CHICKEN MATH STRIKES AGAIN

[chicksandkids]

Yes we have been hit with chicken math too. Had a 3-4 chicken limit, but went to TSC chick days and had to get 6. Then we wanted to do photos with the chicks for Easter, but they started feathering out. So we were going to get 3 Wyandottes from a breeder. But TSC had the same breed as their feature that week, so we got another 6. My daughter's preschool class is hatching eggs and I already said I wanted the chick from the green egg. And today, I went to TSC and saw they had Australorps. So of course now I have 6 more chicks in a brooder. We just moved the original 12 out to their coop and here I am starting over!! Geesh! But dang. They're all sooooo cute!

 

[dixiegal62]

You can add 6 banty chicks, 5 guinea keets, 5-6 turkeys hopefully by the end off the month ( their being hatched for me ) and seriously thinking of 6 quail. Plus I'm trying out my bater with 26 eggs. We're in the process of expanding pens, coops and runs as I speak. Plus the 7 hens I started out with so we're up to 63 and however many I manage to hatch by the end of the month So happy we have lots of land

I swore no babies this spring. DH has colen cancer and I already have my hands full. It started when my son bought 4 ducklings at TSC and asked me to raise them for the grandkids.I figured since I was going to be in the garage tending to them I might as well do a 'few' chicks too. So I bought 12 buff orp at TSC... then I thought whats a few more might as well raise them together and I went today and got 4 lav orps, 4 black orps, and 6 coronation sussex, so 'none' turned into 30

How could I have I forgotten my new EE Roo?.....31
And theres a chance I might be getting a fizzle hen and roo....so 0+4 = 31 or 33

 

[nicolets]

Love reading these!!

 

[lizage]

I don't even have chicks yet and chicken math has set in!

I was originally planning to get 3 chickens in a little city coop, even though I live on acreage. It was just for a few fresh eggs for my hubby and daughter, since I don't really eat eggs (vegan-ish. I eat meat/eggs only once or twice a month, only when I really crave it, and follow a vegan diet the rest of the time. So I'm not a vegan, but make vegan choices 90% of the time, and don't do dairy.)

Then I discovered BYC...Wow, look at all the pretty colored eggs! I definitely need a white, a light brown, a dark brown and a blue/green. So that's 4 hens. But no more than 4!

So I began researching coops. I was planning to buy a coop kit for my 4 hens. And NO ROOS! A dozen or so eggs/week on average would be plenty!

But...the coop kits are so spendy. I could just build a coop from a plan for the same amount, and make it as big as I want. After all, I want happy chickens, don't I? With lots and lots of space? We have the room, after all...and though we're not particularly handy, DH assembled our daughter's play structure all by himself. And my dad's a retired engineer and has built all kinds of things for us. With a good building plan, we could make a pretty sweet coop!

So I bought two sets of plans - TheGardenCoop and CleanCoop's "Shiloh" plan. The Garden Coop can fit around 5 chickens. The Clean Coop "Shiloh" plan can fit about 15. It's the same amount of work...why not build the one for 15 chickens, you know, just because??? Great, it's decided!

But I really want to free range/pasture the chickens during the day. A roo would really come in handy for added protection, right? And I should get extra chickens because we may lose a few until we figure things out - not sure what my daytime predator situation will be. And having a roo means fertilized eggs that we can hatch for fun and sell off the chicks!

Oh, and wait, what the heck are Olive Eggers??? Ooooh, I could breed some of those if I choose the right 1st generation of chicks...

So maybe now it's time to order the chicks! Wow. There are some really cool looking chickens on the Meyer site. Hmmmm, since I'm building a coop for 15+ chickens, why not order a few more? My parents would love some eggs, so would our neighbors, and I could hang a flyer at DD's school to sell off any extras.

So the order's placed! I got 2 white layers (Golden Campine, Ancona), 2 blue/green layers (EE's), and 4 varying shades of brown layers (Welsummer, Blue Laced Red Wyandotte, Golden Laced Wyandotte, Barred Rock.) And an EE roo. That's 8. Just right!

But gosh, I'd really love to breed the the EE roo with a barred dark brown hen for sex-linked Olive Eggers (I just read through the whole Olive Egger thread, lol). So I just emailed Meyer to add a Cuckoo Marans hen to my order.

So that's 9. ENOUGH!

But then DD asked me, "what about those little poofy chickens you promised we'd get?" Oh yeah. I did tell her we'd get some Silkies - showed her the pics and everything. Well I do still have space in the coop. I could add 3 silkie hens - a black, a white and a buff. So next up is to find a local breeder who will have chicks around the time my Meyer order comes in (mid-August) so that they can all be raised together. I'd been advised on BYC not to get hatchery silkies, since I want them nice and poofy!

So that'll be 12. And I'm certain that's IT! Well, until they start producing cool fertile eggs and I decide to hatch some Olive Eggers and any other interesting combos that catch my eye.

And I really wanted a BC Marans, but Meyer was out. Will need to get my hands on one of those too.

LOL, so the first coop, that's not even built yet, will be full on just our 1st generation of chicks.

We're on 5 acres, but most of it's not cleared (I'm in Washington state, so lots of woods). So what have I been doing? Getting bids to clear a couple of acres to make room in case I love keeping chickens so much that I want more. And DH and DD really, really, really want a couple of dairy goats...and I've read that ducks are pretty cool. Good eggs and they eat slugs! We have sooooooo many slugs it's impossible to keep a garden. A couple of ducks would be a terrific addition....

And the extra land cleared means we could even plant an orchard. We've already squeezed in as many fruit trees as we can fit, but I want more! The orchard space could double as pasture space for the chickens.

What happened to this San Francisco city girl?! I'm going to have to quit my job just to take care of our budding farm, lol.

I'm just going to ditto this whole thing. Had 9 hens 5 weeks ago and now I have 45 chickens total.

Grew up in Chicago, now live on a 5 acre farm in Indiana full of chickens, fruit trees, veggies, and any other thing we can grow, lol.

Although I do try and steer clear of hatchery websites...egads. I would be up to 100+ chicks then...

 

[nightowl223]

In my ever-present battle with chicken math, and as an extension, coop math, I discovered the ability to turn nearly anything into a coop or brooder.

And, yesterday, I had the opportunity to get some pure Cochin chicks, so...

of course I couldn't say no. 6 new baby Silver-laced and 6 new Blue Cochins that will need their own coops/tractors so I can eventually have new pure-breeds to sell.

I absolutely refuse to actually count how many chickens I have now!

 

[Aeropennchick]

I think the only thing saving me is that I'm absolutely PARANOID about adding chicks to my flock from lots of different places. I'm an ICU nurse, and convinced every chick that is not a day old is diseased, hahaha. But once I get adequate quarantine facilities up and running, watch out!

 

[kmatt87]

we started with 5 and are now up to 7....i've owned chicks for about 4 wks. lol

 

[AZ_HenHouse]

We are doing good at Chicken Math

Started with 4 chicks--2 of them really looked like roos so got 4 more to replace them if in fact they were roos.
Wasn't sure what we liked so got different varieties of course and that doesn't count as any since we were just trying to figure out which breed we liked best

Lost one to the dog

so had to get 2 to replace (had to have a buddy). That was a replacement so it doesn't count right?
The 2 babies turned out to be roos so they had to leave when they started crowing -2

Someone found a chicken -couldn't find their owner so they gave it to us. I am sure this doesn't count because she really belongs to someone else!
Hen went broody and gave her fertile eggs---ended up with 3 roos

Roos did stay long enough to give us fertile eggs when hen went broody again

Hen went broody again and hatched out 5 chicks- they don't count yet.
Bought 2 blue cochins(day olds) and gave to the broody so she is raising 7--none of these count since the hen is raising them.
Bought 2 more week old chick--broody wouldn't take them, so now I am raising them. Since they are with me, they don't count either.

Husband thinks we have 8 chickens-he hasn't counted chicks yet, kids think we have 17 chickens...

According to chicken math, I only have 2. I think I need some more chickens

 

[wcstory]

Yep Chicken Math struck here too.

Got 4 Arcana's a couple weeks ago and one never really seemed to do well. Day by day it got weaker even with hand feeding. Four be came three before a full week was up.

This morning we picked up a new brooder cage to get the chicks closer to people so they grow up with people around them. Because of cats we have been keeping them isolated, but that does not do much for socialization. We let the cats wander around the coop with the big girls and they don't bother them, but at 20-23 ponds each one friendly bat by either the two boys and it's all over for a chick.

This afternoon went to the feed store to get a bale of shavings. I made my daughter go with me to keep her out of Mom's way. BAD IDEA DAD!!!! When we got to the feed store she finds they have 3-5 day old White Astra's and White Rocks. She drops the my chicken died trip on me and reminds me she did muck out the coop this morning. No win.... Ok one of each.

Well we left with one of each to replace the one we lost.

This may sound totally out of place for most chicken math stories..........well

We just set a 12 Cuckoo Marans, 9 Wyandotts and 3 turkeys eggs in the incubator yesterday and have an order for 12 Black Copper Marans hatching eggs from Arielle here on BYC. The wife and daughter are already looking for a Narragansett Hen or hatching eggs.

Oh boy this may be a tough summer......

 

[mabhera]

Had 16 roosters and 9 pullets. So.....with pain in my heart sold 11 of the roos. But my yard feels so empty. I need more pullets (I cant count the black copper marans I hatched a few weeks ago, because they are still inside the house. Need more pullets. Lets see what I will order. The truth is i only wanted 6 chickens total. Now 14 chickens is not enough.