Chicken Math Strikes Again

[peepacheep]

Zany Chick, What a great idea to bill medical insurance! Cheep therapy! Nothing like peeps and cheeps to give one a warm fuzzy feeling. There is also the theory that by getting even more chicks you can have a laying flock that can help supplement their feed bill with egg money. My chickens may never pay back their cost in egg money but they more than make up it in high quality eggs for us and friends plus all the entertainment they provide. Better than cable tv and cheaper!

Happy up coming retirement gryeyes!!! So kind of you to help the feral chicks!

 

[CorinneP]

Hello My name is Corinne and I too am a chicken'a holic .. .. I have not gone a week since the snow melted with out at least sneaking in a pair of ducks .. And Now my friend just called and asked if I wanted to try some Guinea hen eggs.. Like there was a question in her mind ; )

 

[Zany Chick]

So last night I said to my husband, if we use the two 4 x4 thicker pieces of plywood we have in the shed, I could expand the coop to 4 x 8 instead of 4 by 6 with out buying more plywood. It would just be more to roof it. (and studs, but we wont mention those). His reply, you have to remember if you build it too big, they wont be able to keep warm in winter. My reply, "so we get more chickens". His reply "I knew you were going to say that the minute it came out of my mouth. So we shall see. He has a hard time saying no to me, especially if he thinks it will make me happy.

 

[Crabella]

My husband just had to stop at the feed store today for some weed killer... We came home with 8 gold sex-link roos (clearanced priced) to raise for my brother and sister in law...Now I just have to resist naming them... unless it something like bbq#1 and KFC#4

 

[Zany Chick]

So, I've had chickens less than a month, finally have the coop started, planned for 3 chickens, ended up with nine chicks and today my cousin called, she has a Golden Comet pullet that needs a home.

I pick her up on Friday. It is about the same age as my chicks, any advice on integrating her with the nine I already have? I'm guessing it's not as easy as when I got chicks 4 days apart and plopped the new ones in the box. (With careful observation of course)

 

[AhyokaAcres]

I swore I would never get bit by the chicken bug since we have our hands full with 8 horses....then we lost our first to last hen...so I went to TSC and picked up 6 bantams...4 are roos, so I went and got 10 assorted standard chicks and a turkey chick from a local man, and said that was it...turns out both the BR and both the BO I got are roos...whick led to me coming back from Chickenstock with a 7 month BR hen and 5 Blue Wheaton Ameraucanas...and a dozen Welsh Harlequin eggs...

...oh that chicken math...

 

[jtbrown]

I agree the therapy my chickens provide should be billable.

Now, what is embarrassing is being at the feed store with my five year old son,who says, "are you buying chicks, you said we were just looking, are those banthums (his pronunciation), why are you buying more chicks?". Me "zip it son, we have room.".

Embrace the chicken math.

 

[Aeropennchick]

So, I've had chickens less than a month, finally have the coop started, planned for 3 chickens, ended up with nine chicks and today my cousin called, she has a Golden Comet pullet that needs a home.

I pick her up on Friday. It is about the same age as my chicks, any advice on integrating her with the nine I already have? I'm guessing it's not as easy as when I got chicks 4 days apart and plopped the new ones in the box. (With careful observation of course)

Hm that's a rough decision, since there will be only the one new chick! Is there a way you can separate your brooding box with a wire mesh so the new chick and the existing ones can see each other?

They are still pretty darn young though if they are only a month - they might be fine if you just stuff her in there! Especially if you distract them with treats.

 

[Zany Chick]

I swore I would never get bit by the chicken bug since we have our hands full with 8 horses....then we lost our first to last hen...so I went to TSC and picked up 6 bantams...4 are roos, so I went and got 10 assorted standard chicks and a turkey chick from a local man, and said that was it...turns out both the BR and both the BO I got are roos...whick led to me coming back from Chickenstock with a 7 month BR hen and 5 Blue Wheaton Ameraucanas...and a dozen Welsh Harlequin eggs...

...oh that chicken math...

From getting 0 to 21...that's some serious chicken math!

 

[binza1979]

I have fallen prey to chicken math as well. Officially we have "six" and that is the story I'm sticking with. Bantams don't really count, right? And neither do the seven six week olds, or the six we have in the brooder...Oh, and the old hens that don't lay well don't count either....

This spring, I started out by getting 8 new chicks. (Two polish, one mottled houdan, two barred rock, one black sexlink, and one black australorp). Well, once they were big enough to go in the grower pen they were out of the house. I was happy. Then, Alice, my favorite polish got out of the run and was killed by my dog. I was sad, but I had seven other chickens so I was ok with my loss. Then, I ended up at the local feed store. I came home with two frizzle bantams to replace Alice because you can't brood just one....A few days later I was at a local breeder's to pick up some organic feed. She had just gotten in a shipment of new chicks. I asked if she had any crested that were a week old or so. She did. She had a new shipment of Sultan and Silkies. So, I had planned to get a Sultan to go with the frizzles in the brooder. But, we saw the silkies running around and fell in love. So, we got two. Well, one didn't make it more than 24 hours. I was so sad for the lone silkie, so we picked up another one and a polish because she was the only one in the bin. So, with the loss of one, we ended up with six.

I really need to join a support group!