Understanding Chicken Math

[cuckoo4chickenz]

I have 1 RIR rooster
4 silver laced wyandots, not laying
2 comets, not laying
4 silkies (not sure but only one "SEEMS" to be a hen)
1 standard Cochin
2 Cochin bantam, 1 non laying hen and one rooster
4 black Australorps, not laying
and 1 bb red OEGB.

SO by chicken math the hens dont count if they aren't laying and bantams only count as half I have roughly 4 chickens BUT do roosters count if they aren't crowing yet? lol
did I get it about right

 

[Chicken70]

Last year my Dear husband baught a tractor chicken coop $350, 6 chicks $20 and as we had become attached a group of dogs broke in and killed all my chickens kids and I were devistated... I decided to give up.

This spring we decided i would become a housewife/homemaker..... i started making own laundry soap, preparing ground for a garden , basically learning about what i can make ....... I seen the chicken coop and began searching craigslist for chickens..... found a place close to home, picked up my girl from school baught three pretty chickens -
grey chicken-chirps allot, golden-peaches,

 

[Chicken70]

Part 2
Red black chicken-sara....
The lady we purchused chickens feom offered. Free rooster..... my girl accepted quickly

rooster is quickly named biff!!!!!
Biff is quite talkitive**** cock a doodle do day and night.... he is so full of personality and lets the kids pack him around .....
SARA likes to escape but will run back to coop when i open door. PEACHES is the boss, CHIRPS ALLOT gets along with anyone always calm...... and now back to topic "i ordered 2 more chickens and two turkeys...."

I have also asked my husband for a bigger chicken coop....

 

[farnorth]

I have
13 chicks between 2 and 3 weeks old
7 chicks that are 7 weeks old
1 EE Rooster
1 Broody Australorp (mothering the 13 chicks mentioned above)
7 hens that are laying eggs....

So I only have 7 chickens not 29 ????

Cool, maybe I should get more.....

Oh one of my hens only lays half the time.....so can I count her as only half a chicken?

So maybe I really only have 6 1/2 chickens divided by the square root of the 50/50 ratio of possible hens to roosters multiplied by the 80% hatch rate plus the number of eggs I get a day minus the 4 sq ft per chicken rule ..... oops I think I forgot to triangulate somewhere in there.....

 

[Gingersnap722]

I have
13 chicks between 2 and 3 weeks old
7 chicks that are 7 weeks old
1 EE Rooster
1 Broody Australorp (mothering the 13 chicks mentioned above)
7 hens that are laying eggs....

So I only have 7 chickens not 29 ????

Cool, maybe I should get more.....

Oh one of my hens only lays half the time.....so can I count her as only half a chicken?

So maybe I really only have 6 1/2 chickens divided by the square root of the 50/50 ratio of possible hens to roosters multiplied by the 80% hatch rate plus the number of eggs I get a day minus the 4 sq ft per chicken rule ..... oops I think I forgot to triangulate somewhere in there.....

Lol!!! This is the best thread ever!

 

[jujub41482]

As well as non-laying chickens, I think we shouldn't count the chickens we got as companions or for added warmth or security. I got my second chick to keep my first one company, so she really doesn't count because she's serving a different purpose. Same as my two EEs. I only wanted one, but I HAD to get two so the one wouldn't get lonely. So I don't count my companion chickens, so whatever eggs I get from them are just phantom or bonus eggs, right?

 

[cuckoo4chickenz]

Chicken math will get you..it gets everyone, there is no way to avoid it!!

 

[flyladyrocks]

My ten year old daughter is laughing so hard over this thread that she is crying. I had her read it b/c she started waxing eloquently about how many Chickens a person really NEEDS to get. I told her "exactly! And that is Chicken Math". It is a talent that seems to come effortlessly once you acquire any number of chicks (and then keep getting more and more ...)

 

[kmpcfp]

This is my first time with chickens and I totally get chicken math!

Our coop I picked up for free has space for 4 standards.

I ordered 15 assorted breed hatching eggs. I knew some would break in transit, maybe have a hatch rate of 50%, and about half would be male, which would give me 4 pullets. Perfect.

Come hatch day, 5 chicks made it to lock down and hatch. The only true Ameraucana to hatch was deformed and sickly, and died within 24 hours. So now we have 2 wheaten marans, 1 black copper marans, and 1 BCM x Blue Isbar. 4 pullets. Perfect!

But what if they are all male??

Earlier today, my 3 year old son mentioned we have 5 chickens. I had to tell him, "no honey, we only have 4 now." He said, "Oh, how about 6? Get 2 more."

So off to the feed store we go and come home with 2 sexed female "Ameraucanas" (most likely Easter Eggers).

Now we have 6 chicks who may possibly be all female and only have space for 4.

We need space for 20, because baby chicks are so darn cute!

Oh and did I mention, these will be housed at my mother-in-law's house because we live in a townhouse that we can't sell...

Sorry Mom!


Just for sharing purposes, here is the sick/deformed (severely crossed beak, malformed eye/eyelid, most likely blind in the other eye, respiratory distress) one that died. It was heartbreaking after spending hours with an assisted hatch after he couldn't externally pip/zip only to see that poor deformed beak sticking out:

 

[Bweis13]

Lol!!!  This is the best thread ever! 

I agree! Sooooo funny!