Chicken Math 101 – with Quiz!

Makes perfect logical sense to me!

This is quite possibly the best thing I've ever read on BYC! I was wondering how to add more chickens to my flock; sadly, I now realize I only have 1. No wonder I felt like I needed more!

Now, I can't just get one chick -- it would be lonely. And if I get 2, one might die, leaving the other lonely. Therefore, the only safe number of chicks is 3. But since 3 chicks is only 2 chicks, I need to get at least 6 chicks to have that safe number. It's all clear now! And if those 6 chicks are all different breeds, that's really only 1 chicken in the end. The possibilities are endless (as is the chick order!)!

Perfect, except for one TINY thing.... The intuition statement followed by the student statement..

"it is intuitively obvious that..."
"The exercise will be left to the student..." but of course it will because CHICKEN MATH

This is the best explanation of Chicken Math that I have ever seen!

An enlightening article, no, an experience. This article taught me a lifetime's worth of knowledge about chicken math. And I will appreciate you for it. Now I must go to Tractor Supply to get more chicks. Only twelve of course.

Good article, funny yet also well thought out.
You forgot Pi though, as in, ANY chicken works wonders in chicken Pot Pi, so that's 3.1415926... you can take OFF your flock count since they be dinner !!

Thank you! I thought I had 7 chickens, but in reality, I only have 5! So there is room for at least 3 more, and since they will be chicks, I better get 6. You have made my day!

Apparently have have 0 chickens at the moment even though there's 9 feathered things in the chicken coop.

Great article! I couldn't help snickering over the proofs. I don't know what trig has to do with chickens, but I'll take it!

Brilliant, but I think bantams count as 0 and maybe the bantam rooster is 1 or 0 depending on how many.

Really fun! Great quiz! I got 8 out of 9!

Excellent article!

Love it! So funny, I'm totally using the chickens are family one since they are All named!! ..so I need more!

fun article

In Missouri, the yearly ‘personal property tax’ assessment includes livestock, (which includes chickens) and you have to state how many you have each Jan 1. I have used a similar chicken math method to come up with 4 hens each year. If I ever need to prove I was correct in stating 4, I will refer them to this article, which I have printed out and keep handy.

One of the most fun articles on the forums! But so TRUE~

Omg this is fantastic! I had a good laugh reading it, it made my day hahah!

Hilarious!!! This could be applied to arguments for why the coop/run/chicken yard need to be expanded or fortified.

I always knew that my one Novogen (whose sister flew away last year) and my Buff Brahma (whose sister died young) both didn't count, but now I have the proof!

Chicken math at its finest.