I head count every night and basically every time I go to look at them during the day I'll add them up quickly too. Easy enough because I only have 9 in my main flock, 6 chicks and a banty sitting on 3 eggs.
I do like to know they're all accounted for. Last night I was missing one adult hen. My 11 yr old son and i couldn't find her anywhere. Finally realised my 3 yr old son had been walking around with her tucked under his arm earlier that day and i told him to put her back in the coop. I thought like a mischievous 3 yr old and bingo - found her locked up in the under construction coop in the nearly pitch black. It hasn't got any feeders or drinkers in it yet, so I was very glad I found her.
So for me head counts are essential.
I do like to know they're all accounted for. Last night I was missing one adult hen. My 11 yr old son and i couldn't find her anywhere. Finally realised my 3 yr old son had been walking around with her tucked under his arm earlier that day and i told him to put her back in the coop. I thought like a mischievous 3 yr old and bingo - found her locked up in the under construction coop in the nearly pitch black. It hasn't got any feeders or drinkers in it yet, so I was very glad I found her.
So for me head counts are essential.
Coop 3 houses 19 chickens, but we have given one hen a separate sleeping quarters, bc she was eating eggs. She sleeps in her own pen every night, but free ranges with her flock daily. So I've a very manageable amount of chickens (& ducks, too) at present, all whom I have tagged wuth leg bands and named. Each coop has a laminated list of each bird, with their leg band color & number, their breed and their names atrached inside each coop. I have often referred to it if I'm missing a chicken in Coop 3. Easier to run down my list for me to figure out who isn't there. I'm not certain how many would be too many to count, but seems like if it were over 100, it would be a real chore.
