Up sizing our number of chickens

[aart]

Are you moving to a different climate?
How long have you had the 8 birds?

I too would suggest you don't grow your flock that fast.......but I don't know your goals of having chickens.
Also second the having secure pens/runs for those days when weather or predator become and problem.

How do you plan on having broody's?
You know you can't count on that, they always seem to go broody when you don't want them too, or won't set when you do.

I would be curious to know your housing plans for 50 birds.

 

[Den in Penn]

Aart is right that you can't count on broodies. I got a couple of a breed that was supposed to go broody and never did. Got ten of a breed that was supposed to seldom go broody and I think half of them did. They were terrible layers to boot. Egg production dropped quite a lot that year. I have one now that was broody six times in the last two years. She alone, if I let her, could have raised thirty to forty chicks a year. Of course she, I think, may have only laid around fifty or so eggs with her being broody all the time. In my experience she is a rare gem and a curse if you want eggs.

 

[bcfpilot]

Lots of good info, thanks so far!

I am definitely not planning to get all 50 at once. I will probably just double my flock size to 16 to start. Besides the cost of having to buy 40 large birds that can survive outside all winter I wont have the set up for that many right away. I have only had my current hens for a year so I am also not looking to take on more than I know I can handle right away.

No plans for broody's, if they happen they happen. Not looking to breed the chickens for consistent sale, just when I have more than I can handle, and there seem to be plenty of buyers in the are if that happens.

The climate will be about the same, only going 40 miles north.

There is currently a coop on the property we are buying that will easily home 20 birds(half of a large shed), although I would like to more than double the size of the current covered 25x15 run. I have 2 more coops to add to the property that will have their own runs to home younger birds, separation for breeding, and anything else that could come up (bad broody). One of those coops holds 8 large hens easy, the other only 2-3 large hens, it would be used primarily for the chicks and young pullets till I can upgrade it.

I am looking to keep all different ages so we can butcher a few every couple weeks for food. We eat a ton of eggs but will obviously be selling most of them. Would like to keep a colorful egg variety, but don't want to keep track of 20 different breeds. All must be able to survive winters well. Suggestions on how to tag birds for each year/month would also help.


The neighbor there is a long time small acre farmer and has 6 kids in 4-H so once we get situated I'm sure they can help a lot too. He also has 2 Pyrenees dogs.

Keep it coming everyone! Thanks again!

 

[aart]

Lots of good info, thanks so far!

I am definitely not planning to get all 50 at once. I will probably just double my flock size to 16 to start. Besides the cost of having to buy 40 large birds that can survive outside all winter I wont have the set up for that many right away. I have only had my current hens for a year so I am also not looking to take on more than I know I can handle right away.

No plans for broody's, if they happen they happen. Not looking to breed the chickens for consistent sale, just when I have more than I can handle, and there seem to be plenty of buyers in the are if that happens.

The climate will be about the same, only going 40 miles north.

There is currently a coop on the property we are buying that will easily home 20 birds(half of a large shed), although I would like to more than double the size of the current covered 25x15 run. I have 2 more coops to add to the property that will have their own runs to home younger birds, separation for breeding, and anything else that could come up (bad broody). One of those coops holds 8 large hens easy, the other only 2-3 large hens, it would be used primarily for the chicks and young pullets till I can upgrade it.

I am looking to keep all different ages so we can butcher a few every couple weeks for food. We eat a ton of eggs but will obviously be selling most of them. Would like to keep a colorful egg variety, but don't want to keep track of 20 different breeds. All must be able to survive winters well. Suggestions on how to tag birds for each year/month would also help.


The neighbor there is a long time small acre farmer and has 6 kids in 4-H so once we get situated I'm sure they can help a lot too. He also has 2 Pyrenees dogs.

Keep it coming everyone! Thanks again!

That sounds great!
My coop is part of large shed and the indoor storage area outside of coop is awesome.

 

[bcfpilot]

Thought I might add that I also keep bees, have had 1-2 hives in my yard plus 1-2 at my parents property for the last 4 years.

I am also planning on expanding them to around 20 hives over the next several years by simply splitting my current hive(s) every spring.

If anyone else is a beekeeper on here please give me your secrets to success with multiple hives!

 

[MarcyR1011]

I have around 60 chickens and 4 are roosters. I started out with 16 and it became an addiction! I now have 14 different breeds and all kinds of colors. My flock is so pretty and all the different colored eggs are amazing! The oldest are 9 months and the youngest are 3-1/2 months. My biggest advice for you is ventilation. I've had some frost issues in my coop with that many chickens roosting at night. Thankfully none of them have gotten frost bite. I clean the coop completely out every week to cut down on the moisture from their droppings. To help with the moisture from their breathing I've had to add a couple extra large vents at the top at each end of the coop. I've learned so much in such a short time! Hope this helps! Good luck!

 

[aart]

Thought I might add that I also keep bees, have had 1-2 hives in my yard plus 1-2 at my parents property for the last 4 years.

I am also planning on expanding them to around 20 hives over the next several years by simply splitting my current hive(s) every spring.

If anyone else is a beekeeper on here please give me your secrets to success with multiple hives!

I just decided not to do bees, tho I've always kinda wanted to, but logistics and priorities made it unfeasible at this time.

If you've been doing them for 4 years you should have a pretty good idea of what it all entails, just multiply the labor, equipment and facilities needed.

Not sure if there's beekeeping faction under the BYC umbrella, but there's one at BackYardHerds, and a pretty good one over at Homesteadingtoday.

 

[bcfpilot]

Not sure if there's beekeeping faction under the BYC umbrella, but there's one at BackYardHerds, and a pretty good one over at Homesteadingtoday.

Ill give them a look. Thanks!

Love my bees! So rewarding for so little work. Especially once my flow frames arrive!

 

[bcfpilot]

I have around 60 chickens and 4 are roosters. I started out with 16 and it became an addiction! I now have 14 different breeds and all kinds of colors. My flock is so pretty and all the different colored eggs are amazing! The oldest are 9 months and the youngest are 3-1/2 months. My biggest advice for you is ventilation. I've had some frost issues in my coop with that many chickens roosting at night. Thankfully none of them have gotten frost bite. I clean the coop completely out every week to cut down on the moisture from their droppings. To help with the moisture from their breathing I've had to add a couple extra large vents at the top at each end of the coop. I've learned so much in such a short time! Hope this helps! Good luck!

What breed do you keep for what reasons? How often do you add new birds to keep them rotating? How old are they when you get them, or do you hatch chicks... and how old do you usually let them get before butchering to eat?

 

[MarcyR1011]

I have Isa Browns, Black Sex Links, Rhode Island Reds, Bantams, Aracaunas, Barred Rocks, Light Brahama, Buff Orpington, Lavender Orpington, Jersey Giants, Partridge Cochin, Talbout Polish, Lakenvelder and Welsommer. I got them for fresh farm eggs. We've always loved farm eggs and have gotten bad ones a few times and I decided I wanted my own chickens so I knew that the eggs were collected as they should be. Some of them I got just to add color to my flock and they are beautiful! This is my 1st time having them so I'm learning as I go. The oldest are 9 months, and then 7 months and the youngest are 3-1/2 months. The 1st batch I got at TSC, the second batch from a Poultry farm a couple hours from here and the youngest I ordered from Townline Poultry. I had the ones from Townline Poultry less than 24 hours after they were born and didn't lose a single one out of 32! I sell some of the eggs and my family goes through a lot too. Once the youngest start laying in another month or so I'm probabaly going to be getting 4-5 dozen a day. Can't wait!