Chicken math

[21hens-incharge]

Just don't get into division..... It is scary stuff.

 

[clickdb]

Just don't get into division..... It is scary stuff.

You mean tasty stuff!

 

[funnyfarmmom]

Ok chicken math. So my two little stepdaughters called hubby one weekend asking if mom got them hamsters if they could bring them home. He says sure. We go to pick the girls up and they climb out with 4 little chicks instead of hamsters! We had no idea what breeds the got since we werent with them. So we get the chicks home and settled and I told hubby "you know if Im gonna take care of chickens I might as well get enough to make it worth my while in eggs. We have 7 kids living here. He agreed so off I went to tsc where I got 10 pullets. That brought us up to 14. Well as the weeks went by we realized that2 of the original 4 were Cornish X. I processed them so that brought us down to 12. Then I went to Orscheln for feed and they had Cornish X on sale for $1. I bought all 9 they had. That brought me to 21. Then someone on here posted an old poster that said you needed two laying hens for every family member. So I went to our local hatchery and wound up with 23 chicks but I figure since they are straight run, half at least will be roos. Hubby is throwing his handd up at me lol.

 

[dekel18042]

Welcome! I see you're figuring out chicken math already.

 

[blkjak]

So I started a little over a year ago with six hens.  I had done the math and only really needed 3 to supply enough eggs but TSC said minimum purchase was six, so six it was.  I free range and the first year I lost two. So then I had 4 hens, gave away a dozen eggs every now and then. This spring I was thinking I needed to bring in a few more so when the first crew molts I could still be getting eggs... add 2 or 3 each year as some become part of the food chain or age out.  So I went to a local farm store that had no minimums so I bought two Buff Orps and one RIR as my second generation girls. My electric fence decided to go kaput and one morning I lost all 4 of my mature layers to a predator.  Fortunately the little girls were still in the crate in the coop so they were fine.   Now I went from 7, down to 3 teenagers.  Back I go to the farm store and buy 3 leghorns to bring me back up to six but I still have to buy eggs for a few months.

Now my teen BO & RIR are in the big girl coop and I'm introducing the little girls with a little hole in the inside coop mesh walls so they can explore the big girl area but retreat to their crate.  This works well for a few days but the little girls went through the goat fence and one of my dogs caught one.  I caught the culprit and the chick was fine so I hoped she learned her lesson but I put some plastic chicken wire on the goat fencing to keep them in.   A few days later I think I see a neighbor dog with a chick in its mouth. It is clearly playing with something and is quite pleased, throwing it in the air and catching it, but I cannot get a clear view.  I go out to the coop and I can't find my little girls anywhere.

Now I'm just irritated, so I go inside and place an order for 5 Easter Eggers and 4 white layers...figure I'm going to have plenty for the food chain.  Remember, when I started I only wanted 3 hens.  Went out to do a head check that night, lo and behold, my little girls are all tucked in the coop as are the big girls.  They must have a great hiding spot in the run!  Plus they are too big to fit through the goat fencing now anyway. 

The new chicks will be shipping July 9, so I'll have 15 birds.  It is amazing how I can rationalize it all away!  LOL

This is wonderful!

 

[nickdlny]

Not cured!lol ive got MORE DEBIT cards.

lol, oh man. Not to overstep any bounds here but I think we may end up needing a new thread for your support group when you get done with this.

 

[nickdlny]

Time for some subtraction, 8 of my cockerels (2 Buff wyadonette (love to crow), 4 BR, & 2 RIR) are 15 weeks old so time to go to freezer camp, 4 have been crowing off and on all day. Subtraction is great because it allows for multiplication next year.

HAHAHAHA!!! Subtraction is great because it allows for multiplication next year. That just stuck. We need a hall of fame around here.

 

[JRNash]

Lol Nick

 

[JRNash]

well the numbers went up. A friend gave me these two white chineses,and three brown chinese. They will be a welcome addition to my 6 goslings that are doing well in the brooder. Two weeks until my 31 chicks ship from Macmurray

 

[Tatiana110]

We are holding up pretty good with the number of chickens (33 now, originally wanted 8). Actually I am thinking about selling 2-3 chickens.

But the number of ducks keeps going up... LOL
We wanted 8 ducks, so we went and bought 15. One choked on a large slug and died, so we went back to get a couple of more to replace the loss, and we came home with 7 more ducklings. Then a bear came and killed two of them and injured one. So we got 12 more ducklings... I hope that'll be it for at least a couple of months! 33 chickens, 12 ducklings, and 19 teenage Muscovy ducks is a handful.