Why do so many of you buy so many chicks?

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I like your way of thinking !! I may need to use that one! My DH gave me a 10 chicken limit, and I had 10 up until Sunday....then I got a Serama .... but they are so little, they only count as about 1/6 th of a normal sized chicken, so 10-1/6, can still be rounded down to 10.
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Its when I get 3 more Seramas, that I have to actually start rounding up to 11.

you need to relearn chicken math...you can't count birds that don't lay...ordered birds don't count because you can't count your chickens before they hatch...seramas aren't really chickens...and i like bantams but them things is small so they really don't count...plus anything with a name doesn't count cuz it is family...see how I am going here...besides he said the limit was per pen...right? so obviously you need more birds

You ARE a teacher! I like this new chicken math you speak of.
My husband gasped when I said I was picking up 4 dozen hatching eggs the other day. Just wait until I get on of the big incubators that holds 100 eggs.
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Oh, wait, I forgot to answer the original question.
I started with just 8 hens from my neighbor. My dog killed them. I had to get more. I had to order at least 25, so my next two orders were 25 each, so I could get two free chicks. I got more free ones than that because MM had extras. Most of them were meat birds. The ones that weren't, my dog (she was a puppy at the time) killed them. I was so distraught that only more chickens could console me. So, in the next spring, I started hatching with 2 incubators, and I bought too many to stop and count. Before I knew what was happening, I had about 160. I really lost count because I am not good at math AT ALL. I did get rid of the extra roos, butchered the meaties, sold off some of the ones I will not breed. Now I have about 50 outside, 11 in the brooder box, 6 in the garage, about 7 dozen in the incubators and another dozen on their way. I will be hatching from my own once I get my breeding pens set up so they can be purebred eggs. It is so nice to not restrict myself to numbers. It is very freeing.

Chickens are like Lays potato chips, no one can have just one...breed, coop, flock. You get the picture, right?
 
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I couldn't imagine not having at least 25 chickens. I have 70+, but I have the room for them. I am mad because I want more,but I have to find space to build another couple of hen houses that will hold about 50 more....then I will be happy for about another year maybe 2......and like they say. You see different breeds and think, Man, I have to have those and then before you know it, you see another 4 breeds that you think the same thing about and before you know it....well you get the picture... lol
 
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D'Angelo N Va. :

I couldn't imagine not having at least 25 chickens. I have 70+, but I have the room for them. I am mad because I want more,but I have to find space to build another couple of hen houses that will hold about 50 more....then I will be happy for about another year maybe 2......and like they say. You see different breeds and think, Man, I have to have those and then before you know it, you see another 4 breeds that you think the same thing about and before you know it....well you get the picture... lol

Exactly! Then you realize "I can't have these bantams in with all these big chickens!" so you build another coop. Then the ducks that were so cute and tiny at the feed store need their own coop....and a pond, and don't forget predator fence and netting so they don't fly off! Since you now have all this stuff y ou need to start breeding them! Then you go to the swap to sell what you bred and see more chickens/geese/ducks that you just have to have!
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It's just keeps going!​
 
I don't even count chickens anymore.
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I have been over 600 several times in the last 2 years and now am well over that, still hatching and have more than 200 chicks and ducklings due in the next month or so from hatcheries.
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Yes, I sell the excess but I have to order that many because when I only order to put in my yard other people see them and want them. So now I just buy lots and lots of extras and hope to keep some for myself.
I also hatch only for myself but others seem to enjoy them so I sell hatching eggs and eating eggs and yard candy.

Thank goodness I am not the only one with the addiction!
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that is very kind of you .God bless you! We need more people like you on this earth.
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4kids*2dogs :

I am new to all of this and I am just curious why so many people on BYC place orders for 25+ chicks? I only ordered 6 and I am so excited about these new little pets joining our family. I couldn't possibly imagine having any more than that . Should I expect many of them to die? What do you do with all of those chickens? Eat them? Sell them? Or do you keep that many for egg sales? Do you keep all of them for A long time? Or are there lots of farmers on here that have the space and patience for so many? It just seems like a lot to me.

Part of it has to do with the fact that many hatcheries have minimum orders of 25 or more chicks. Also, the more chicks packed in the box, the greater chance of survival for them. They keep each other warm/comfy.

Some people order extra chicks so they can raise them for a few weeks and sell the started pullets at a slightly higher price to help offset the cost of feed, etc. Kinda helps the chicken habit support itself.
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4kids*2dogs I'm like you, i place small orders and that's just due to space - I placed one large order and that was actually a split between three of us - but typically I never get to keep all that I order because friends or family drop by and they just gotta have one and so that's how my flock dwindles down to the two I have right now....but that's okay with me one look at that fuzzy butt and you can't help but want to take one mine...and since this is just something I do as a hobby not a business I don't mind sharing!...
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