CHICKEN MATH STRIKES AGAIN

[Nsampsel]

OK...let me start by saying I got my first chicks less than a month ago and am ALREADY a victim of "chicken math"...lol

My son and I went in TSC the beginning of the month to get cat food & litter...until my son spotted the chicks & ducklings. I finally managed to get out of there with 4 straight run mystery bantums (they turned out to be a white silkie, a silver seabright, a millie fleure d'uccle, and a golden brahma) and 2 pekin ducklings. We lost the little d'uccle on day 3. The next day (day 4) I went back to get wire for the top of my "brooder totes" and my kids suckered me into 4 pullets (2 turned out to be red stars & the other appears to be a rock mix) and 2 more mystery bantums (wich ended up being americunas). I was back in TSC the next day (no clue why) and ran into a girl I knew who was looking at the chicks. I didn't want another 6 birds, but they had mallards in, so I gave her my money & she checked my babies out with hers since you can't buy less than 6 birds total here in Ohio. We lost an americuna the next day because it got smothered under the chicken pile over night. My 2 pekins got so big so fast that I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep them in the coop with the rest when I got it built so I began to look for a home for them since they were being mean to the rest of my babies. Everyone went to the coop 3 nights ago & the next morning my pekins were sent to a new home. Grand total: 10 birds (4 standard pullets, 4 bantums, 2 mallards) And I'm praying not more than 1 of my bantys is a roo...lol

 

[Coop de Grille]

Hubby and I agreed on four chickens. I went to a local guy that hatches out chicks to get four Silver Laced Wyandotte chicks. While there, I noticed a second pen full of baby chicks, they happened to be Easter Egger chicks. So we came home with four of those too.

A few weeks later I realized at least one of those chicks was a boy. So I went to get two Buff Orpington chicks that were sexed female at hatch. When I got there, I was told there were only three chicks left, one was a boy. I couldn't leave him by himself, so I took all three chickens.

Now, back to my original four SLW...... three of them are looking pretty roo-ish to me. So I went and got seven more Buff Orps that were hatched the same day as the three I had bought a few days prior. My four chicks have turned into eighteen chicks. But I swear to my DH we only have THREE chicks.. SLW, EE and BO. That leaves me still able to get one more chick to bring me up to the four we agreed upon.

Then I realized that my eight original chicks were ALL roosters as well as four of my BO's! I was able to find a home for two of them, so that brings me down to 16 chicks. Knowing I still had several roos to rehome, I ordered the Hatchery Choice Pullet Special and got 16 babies. That brought me up to 32 chicks. But...that same day started Chick Days at Tractor Supply. I brought home six sexed red pullets for a total of 38 chicks. Then I just had to hatch my own eggs, which meant 13 more babies. Yup, 51 chicks. My managers sister has a farm and took 9 of my roosters. So right now I have seven BO's (one is a gorgeous roo), 22 sexed pullets (one of which turned into a roo) and 13 babies that hatched last week. And.. I'm really fighting the urge to fill the incubator again.

Coop Math is similar to Chicken Math. I was going to start out with a 4x6 coop, but that was before I brought my little fuzzy butts home. Since I had more than the agreed upon 4 chicks, I decided I needed to go a bit larger and ordered a 6x8. Then I saw the 8x10 wasn't much more money.. but wait.. the 10x16 was only a little more than the 10x12 so lets go with that one. I had to call the shed company back twice to change the size. So my shed arrives and I realize I can't put all my chicks together because of the age difference. I had to have someone come over and build a wire mesh wall to divide the coop. Now my BO's are in one side and my 22 sexed pullets are on the other. But what to do with my 13 babies that hatched??? I had to put their brooder in the shed and I think I need another coop!

When my husband asked me how many chickens I have, I told him THREE! I have BO's, Teenage Pullets and the new babies... that's three, right? That means I can still get one more to bring me up to the agreed upon four chickens!

 

[PaintedCavalry]

I haven't even gotten my chicks yet and chicken math has already struck.

Our hatchery order is:
2 Golden Sex Links
1 Blue Andalusian
1 Speckled Sussex
1 Partridge Rock
1 Barred Rock

Found a local show-quality breeder and the hubby has said yes to me getting a French Copper Maran AND some true Americuanas. So from 6 to 8-10. The local guy can sex the Marans, but said he can't sex the Americuanas until they're around 12 weeks old. We're hoping for all pullets...

Who knows, maybe next year I'll get some quality birds and start breeding some of my own. Seems much cheaper than buying each year!

 

[cjsman777]

Me and my wife decided to get 3 or 4 chicks well we went to agway and they have a six bird minimum so we got six. Then a week later decided to get six more from tsc..which brings us up to 12 well one if my friends wants to reduce his flock size so I agreed to take six of his.then one if my Co workers wants to hatch eggs with his daughters so I currently have 12 i'm getting six more once the coop is done then I have to see how many more chicks I get when my coworker hacks eggs.do currently have twelve plus the sixI will get soon brings me to 18 and we will see how many hatch when he gets to it...and I couldn't be happier because this is the size flick I wanted to get

 

[Aeropennchick]

When my husband asked me how many chickens I have, I told him THREE! I have BO's, Teenage Pullets and the new babies... that's three, right? That means I can still get one more to bring me up to the agreed upon four chickens!

Wonder if that will work with my DH??

 

[billyb]

Albanese07,
How were you able to list your chickens undernieth your comment?

 

[Tmaxson01]

Sarted with 5, now have three coops and 33 chickens and still have some on my wish list, it's crazy.

 

[CSWolffe]

I knew I would have trouble long before I got my chickens. The problem is we live in the city, on a small lot(less than 1/4 acre), and my city only allows six hens! So I had to plan well. I knew I would want more hens once I had a few, so I limited myself to four: an Australorp, a RIR, a GSL and a SLW. That way I could always add later! Well, the GLS turned out to be a wretched canibal chicken, who plucked out most of the RIR's feathers, and then began pecking her bloody, eating her alive. So she went to live on the farm. No, that's not a euphamism, I know a person who runs a free range egg co-op. Now I have three. I was sad to see my favorite hen leave, but I have room for more!
This year we are adding a Wellsumer and an EE, giving me five. So I still have room for more! Next year I would love to get some Black Copper Marans and Olive Egger hatching eggs. Oh, wait, that would give me seven hens. Maybe one of the older girls will stop laying and will retire to the farm?

 

[Albanese07]

It's under your profile as your signature line.

 

[aoxa]

Okay.. So.. We wanted to start with three, but that went to four right away (can't have an odd number, that's not right ) so we got 3 pullets and a rooster. We thought one had been eaten, but it had fallen into a corner of the coop from bullying.. Our coop was not as secure as we thought> She was alive, but hungry. We had already replaced her that same day and an hour after we got the new hen we found her. So we were at five.. A week later I said - a silkie started all this.. We need to get a silkie.. So we did.. We were +3 from our original plan... Unfortunately one died from unknown causes. (there was something wrong with three of our first four.. I won't get into that).

Then the poultry show came to town.. We bought six more. Two cockerels and four pullets. We rehomed a cockerel and pullet (didn't want the second cockerel, but we needed to take him in order to take the pullet :/ ) The same day we rehomed those two, we bought three more. So far = 4 + 1 + 1 = 6 - 1 = 5 + 6 = 11 - 2 = 9 + 3 = 12 +1 = 13. Are you with me so far?

This is only 2 months into owning chickens, and I was already over my original plan of 3 by 10. We ended up going to another poultry show in another province and brought back only one pullet. A few weeks later we lost the rooster out of our first four - again same issues as the first death. Nothing contagious. Weak stock. - We were down to 12. What do you do when you lose one? You add more. That's the only logical thing to do! We bought two more silkies = 14.

Well.. After that we found an add for someone who was trying to get rid of half their flock for winter. How could we resist? They had so many wonderful breeds! We went with the intention of getting maybe 1 or 2 pullets.. Ended up getting 4 pullets, a mixed drake (thought it was a she), and a muscovy duck.

If you've managed to stay with me this long, we are up to 20 at this point - 4 months after we started this adventure.

We were good all winter. Even when we lost one of my favourite girls from the first 4. We were down to 19.

Our duck turned out to be a boy, and was raping our chickens. We had to rehome him (he went back to the breeder, and she found him a nice home). We traded him in for One Khaki Campbell duckling (2 months old) but we couldn't take her alone! We got her sister and a lone cockerel that has yet to discover he is not a duck. We have 21 at this point.

I have 11 chicks on top of that. I will keep all of the girls, and maybe one or two cockerels. I have 5 barred rock chicks coming on April 7th and 10 Naked Neck turkens coming late April. If we were to keep all of the chicks (26 + 21 = 47) and I just bought an incubator that holds 42 eggs - I will be setting them shortly after I move on the 20th of April >

Wow.. Long story short, Chicken math got me by 44 chickens!