How Big is Your Flock?

[O'Fischl_Farm]

My husband and I went to dinner the other night with his friend's family. I was asked, "How many chickens do you have?" I honestly didn't know an exact number, so I threw out an estimate of maybe... 45 chickens? It's hard for me to even estimate, because I usually have chicks or juveniles running around and I usually forget to count them. So today I decided to actually go out there and count.

I have 65 CHICKENS.

Of the 65, about 10 are juveniles a little too young to decide if they are staying or going. Another 15 or so are juvenile roosters I am growing out to eventually put in the freezer. So I suppose I actually had a pretty good estimate of the number of birds I'm "keeping..." but that is still A LOT of chickens. I'll have to do another flock reduction soon.

How big is everyone else's flock?

[EggSlayer]

Wow, 65 chickens?! Holy cow, that's a lot, lol. I am down to 10. I usually keep about 12. Every spring I get 6 or so chicks raise them up and then liquidate 6 of my older girls.

[O'Fischl_Farm]

Hahaha, love the term "liquidate."

65 chickens does feel like a lot, but most of them are young and barely laying, if they've even started laying yet! I only collect between 7-10 eggs a day if I'm lucky.

[Awwife02]

Oh my gosh... Too many to count? Lol! I think I have 14 in the big coop, 20 or so in the back garden, plus 14 ducks and 4 geese. Guesstimate of 34 birds? For me, that's close to zero lol! I do have a hen sitting on a pile on eggs right now too. Those will need homes soon!

[O'Fischl_Farm]

What a crazy hen to go broody in the middle of the summer! Mine are all done being broody, thank goodness. Though my little bantam Cochin girl just started laying eggs again after successfully raising a few chicks, so no doubt she'll be broody again soon. That girls lays about a clutch of eggs and then decides she wants to be a mom again. I've never seen a better mom either - she's amazing.