in the nesting boxes will be a challenge.

I bet your parents are hoping you will lose interest as is common in folks your age...which is why they may be so accepting of the idea right now of 80 silkies.

Good Luck...grandma says 'do more research'

 

[suzyq53511]

You also know that if you have kids.

 

[suzyq53511]

Quote:
Milestone?

Oops, sorry about that, lost my composure there for a moment. Ahem, I'm alright now. Really, I am.....

SOrry I miss worded that. That was sort of mean.

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:
Milestone?

Oops, sorry about that, lost my composure there for a moment. Ahem, I'm alright now. Really, I am.....

SOrry I miss worded that. That was sort of mean.

I honestly didn't pay any attention to a miswording, I was just tickled that some people actually keep up with 6-month increments of age and expect birthday presents. I understand noting a baby's 6 month birthday or a 1 1/2 year birthday or something, but for someone who is old enough to use the internet and "design" a coop and suggest that they're getting 80 chickens to get started with to be celebrating a six month increment of their age just seems foreign to me. I have two daughters, several nieces and nephews, a granddaughter, cousins, and have lots of friends and I can honestly say that no one that I know has ever mentioned a "half-birthday" around me.

As for being sort of mean, do you mean that you were mean by calling it a milestone or that I was mean for getting tickled about it? Seriously, I'm not sure which it is. If it is the latter, then I apologize on my part, no harm intended but it still seems a bit, shall I say...interesting to me in a humorous way.

Best regards,
Ed

 

[kfchickenlady]

Quote:
You go kid!

Ive used that one myself...

oh, and post those silkie pics please

 

[drumstick diva]

if you just get80 you may find you don't like any of them - then what? It's better to try out maybe one or two breeds and see how you do with them. If they aren't a good fit try some other kind etc. You may just want to specialize in one particuliar type - or you may get the "itch" to breed & hatch your own, or buy and incubate eggs and get to raise them from day one. If you start with 80 you probably won't have those options - but, you sure will be tired of all the chicken homework and coop work cleaning up after such a large number.

 

[Rebel Rooster]

I'm still scratchin' my head on this one...

 

[cogorman]

As a 4th grade teacher I know it is very common for kids with summer birthdays to celebrate 1/2 birthdays so they can bring treats for the class. I'm new to chickens and I thought starting with 6 was ambitious. I hatched 17 and had a heck of a time keeping up with poop patrol, including pasty bottoms. I think 1/2 birthday = 1/2 as many chickens to start with...or less!