I started with just wanting 3-4. We had 3 silkies, a trio and I was content. Then one of our silkies passed... winter is coming up so I needed at least one more warm body, we wound up with a hamburg and while at the auction I saw sebrights! They are lovely gotta have at least one of them... but no one is selling just the hen so I order from Ideal who has a $25 minimum and get 8 chicks, they ship and include 11 packing peanuts. I had to place 2 Ideal orders though, they cancelled my first one and in that time I found a woman 30 minutes away selling "silkie chicks", I picked up 4.
Luckily for me it truly is chicken MATH. I add and subtract. The silkies turned out to be mixes, well 3/4 did and the true silkie was either too old or too young to mix with my other chickens so I sold her with her mates. The 11 packing peanuts were all BSL males so they went ASAP. Then there was a rather roo ish looking bantam surprise that also went because I have one roo that I'm trying to devise a collar for, I don't need more noise!
So If you want to do the math with me it went like this 5 (Originals, 3/5 were cocks) -2 (rehomed 2/3 of the males, the other one waited to crow LOL) -1 (one of our silkies passed) +1 (added the hamburg) + 4 (silkie mix chicks) + 19 (Ideal order including packing peanuts) - 11 (sold packing peanuts) -5 (sold silkie mixs and a chick) = 10
I'm still at over double the number I planned in the beginning but once we start being able to sex the chicks more of them will go. I do still want to add at least one more silkie in, possibly two. I really want a splash silkie which means either getting a blue and waiting for chicks or just getting a splash!
I have to say though. The 16 I sold were all to the same chick so I'm contributing to someone's out of control chicken math =)
