Uh oh, why am I ordering more chicks already???

[farmerwomanwannabe]

I'm in trouble. I ordered my first 6 chicks who are now almost 5 weeks old and doing great. Today, I decided to order 6 more for August 8th to get the breeds I wanted that I couldnt get the first time around. So I placed an order today for 5 EE's and one buff orpington.

I figure I want to up my odds to get some nice green-blue eggs since some of the EE's might lay brown.

Aaaaannnd I can always cancel my order and just pay the $10 processing fee if I change my mind.....

Im in trouble....At least the husband is cool with it. Love him

 

[LarryPQ]

Muahahhahahahahaha! You are worried about 12 birds, total?!

Come back in 6 months, and we will commiserate your horror when you ahve ordered 50 (because I can sell half!) and 25 meat birds (because they will only be here 8 weeks, tops!)

Congrats on the new babies.

 

[CarolJ]

I can sympathize because I'm in the same situation. At the beginning of the summer, we bought 7 pullets who were 17 weeks old. After a few weeks, I knew I wanted to raise some from chicks. So I've already placed an order for mid-September. However, I now want to order even MORE for September. I'm ordering for September (instead of July or August) so I'll have time to build a coop and run for the new ones. It's all about the eggs for me - I want the widest variety of colors possible. And I've found that I LOVE sitting outside and watching my chickens. It's fascinating to observe their different personalities.

 

[farmerwomanwannabe]

haha well we are running out of space a lot faster than we planned! Right now we only have enough roost space for 12 (and the coop and run arent even finished yet!), and it had been my plan to only get a few new ones each year, so we would always be in a supply of eggs without having to get rid of the older ones. I ordered 6 the first time around, not expecting them all to survive, but they are doing great! I already started reasoning that we can very easily sell the ones we arent crazy about in the spring since they will have just started laying

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

The only thing holding me back from ordering another bunch of chicks (my first 8 are almost 5 weeks old) is the fact that I live in the Colorado mountains and I've promised myself that I'll see how my first eight fare in their coop against Colorado winters, bears, mountain lions, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, neighbor dogs, my own dog...owls...hawks...am I forgetting anything? I'm doing my best to build a snug, well-insulated, predator proof coop and run, but my whole adventure could end badly if I've underestimated.

But...but...but MPC is running a special on 25 heavy breed chicks and free shipping! I could get 25 more for less than I spent on the first 8...and I already have a brooder and heat lamp...someone talk sense to me!

 

[farmerwomanwannabe]

hahaha Hummingbird, no way I could handle 25 at this point! Good luck with your coop and run - we are doing the same here. I keep fighting with my husband that the run needs to be 100% hardware cloth all over, but he might be starting to wear me down to where we just line it at the bottom 4' and use welded wire fence for the rest...not sure yet.

 

[afveteran88]

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I think 4' at the bottom is plenty. That Hardware cloth is not cheap. I guess it all depends on your area. My neighbor lost 25 chickens in one night to a weasel. But me only being a mile away have never had a problem. My son and I are pretty good with the .22. I keep traps set all the time but after the first week or so it seems like I got rid of everything.

 

[yinepu]

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I have over 100 (I quit counting when I hit 100) ... so..... yeah
how does that "talk sense to me" thing work again?


I failed chicken math....

 

[tiny529]

I came sooooo close to doing exactly what you are doing! But then I talked some sense into myself.

Granted, my "sense" sounds more like LareePQG as we are already talking about doing meat birds in batches of 20 and if I get dual purpose, well, then I can keep any that I get particularly attached to, yada yada yada.

 

[JulB]

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