Chicken math

[BluesLadies]

For the record, I think Chicken Math should be a pinned post...I had no warning!

I just love the chickens. Gathering the eggs, chatting up the ladies, doing silly things like watering my straw bales to make sure there are bugs under them for the chickens to snack on later...it's one of my favorite things about going home after a long day at work.

Agreed! I'm a stay at home mom to a one and four year old so having a few peaceful moments watching the chickens, hunting the eggs and digging up critters at the end of the day for the hens is the best. It's so calming and rewarding.

 

[dpenning]

Takes brains to be manipulative, it should be rewarded. LOL

We've had our chicks from TSC exactly one week.  The Wife is out of town this weekend, and The Boy (who was responsible for the chick acquisition in the first place) wants to drive over to the the other TSC nearby to see "if they have different breeds."  He knows darn well they do, and he hopes to pressure me to buy another 6-pack while Mommy is away.  Methodical, he is.

Must resist ...

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Chicken math struck again when I went to TSC to get my dog his shots yesterday. I brought home 3 EEs (was supposed to be 4 but it looks like a leghorn ended up in the wrong bin), 1 Leghorn, and 2 RIRs. I don't plan to keep the last 3 but they should be easy to sell. Just had to meet that minimum. My justification is that out of the 18 chicks that arrived from Hoovers on Friday, 8 died within the first 24 hours - 7 out of 8 Salmon Faverolles and 1 out of 4 barnevelders. I find it odd that so many of the Faverolles died. My bantams from Ideal also did not fare very well in the cold snap - out of 35, 11 died. Those also arrived Friday.

I am done with chicks for quite a while, though, until I start hatching out some olive eggers to sell.

So as of now I have (let me do some math real quick)

5 grown cockerels (most heading to greener pastures before too long)
17 grown pullets
4 two-month-old chicks (2 male, 2 female)
62 month-old chicks
40 3-day-old chicks

So, 128 total. I shouldn't have tallied that up. I'm in shock lol.

However, I think going by chicken math rules I have no chickens, so I'm fine.

 

[cdonato]

We are trying our hand at this chicken thing for the first time too. We (or should I say he" wanted to start with 26!!!!) 20 meat and 6 egg layers...I was able to talk him down to 16 to start off. Since the meat birds are ready in approx 7 weeks that will leave us with a manageable 6 hens. I see his wheels turning to get more after the first batch of meat are gone. We'll see how this all works out in reality..

 

[Spartan22]

We are trying our hand at this chicken thing for the first time too. We (or should I say he" wanted to start with 26!!!!) 20 meat and 6 egg layers...I was able to talk him down to 16 to start off. Since the meat birds are ready in approx 7 weeks that will leave us with a manageable 6 hens. I see his wheels turning to get more after the first batch of meat are gone. We'll see how this all works out in reality..

Sounds reasonable, by the way where in NE Ohio are you from.

 

[cdonato]

We are in Perry...right by the lake!

 

[grandmaduck]

Hi guys!! Remember me from last week? I am the old lady who had chicks 50 years ago and decided to do 6 or so for the grandsons to watch grow and eventually get some eggs. Our new coop that will hold 6-8 will never work for we ended up with 15!! A week later and I now have 24 with 6 more coming !! We FOUND 3 silver laced wyandottes and 3 buff orpingtons at our local feed mill on Monday and then when I entered TSC to get some items, they had Silkies and RIR for 50 cents!! I bought 5 Silkies and 1 RIR and gave 3 Silkies to a friend. Tomorrow I pick up 3 Araucanas and the following week 2 Golden Wyandottes. And a dark brahma. We are going to start building a house and not a tractor this week. With this many a house is in order !!
Can anyone clear up--is a golden Wyandotte definitely a gold laced or is it a gold bird like a buff orpington? I really want a gold laced.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! It should be gold laced, although there are MANY Wyandotte colors out there. Araucanas and gold Wyandottes would NOT be available at the feed store; they are rare. Mary

 

[grandmaduck]

This is not a typical feed store to begin with. It caters to the yuppie type crowd, not the southern states type. They order from the same hatcheries where I would order for the rarer birds but in a quantity that makes it more affordable for us. I just saw it on their list for tomorrow so I am going to see them. I must say, I went to TSC in the beginning and knowing that I wanted a variety, the young lady working there sold me 4 Australorps and then asked if I might like these other two that she knew were rare and she had checked their wings etc and thought they were hens. They are unusual and have tufts from what would be our jawline, beautiful feathering, five toes, green/blue/gray legs and feet, and are the friendliest birds we have. Upon doing research, they have to be in the araucanas/Americana family's or may be Ees but they are great no matter what they are or where they came from!!

 

[SunHwaKwon]

This is not a typical feed store to begin with. It caters to the yuppie type crowd, not the southern states type. They order from the same hatcheries where I would order for the rarer birds but in a quantity that makes it more affordable for us. I just saw it on their list for tomorrow so I am going to see them. I must say, I went to TSC in the beginning and knowing that I wanted a variety, the young lady working there sold me 4 Australorps and then asked if I might like these other two that she knew were rare and she had checked their wings etc and thought they were hens. They are unusual and have tufts from what would be our jawline, beautiful feathering, five toes, green/blue/gray legs and feet, and are the friendliest birds we have. Upon doing research, they have to be in the araucanas/Americana family's or may be Ees but they are great no matter what they are or where they came from!!

Muffs and five toes says faverolle to me but the leg color is wrong. I wonder what they are! Can you post pics?