Chicken math

[ConPollos]

This is my first year having chickens. Mostly I enjoy them, but sometimes I feel anxiety, overwhelmed, panicky like I wish I could give them all away, because I start worrying about protecting them, keeping them healthy, the expense, more improvements I need to make to the coop and run, just everything; and I don't have help with the chicken stuff, so I do it all myself. But I keep plugging along and getting things done.

I'm hoping that by next year I'll look back on this first year and feel like, Whew, I made it through, I can handle this. Did anybody else feel that way?

I got 6 in mid March, 6 in early April, and 14 in early May. 8 are laying. Finally they're all out in the coop. But I still have a few projects to do yet, and that can seem overwhelming.

I don't want more.

Does anybody else remember feeling anxiety or overwhelmed the first year? Or ever?

 

[Buckhowdy]

I'm a little over whelmed with chickens but today is a processing day and me and the surviving chickens always feel better when some of the flock go to freezer camp.

I think I have a sustainable chicken math plan that's going to work for us. We want to eat two dual purpose birds per week. So we order 16 straight run chicks every 8 weeks. I process the roosters when they are young and the hens after they've been laying for awhile. Each order will be a different breed of dual purpose bird so I can easily tell how old they are by when I ordered that breed. I'll get to raise all different kinds of breeds, and we'll have meat and eggs.

The only thing that I am stressing over is taking a vacation someday and leaving my neighbor to take care of all these birds!

 

[ConPollos]

I'm a little over whelmed with chickens but today is a processing day and me and the surviving chickens always feel better when some of the flock go to freezer camp.

I think I have a sustainable chicken math plan that's going to work for us. We want to eat two dual purpose birds per week. So we order 16 straight run chicks every 8 weeks. I process the roosters when they are young and the hens after they've been laying for awhile. Each order will be a different breed of dual purpose bird so I can easily tell how old they are by when I ordered that breed. I'll get to raise all different kinds of breeds, and we'll have meat and eggs. 

The only thing that I am stressing over is taking a vacation someday and leaving my neighbor to take care of all these birds!

Yes, I forgot to mention the stress of the difficulty or innability to go on vacation, needing to be home every evening to let them range and then shut them in at night, plus extra work. But your plan sounds really good for you.

 

[chicksurreal]

This is my first year having chickens. Mostly I enjoy them, but sometimes I feel anxiety, overwhelmed, panicky like I wish I could give them all away, because I start worrying about protecting them, keeping them healthy, the expense, more improvements I need to make to the coop and run, just everything; and I don't have help with the chicken stuff, so I do it all myself. But I keep plugging along and getting things done.

I'm hoping that by next year I'll look back on this first year and feel like, Whew, I made it through, I can handle this. Did anybody else feel that way?

I got 6 in mid March, 6 in early April, and 14 in early May. 8 are laying. Finally they're all out in the coop. But I still have a few projects to do yet, and that can seem overwhelming.

I don't want more.

Does anybody else remember feeling anxiety or overwhelmed the first year? Or ever?

We got 17 chicks for our first order, I loved everything about it until a bobcat killed two of our cockerels when they were about 17 weeks old. That sort of drove home the responsibility part for me. After that I was constantly wanting to be out with them because we let them free range during the day.

The next year we ordered 26 more chicks and took a rescue roo in, built another coop and fenced off a 2500 sf run. We've still had losses to predators and chickens are time consuming and can be expensive to own. There's always a bit of anxiety when one gets injured or sick, I've learned so much about taking care of chickens the hard way that I feel comfortable owning them. I love them all so much and do want more, I have to stop myself from taking on more than I can handle. I do have a helper in my SO, I wouldn't keep nearly so many if I didn't have help.

 

[MadamPoofyBrow]

I was panicky my first year too. Everything out of the norm was a sign of a deadly desises. Every sound they made was a predator alert. They weren't laying and they were old enough, they must be egg bound. No we can't go on vacation, no one knows how to handle my fragile babies!
Five years later and I'm over it. I was good with my three and now I have sixty. A lot more is normal than I thought and I'm a lot more relaxed. The first time at anything is hard...good luck with your chickies!

 

[blkjak]

Picking up 12 Jersey Giants on Tuesday. A roo, a hen, 2 3 week olds, 3 2 week olds and 5 4 day olds.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Picking up 12 Jersey Giants on Tuesday. A roo, a hen, 2 3 week olds, 3 2 week olds and 5 4 day olds.

You know we will all want to see pics right?

I congratulate you on your new birds in advance.

 

[ConPollos]

We got 17 chicks for our first order, I loved everything about it until a bobcat killed two of our cockerels when they were about 17 weeks old. That sort of drove home the responsibility part for me. After that I was constantly wanting to be out with them because we let them free range during the day. 

The next year we ordered 26 more chicks and took a rescue roo in, built another coop and fenced off a 2500 sf run. We've still had losses to predators and chickens are time consuming and can be expensive to own. There's always a bit of anxiety when one gets injured or sick, I've learned so much about taking care of chickens the hard way that I feel comfortable owning them. I love them all so much and do want more, I have to stop myself from taking on more than I can handle. I do have a helper in my SO, I wouldn't keep nearly so many if I didn't have help.

Thank you, that helps. Their bout of coccidiosis was scary, upsetting, and one died. I know what you mean by learning the hard way. It's comforting to know there are better days ahead when I'll feel confident.

 

[ConPollos]

I was panicky my first year too. Everything out of the norm was a sign of a deadly desises. Every sound they made was a predator alert. They weren't laying and they were old enough, they must be egg bound. No we can't go on vacation, no one knows how to handle my fragile babies!
Five years later and I'm over it. I was good with my three and now I have sixty. A lot more is normal than I thought and I'm a lot more relaxed. The first time at anything is hard...good luck with your chickies!

Thank you, that helps a lot. It's reassuring to know that someday I'll be over it too, after working out all the glitches. It will seem easier.

 

[JRNash]

You know we will all want to see pics right?

I congratulate you on your new birds in advance.

pictures! !!