People with more than 10 chickens

[icy_flames]

I'm looking for honest opinions of your experiences. Is falling into the chicken math zone always better ( more breeds yay!) but maybe not? I know folks have different situations (selling eggs, need the meat , etc). I'm perfectly fine with extra eggs. Not using my birds for meat. I get too attached. I also greatly miss when my flock were chicks and being able to repeat that process every year would be awesome.

Basically urban owner here and I'm super jealous of you guys that can have as many as you want. Our city restrictions are not too bad but I have limitations to how many chickens we can own and have to monitor the noise. Boo!

I'm 34 working on a goal of someday owning a small home with a few acres. We are in Colorado and it is extremely expensive to obtain that kind of dream here, unless you go to a crappy part of the state. I don't want to leave CO

Wondering if it's really worth it just to collect more chickens My current home is in a very sought after market and near everything + we wouldn't have too much concern over keeping stable jobs if life happens.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I live where I don't have limits, so I like having chickens. Our development after about 22 years, decided no roosters. But nothing is enforced. I still have them, and others still have them. I try and keep them low key so I don't get complaints.

 

[SarahGfa]

I have enough space, but I keep my flock at 12 or less. I like being able to get to know the chickens and I can't do that when there are a lot of them. I hatch one or 2 eggs per year to replace the ones that die.

 

[PirateGirl]

I like rotating in new birds instead of getting a bunch all at once. I add 2-3 new birds roughly every 2 years. This replaces my losses and now I have a variety of ages and stages so usually someone is an active layer.

 

[Kholts]

I also have restrictions where I live. I am in a municipal district but still a town technically. I raise ducks & now chickens in my backyard.

We are only aloud 12 birds total. No roosters but drakes welcome. I haven’t had any complaints about my 5 ducks. Some neighbours didn’t even know I had any until late fall hit & they were wondering why they were still hearing ducks haha. I often see my super close neighbors giggling at them when they catch them in the pool. They are entertaining.

I’m just starting with chickens & am wondering if I will get a little more complaints when it comes to the egg song...I’m not fretting too much & as long as I’m under the number & keep up on chores there really isn’t anything my neighbours or the bylaw officers will be able too do. Except change the by law really.

I am with you & really want an acreage as well. I’d love to be able to have a coop with a rooster & hatch out chicken eggs.

 

[Morrigan]

Some things to think about when adding chickens:

--More work. More cleaning of coops and more chicken manure to deal with. More cleaning and refilling watering systems.

--What to do with the extra eggs.

--Making sure you have plenty of coop, roost and outdoor space. Generally the more space you have, the fewer problems you will have in your flock.

--Extra cost and hassle of supplying food.

I raise chickens for both eggs and meat, so my flock size varies between 15 and 30 chickens. Generally speaking, I enjoy my flock more when its smaller, not larger. For me, that is because I spend less time spent shoveling and composting chicken waste and it also allows me to know my individual flock members better, so I can better troubleshoot and maintain their health.

If I was totally ruthless, I would keep my laying flock down to 8 hens. But, DH and I have developed a soft spot for some of the older hens, and have the time, space and money to maintain a larger flock.

 

[Mrs. K]

I could have as many as I wanted, but with too many- chores become work. It becomes quite expensive. I would rather have a smaller flock, and get new chicks each year, but I also am able of removing birds too. Chicken math needs to be both ways plus and minus.

I like a multi-generational flock, last year I had a horrifying wreck, and started over for the first time in over a decade. I will add 6 this spring, probably which will bring me up to a dozen. Probably let 3 go before winter.

A lot of people get on here, starting out, thinking they will have a forever flock, keeping the same chickens for years, more power to them. But often times, chickens often don't live beyond 3-4 years, they slow down on eggs, which I like getting. So I have a flock, I keep a flock, but the birds come into and leave my flock.

Under a dozen - everything is easy, amount of fresh water each day, amount of feed each day, easy to give away an extra dozen eggs to family or a loved one, easy to feed my family and bake and cook. Easy to care for the soiled bedding, easy to sweep out the coop. It is a hobby.

More than 20... you almost have to sell eggs, make routes, find people to buy them, then you have quite a bit bigger feed bill, the amount of water...and so on.

Mrs K

 

[Coops Dad]

We live on almost 20 acres out in the country and have (I think) 50 or 52 chickens at this point. Some are barnyard mixes just coming up on 6 months old that we're selling- last pullets we sold at this age went for $20 each at 5 months old. The rest are divided into a main flock of various types of hens with 2 roosters, and a second flock of gray Ameracaunas with a gorgeous gray and gold rooster.

We both give away eggs and sell them. In another thread, I estimated we got 85-100 eggs a week but I seriously underestimated. It's more like 175-200 a week, and some aren't laying yet due to youth, molting or keeping winter hours.

 

[Callender Girl]

I have 19 hens (including a house chicken) and a rooster, 10 runner ducks and a pair of geese. All I wanted originally was three, no, four chickens. And, that's how it began.

I tell myself every year: No more chickens, no more chickens. I successfully listened to me last year, but ... I just found out that a friend of mine has returned to working at a hatchery and has the ability to help me get baby chicks there again. I ... don't ... know ... how ... long .. I ... can ... resist.

I have my current coops filled to capacity -- except that one I used last year as a duckling brooder. With just a little renovation, I think it could house a couple of chickens, while I prepare to build a better coop.

Yes, more birds certainly equals more work, more expense -- and in my case, more joy!

 

[rosemarythyme]

I like rotating in new birds instead of getting a bunch all at once. I add 2-3 new birds roughly every 2 years. This replaces my losses and now I have a variety of ages and stages so usually someone is an active layer.

This is my approach. I'm currently at 10 birds, ranging from just under 1 yr to just under 5 yrs old. Hubby just asked when can we get more chicks and I reminded him we just got 4 last year, so NO MORE until at least next year or the year after that, depending on production and any losses.