CHICKEN MATH STRIKES AGAIN - Page 8

....started out wanting 8, one for each of us in the family....then it turned to wanting 12....then I brought home 8 and placed an order for 7 more to come April 13th. Yeah, you guessed it, it's been increased to 8 more. So.....we have doubled our chicken count. :-P

And lets not forget it started with just the chickens, then just one duck...and 2 are ordered. Oi.

After buying an acreage I wanted a half dozen chickens to keep bugs out of the garden.  Then we found out the minimum order from the hatchery was 25.  So we ended up with 27 baby chicks.  Some of the roos went to freezer camp, and some of the hens were killed by predators.  So we bought 15 more pullets from a local 4H kid.  I thought we were done.  But my DH went to the farm store and came home with 13 chicks and a big grin.  Then the following week he came home with 6 more chicks and 6 ducks.  He's such a softy.  Now we are frantically trying to complete our new coop and chicken area.  Chicken math seems to be based in exponents.  Just when you think you have enough, the numbers some how grow exponentialy. But I would't have it any other way :)

Okay lets see here...started with 20. I want silkies and EE's. Got the ee's then a few weeks later the silkies. EEs turned out to be roos so got rid of them. A few months later got 5 barred rocks 1 was killed by the hens, 1 got killed by a fox. lost 3 hens to a fox. got 5 more chicks. have eggs in the incubator and will probably continue hatching through the summer. Not as bad as some people, but if I had the room and the space I would have 100 plus by now lol

Started with  10, now have 40....

My story is small potatoes by comparison.  I wanted just two because we are illegal here.  But DH said "let's get three and see how it goes."  I loved the three so much I wanted just one more and got a Buff Orphington.  She is soooo sweet but two of the three won't accept her.  Anyone have that problem before? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by heatherscooby77 

This is how I do my chicken math.  I don't set any limit.  Then I do not go over, and I'm always under.

Good thinking! I'll have to remember this one.

My Story:

Almost Three Years Ago (2.5):

Started with four - 1 australorp and three leghorns, we wanted the st run australorp to be the needed rooster...(first chickens, 2.5 years ago) we added two polish, a hen and our first rooster who was mean. We added a roaming male buff Jersey Giant, a big rooster. We added a bantam cochin cockeral and a barred rock hen. Sold Flock.

1 Year ago Until Now:

Started new flock, with three pullets that were lost due to a roaming dog (we were in a summer cabin at the time) then we bought a new polish rooster, and three guinea hens, two guineas went missing.  We added three new chicks, a barred rock hen, a leghorn hen and a brahma rooster. We add a white leghorn cockeral.  We added four new chicks and a chuckar plus a turkey, they ended up as a rhode island red rooster and three new hampshire red hens and a ? chuckar and a midget white tom turkey. We added three more polish, one was lost two lived on to be hens. We added two more chickens, a hen and a rooster -booted bantams.

Summer ended we move out of the cabin.

We trade the polish rooster and the guinea for a white leghorn 'pullet' and a barred rock hen, the 'pullet' is a cockeral. We add a buff orpington, a rhode island red and a polish hen. One of the barred rocks is lost. We swap the 'pullet' leghorn cockeral and the light brahma cockeral for nothing. 

The Polish hen is lost. We add to the flock with six chicks from a breeder an hour away, 2 black silkies, 2 copper marans and two easter eggers (they grow up and half are roosters with the black silkie being a rooster). One of the silkies chicks keel over as a four day old.

We add to the flock We add to the flock with a phoenix pair and a buff silkie rooster. For a new trio we traded away two hens, an orpington and a rhode island red. a big rhode island red hen. For about 20 minutes we had five phoenix but I took 1 rooster and 1 hen and traded them for a sebright pair, a rooster and a hen. Next we added two new chicks but they must have been sickly because they keeled over the next day. We added even more a new mutt hen. She escaped and was never heard from again, but most likely went to the coop down the street.

We add to the flock with three barred rocks and a leghorn hen and two chicks (an EE hen and a black sexlink hen) all on top of the six chicks that the booted bantam hatched out. one of the six broody chicks goes missing.

We buy eight new chicks, a malay, 2 buff orpingtons, 2 cubalayas, 1 EE and a naked neck.  Ideal poultry has sickly vaccinated chicks, both cubalayas pass away by week four of life.

Very Recently (this week):

We sold our two lehorn hens and plan to sell all but three chickens (black silkie and two banty hens) as we're buying a show quality silkie flock :)

.....very few things are left put, might add as I remember.