What is Your DREAM Flock? (And What's Realistic?)

[New2Chicks97]

From the Ideal Poultry site, it looked like the Welsummers do too? Is that right?

I believe there are a couple of breeds that lay the dark chocolate brown eggs.

None of my BCM lay super dark brown eggs but they are still significantly darker than the regular brown. Mine all came from hatchery stock so not a breeder that selected for egg color. In the future I plan on getting some BCM chicks from a local breeder that has some gorgeous dark chocolate colored eggs.

 

[chrissynemetz]

I couldn't pick a realistic flock, because if I could have whatever I wanted it would be too many, WAY too many. There is no breed I don't want, I love them all. And I have a special affection for roosters. Definitely chicken addicted

 

[ChickenFox]

My dream flock? .... at least 1 or 2 of every type of chicken, every color pattern, and a layer of every egg color.

Realistically? When I get the space again I'm going to have flock of bantams made up of a couple each of my favorite breeds and a LF flock consisting of polish, EE, Ams, brahma, leghorn, cochin, BCM, wyandotte and welsummers. That way I can breed for just about any egg color I want. Oh and lagshans! For those purple eggs! Would also have a small breeding flock of dark cornish and bresse for meat purposes... actually I'm not sure how realistic that is but it's what I'm going to be aiming for when I get some land again!

 

[Josie670]

My dream flock would be to have around 100 rescue chickens on a nice bit of land with all different breeds mixed in with them (they would all have names). I would have a few cockerels aswell as they are awesome and can help protect the girls and keep everything in order.
What I actually have is 13 spoilt girls who steal my food, jump on my head, scream like demonic creatures, scratch my back and arms,get covered in poo and try to eat the moles on my skin!
I love them all eternally though and of course my dream flock includes my lot now

 

[mountainchickens]

I couldn't handle 100, the most I've ever had at once is 30 and that was kinda crazy but fun!
My dream flock would be on at least five acres so that they'd have plenty of room. Maybe 25 would be a good starting number, I love Easter Eggers and weird surprise hybrids of all kinds. Possibly rescues as well. I would love some BCMs and from there, I'd hatch more maybe a few times a year until I had 50-60. I dream of having some land where roosters and a big flock are allowed! (Our max is 8 where I live )
I love the ones I have right now, however! Hopefully they will stay here long into old age. I can wait for my 60-hen dreams, I just love having chickens in the first place.

 

[clucknbock]

I just started my dream flock 8 weeks ago. I have a chicken tractor perfect for four chickens and I have a blue orpington, a black copper marans, a cream legbar, and a white leghorn. An assortment of beautiful (and different looking) chickens that lay an assortment of egg colors. I think they've worked out their pecking order now and seem to be getting along pretty well.

 

[Willowspirit]

I couldn't handle 100, the most I've ever had at once is 30 and that was kinda crazy but fun!
My dream flock would be on at least five acres so that they'd have plenty of room. Maybe 25 would be a good starting number, I love Easter Eggers and weird surprise hybrids of all kinds. Possibly rescues as well. I would love some BCMs and from there, I'd hatch more maybe a few times a year until I had 50-60. I dream of having some land where roosters and a big flock are allowed! (Our max is 8 where I live )
I love the ones I have right now, however! Hopefully they will stay here long into old age. I can wait for my 60-hen dreams, I just love having chickens in the first place.

If you had five acres, what would you do with it for chickens? Like how would you design what you are going to do?

 

[mountainchickens]

Hmmm... I'd probably do a big run with a roof for the wintertime or bad weather. And if I had more than twenty or thirty chickens I'd do two coops, open-air and normal. I'd like to be able to have walk-in coops as well that I can do brooders in My dream flock might also include ducks, and there would be a small pond and a coop for them. Then there would be an approx. 4.5 acre area over which they could roam in the daytime! Fenced preferably, not anything fancy, just enough to stop them from wandering into the neighbors' yards. They'd have a few locations for food and water, and maybe I'd set up some nesting box-like bins on the ground for them to lay (some of) their eggs in... I'd enjoy hunting for the rest!

 

[Willowspirit]

Hmmm... I'd probably do a big run with a roof for the wintertime or bad weather. And if I had more than twenty or thirty chickens I'd do two coops, open-air and normal. I'd like to be able to have walk-in coops as well that I can do brooders in My dream flock might also include ducks, and there would be a small pond and a coop for them. Then there would be an approx. 4.5 acre area over which they could roam in the daytime! Fenced preferably, not anything fancy, just enough to stop them from wandering into the neighbors' yards. They'd have a few locations for food and water, and maybe I'd set up some nesting box-like bins on the ground for them to lay (some of) their eggs in... I'd enjoy hunting for the rest!

This sounds wonderful! We have just gotten land and I am trying to figure out what to with some of it! I love the idea of a covered winter run. I've never lived with snow before moving here and I'm wondering what next winter will be like. I'm nervous about free ranging. I read so much about it that it sounds wonderful, then i read about predators and freak outout! I've never had chickens before. It's easy to be paranoid.


What I have right now is a large coop built into the barn. My hubby is redesigning it based on some stuff we learned here. Then he will fence a large run area. I want to plant a chicken friendly garden in the center.

I have two prefab coops with runs now. One will be for my d'Uccle millefleur. I am getting a rooster with those five hens and I want to see if I can raise and sell them. They will have their own run I think.

Then I am getting some Appenzeller Spitzhaubens and I'm thinking of raising and selling them also. So they would be separate in a separate coop. Wwell see how this works out.

I am old and finally living my dream. I have to pinch myself sometimes when I look out and see land. Thank you so much. And obviously right now this is my dream flock right now.

 

[mountainchickens]

This sounds wonderful! We have just gotten land and I am trying to figure out what to with some of it! I love the idea of a covered winter run. I've never lived with snow before moving here and I'm wondering what next winter will be like. I'm nervous about free ranging. I read so much about it that it sounds wonderful, then i read about predators and freak outout! I've never had chickens before. It's easy to be paranoid.


What I have right now is a large coop built into the barn. My hubby is redesigning it based on some stuff we learned here. Then he will fence a large run area. I want to plant a chicken friendly garden in the center.

I have two prefab coops with runs now. One will be for my d'Uccle millefleur. I am getting a rooster with those five hens and I want to see if I can raise and sell them. They will have their own run I think.

Then I am getting some Appenzeller Spitzhaubens and I'm thinking of raising and selling them also. So they would be separate in a separate coop. Wwell see how this works out.

I am old and finally living my dream. I have to pinch myself sometimes when I look out and see land. Thank you so much. And obviously right now this is my dream flock right now.

Oh yeah, free ranging can be nervewracking... I've been there! When we first decided to free range our old flock of thirty, I was so scared that they'd be grabbed by a raptor or one of our neighborhood foxes. But they were okay! We didn't lose a single chicken. It just depends on the area I guess
Your coop setup sounds awesome! We have our current chickens free-ranging some of the time, usually two or three hours a day, and when they're pecking in the garden I'm always worried they'll come across something poisonous... so a chicken safe garden sounds like a great idea! It'll definitely give them something to do in the run, which is great. Ours have already pulled every last bit of grass up in there... That's why we try to free range them as much as possible now!
Oooh, d'uccles and Spitzhaubens - some of the prettiest breeds in my opinion! That's amazing that you are living your dream. There's such a huge difference between a tiny urban plot and a nice piece of land! Feels so much better in the mornings when you wake up and you see the sun and trees and grass and chickens!