Totally got hit with CHICKEN MATH!
I just don't know how this happened. The 18 TSC chicks are half grown now at 6-7 weeks old and time to move outside. The 4 hens are in the pit greenhouse and REALLY want to be foraging outdoors, but they are doing well in their 8x8 room and laying up more eggs than 1 person can eat every day. So like when the egg carton is full in the fridge and I gather eggs that day I HAVE TO EAT the oldest eggs to make room! I'd say this family only eats eggs NOW AND THEN.
My thinking on eating eggs: I was on a great bodybuilder type weight loss program (the ONLY diet that WORKS) and it was focused on PROTEIN. Best source is EGG WHITES. So 3 egg omelette is 1 yolk and 3 whites. So I am thinking I can eat LOTS of eggs daily if I'm just using the whites. Cooked yolks and bread mixed together make great 'EGG FOOD' for the birds and dogs always get extra eggs.
So in 4 months I will be swimming in near 2 dozen eggs A DAY!!
So of COURSE I had to DIVERSIFY and get some REAL CHICKENS! You know all the fancy breed chickens.
After approaching a DISMAL LOCKDOWN in the incubator (9 left out of 36 welsummers from 2 different breeders) and all the uncertainty..... OOPS. CHICKEN MATH struck again! Yep, itchy fingers, you would think I'd learn. NOPE. Bid on auctions AND WON on the first bid. So MORE WELSUMMER eggs coming in to fill the bator. MAY even have to BUY A SECOND FOAM BATOR. Yep, this is bad. Cause while I was bidding on those I found and bid on 2 more auctions and may win another 18 Welsummer eggs.
So, hey, think I may have some WELSUMMERS out of the bators. BUT, for some reason, CHICKEN MATH struck YET AGAIN, and while I was waiting for those auctions to play out, I found some REALLY GOOD Welsummer CHICKS and since you have to ship minimums and all that, sometime in the next 6 weeks, I'll be having 12 Wellies AND 8 AMERAUCANA chicks coming in the post.
So I sat down and worked up the math of all those eggs. I figure if 25% hatch and I will end up with EIGHTY CHICKENS!!! Now that is REALLY BAD PLANNING. Especially when I really just want pens of 6-7 hens with a roo over them, maybe 2 pens for breeding up my own line.
How am I going to house 80 chickens? What if more eggs hatch? Well, there IS always Craigs List to disperse them locally. I only want to EAT the TSC roosters. I mean, those girls are going to be HIGH PRODUCERS of eggs!!
OH, and the lady with the Barnevelder MAY have some more Barnies for me??
Like, you know I can't have roosters in town and will have to do them out at the farm I rent. May have to winter the whole flock out there too!
I think I am in DEEP CHICKEN MATH here.
Is there a CONTROL BUTTON somewhere to TURN OFF the gotta get more different chickens? I have to wait for them to GROW UP before I cull to see what I have. Unless they have CROOKED TOES!
I really want some WYANDOTTES and now I have all these WELSUMMERS. Hoping to WIN those Lowell Barber Wellie Eggs and hatch out SOMETHING from them too!! Cull down and cull hard and get the Wellies under control.
Now for housing. All wire All sides TO BE BUILT. Grow Out Pens TO BE BUILT.
The good thing is I'm figuring out how to get around chicken math. I just go concentrating on the alpacas. A friend is shearing again. Uh-oh, I want the fleece. Why? Fleece math is just as bad as chicken math........
Cheers All, Take a lesson here and go DO SOMETHING ELSE when CHICKEN MATH shows up because it doesn't take much to get in TROUBLE with it!
Bonnie
I just don't know how this happened. The 18 TSC chicks are half grown now at 6-7 weeks old and time to move outside. The 4 hens are in the pit greenhouse and REALLY want to be foraging outdoors, but they are doing well in their 8x8 room and laying up more eggs than 1 person can eat every day. So like when the egg carton is full in the fridge and I gather eggs that day I HAVE TO EAT the oldest eggs to make room! I'd say this family only eats eggs NOW AND THEN.
My thinking on eating eggs: I was on a great bodybuilder type weight loss program (the ONLY diet that WORKS) and it was focused on PROTEIN. Best source is EGG WHITES. So 3 egg omelette is 1 yolk and 3 whites. So I am thinking I can eat LOTS of eggs daily if I'm just using the whites. Cooked yolks and bread mixed together make great 'EGG FOOD' for the birds and dogs always get extra eggs.
So in 4 months I will be swimming in near 2 dozen eggs A DAY!!
So of COURSE I had to DIVERSIFY and get some REAL CHICKENS! You know all the fancy breed chickens.
After approaching a DISMAL LOCKDOWN in the incubator (9 left out of 36 welsummers from 2 different breeders) and all the uncertainty..... OOPS. CHICKEN MATH struck again! Yep, itchy fingers, you would think I'd learn. NOPE. Bid on auctions AND WON on the first bid. So MORE WELSUMMER eggs coming in to fill the bator. MAY even have to BUY A SECOND FOAM BATOR. Yep, this is bad. Cause while I was bidding on those I found and bid on 2 more auctions and may win another 18 Welsummer eggs.
So, hey, think I may have some WELSUMMERS out of the bators. BUT, for some reason, CHICKEN MATH struck YET AGAIN, and while I was waiting for those auctions to play out, I found some REALLY GOOD Welsummer CHICKS and since you have to ship minimums and all that, sometime in the next 6 weeks, I'll be having 12 Wellies AND 8 AMERAUCANA chicks coming in the post.
So I sat down and worked up the math of all those eggs. I figure if 25% hatch and I will end up with EIGHTY CHICKENS!!! Now that is REALLY BAD PLANNING. Especially when I really just want pens of 6-7 hens with a roo over them, maybe 2 pens for breeding up my own line.
How am I going to house 80 chickens? What if more eggs hatch? Well, there IS always Craigs List to disperse them locally. I only want to EAT the TSC roosters. I mean, those girls are going to be HIGH PRODUCERS of eggs!!
OH, and the lady with the Barnevelder MAY have some more Barnies for me??
Like, you know I can't have roosters in town and will have to do them out at the farm I rent. May have to winter the whole flock out there too!
I think I am in DEEP CHICKEN MATH here.
Is there a CONTROL BUTTON somewhere to TURN OFF the gotta get more different chickens? I have to wait for them to GROW UP before I cull to see what I have. Unless they have CROOKED TOES!
I really want some WYANDOTTES and now I have all these WELSUMMERS. Hoping to WIN those Lowell Barber Wellie Eggs and hatch out SOMETHING from them too!! Cull down and cull hard and get the Wellies under control.
Now for housing. All wire All sides TO BE BUILT. Grow Out Pens TO BE BUILT.
The good thing is I'm figuring out how to get around chicken math. I just go concentrating on the alpacas. A friend is shearing again. Uh-oh, I want the fleece. Why? Fleece math is just as bad as chicken math........
Cheers All, Take a lesson here and go DO SOMETHING ELSE when CHICKEN MATH shows up because it doesn't take much to get in TROUBLE with it!
Bonnie
