Who here has brought home more chicks then they originally planned?

[MikaRoo]

I wanted 6 at the most and ended up with 8 but i love them all!

 

[4 Love of Baby Chickens]

@ Mahonri - You can borrow my BSL hen Little Shadow for your broody.

She is set and determined to raise babies and I'm set and determined to not let her raise babies. I've already got 2 broodies right now! I need her to lay eggs rather than be broody. I don't have enough pens to put them all in.

Started with 2 RSL pullets back in 2005. By spring 2006 I had 15 chickens. Then one of my hens went broody. Set 4 eggs under her & 2 chicks hatched. Then later on that summer raccoon got in and killed my babies.

Then had another broody and set some EE eggs under her and got 3 EE chicks. 1 got killed by a stupid coon.

(I still have those 2 EE hens alive and laying today. They are almost 6 years old!) Fast forward to December 2006 had over 30 chickens! Sold 2 flocks of them (5 hens and 1 roo in each one) for $50 each. By summer 2008 I had 21 chickens. (12 laying hens & 9 babies) Then the raccoon massacre happened and I lost 8 hens & 3 of the babies.

Some friends of mine came over and discovered 9 of the chickens rotting up in the loft above my coop. They also rebuilt my coop completly (have not lost a single chicken to predators since except for sickeness and weak birds). Fast forward to April 18th, 2011 I have exactly 21 chickens with 10 eggs due tomorrow under my 2 broodies. They are ALL rockin' and a rollin'.

 

[Emmalion]

Well ummmm.....

I hatched out 5
Next days picked up 6 more
One of my hatches died and one I bought died

So now I have 9 babies

5 Pekin eggs in the bator due this weekend

But well.... umm..... I also ordered 6 more chicks due in mid May of the breeds I wanted

So my total as of right now (living feathered creatures) is 13

Add 6 more babies and I have 19

I don't count the ducks because well they are duckies and will be living in different quarters

I was only supposed to keep whatever I hatched.

But well all know how chicken math works

 

[mother o' chicks72]

I originally had four, I have 10 now (hey, 2 bantys take up as much as one full size bird!)

 

[SassyKat6181]

Last fall I decided I wanted to get a few chickens, maybe 4-6.....ordered 12. Was all fine and happy this spring with my wonderful laying hens. Went to TSC and came home with 4 Mallards, then decided that I wanted to have ducks for eggs. Called the hatchery to order 6 Khaki Campbells and was told that the shipping would be $$$ but if I ordered 10 ducks it would be less.....so why pay for shipping when I can get more ducks. So I got 7 Khaki Campbells and 3 Pekins.....along with 4 roos as packing peanuts. Well now the roos needed chicks their own age so I went back to TSC and got 6 red pullets. The next day I decided that I needed an even dozen for selling, so I went back and got 6 more red pullets. I went from 12 to 42 in a matter of days. Reading through a magazine found an article on Guinea Fowl and thought it would be cool to get some of those too. Ordered 10 and received 11. WOW WHAT HAPPENED??? 53 birds.....I have officially lost it!

 

[wolftracks]

LOL you must be shooting for the longest thread in BYC history!

 

[gryeyes]

All during the summer of 2009, I planned on getting four pullet chicks, while I was building my very first coop. On October 1, 2009, I got four chicks. HA! But one failed to thrive, so I had to replace her. Got 3 more. Hmmmm. So, okay, six is okay. Then my sister died on the 25th, and one of the six chicks wasn't doing very well, so I bought 3 more; one to replace the sickly chick, one to name after my sister, and one just.... because.

The sickly one died, leaving me with 8 chicks.

Then my elderly dachshund, who had never seen chicks or chickens before, killed one within a week of them being outside in January. As Spring approached, I felt I could get a couple more chicks.... and did. But that darn dog managed to kill two more - the smaller ones. Still at 8, but one "pullet" turned out to be a rooster. Oh well, no restrictions here, and I loved him - BESIDES that was the one I had named for my sister ("Carly" was my sister Carlanne's nick-name) so he became Carl.

About two months after all the girls were laying, and only one month after Buffy the Vampire Slaying Orpington started to lay (she was slower to mature than the others), she went broody and hatched my first GrandChick. Solo chick, and she was a wonderful mother.

I got an incubator in mid-Summer 2010 and now, as you can see in my signature lines, I have totally blown "4, maybe 6, okay 8" totally out of the water.

 

[tennesseechickie]

I started only wanting 6. Then I realized that some of those would have to go if I found out they were roo's, so I went and bought 2 more that I knew were females. Then a couple of weeks later, I found someone close by who was selling Buff Orp's near my home, so I went and was only supposed to bring home 4(according to husband) but the guy threw in an extra, bringing my total up to 13

And I love all of them!!

 

[love-my-wolves]

Well, lets see.... started out getting one chick each for my 3 kids...... that equals 3.
Next, I wanted some silkies, so I made an incubator, and got a dozen hatching eggs...... 7 hatched........ 7+3=10
Got rid of the roos and a few pullets I wasn't thrilled with........ minus 5....... 10-5=5
Well, I really wanted some colored eggs, so another dozen hatching eggs......... 5 hatched....... 5+5=10
Decided I really wanted some brahmas............. another dozen hatching eggs, that I miss-timed to be incubated during a 500 mile move........ 1 hatched 10+1=11
Coon got one of the original 3........ 11-1=10
My brahma was a bully, and had to get rid of 2 roos........... 10-3=7
Trip to TSC.......... 12...........7+12=19
Got rid of the roos and a meat bird that got mixed in.............. 19-3=16
Stupid Bobcat............. 16-7

=9
Hubby surprised me with EEs!!!! 9+6=15
Had to get a few more bantams......... 15+6=21
Adopted a hen that is probably a roo from a fellow BYCer 21+1=22 (for now)


And that is how chicken math adds up in our house!!!

 

[Reyvaughn]

Originally I wanted 10-12. I changed my mind and decided 15, then that changed to 25. I had 37 chicks at that time, so I definitely had more than I planned. So, I decided I better go with about 40-50 chickens. I have 61 now and 25 on order (86 total... more or less if I get packing peanuts or lose some in shipping). Plus, I keep scoping out the "Breed of the Week" bin at TSC every week. I will say this, at the moment, about 30 of the total 86 will be in the freezer (roos).