Explaining Chicken Math

[noahsmom]

Aren't Silkies more bantam size? You can have double the bantams, so the silkies will have a similar rule.
And the math lesson begins!

LOL I've already thought of this hehe

....But, we aren't going to keep as many silkies as RIR's since the silkies will just be my pets. I'm trying to keep my beginning #s low so I can play with more breeds as I go. But my plan is to have around 4-6 silkies. I'm even thinking a little about selling chicks?! But, that's just a thought and I go to school full time and work part time also have a 5year old lol so I have to think about my time restrictions. But, I love being busy and my job allows me to do my school work a lot. My plan though is to when I get what I want in my group then they will be with me for the rest of their lives, I just personally don't like to toss animals around.

Anyway, soooo excited!

 

[Chickenfan4life]

I just read this to my mom. She was laughing so hard and so was I.

Here's my chicken math story.

Me, Dad, and my siblings were going to a restaurant. There were no seats open at the moment, so we went across to Atwoods. Well, Atwoods has chicks, and Dad says...

"We need to get some chickens..." and, of course, we all start begging him to get some. "Oh, please, Dad..." I say. "I'll only get four." I say.

Well, I had my four picked out in the order that I wanted them: one black, one gray, one white, one brown (I knew nothing about chickens or how dangerous they were back then.)

I was going to leave when I saw... *dun dun dun* the silkie! I was fascinated by the black skin and beak, and just had to have it. I felt like the Emperor of China to have such a fascinating and "exotic" creature.

Well, we left the store, but that wasn't the end. Oh no, it was just the beginning. As soon as we got home, Mom realized Atwoods had chicks, and she rushed out to go "look".

I found that they had just put Polish chickens out right after we had left, and I fell head over heels in love. I told Mom "Just one...", but I couldn't resist getting the three that I most fancied.

Later on, we had to go get chick food. We saw the EE's and we just loved their cute, fuzzy bearded faces. This time, it was my sister that wanted to get some. Just... two...?" she said, hopeful. "NO!" Sarah begged, and Mom finally agreed. Sarah picked out 4.

So, to sum it up, 4 chickens=5 chickens+1 chicken=3+0 chickens=4 chickens, which all comes to 12 chickens, but somehow we have 20... how did that happen???

So there you have it: the evil powers of chicken math at it's finest!

(I'm not even gonna go into details about everything we found---and bought---on craigslist.

)

 

[Xovan]

OK this thread be REQUIRED reading when you join this site. Mine started with my wife talking about getting chickens in front of the kids. After I was wore down I started my research. I spent a long time reading. Here and elsewhere. (missed this thread) lol. I decided to let them know my decision. As a group we chose our breed to be was going to be SLW's we would keep 6-8 done deal right. That is when the math started. I found out about shipping minimums. OK fine pick the good ones and eat the rest. Done. Then Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaad can we have different kinds. ahhhhhg fine looked around was going to go with SLW,GLW, barred rock and partridge rock. Then my youngest found pictures of BLRW's and we had to have some of those. So found some good BLRW's but straight run only. oh forgot to add getting some meat birds too. Why not right. Could not decide on Cornish x or red rangers so both right (that one is on me). Placed the final order Saturday. This is how my math went. 6-8 slw=15slw=5slw+5glw+5br+5pr-5br-5pr+15blrw+15cornishx-5cornishx+5red rangers for a grand total of 40 birds for my first time. So leaving for our house April 8th are 15BLRW's, 5 SLW's, 5GLW's 10cornishX, and 5Red rangers. Still only plan to keep 12(ish) through the winter. going to keep 1 roo and 12 of the wyandotte's with the best personalities. (for now this is the plan)

 

[angelbrenn]

My chicken story is that I wanted a few chickens for pets so I asked my sister for some fertile eggs bought an incubator and started hatching 21 eggs while they were in the incubator I got curious and asked what kind they were she said red and white.started thinking about it so I started looking at all the different breeds online fell in love with all the beautiful chickens ordered 17 baby chicks of different rare breed that Then when I started building the coup it cost way more than Expected I still didn't have any chicks yet so I thought I could get me 25 Cornish crosses to help Balance the cost of the coop. 11 eggs hatch 27 Cornish crosses came then my baby chicks came 17 of them. Long story little shorter I have 27 Cornish X's that are six weeks old have 28 chicks that are 3 weeks old I have six eggs in the incubator ready to hatch tomorrow and I have 18 more eggs on the way. I need AA for chicken breeders ; )

 

[jessicaroo]

I'm new at raising chickens... When I decided I wanted chickens I was set on the number 5. Then after a week of pouring over the breeds I decided I needed 10. But minimum orders got their way and I had to order at least 25. So I had a friend go in with me on an order and we got carried away and ordered 32! Unfortunately we had a large loss of 14 chicks on our first shipment. I went to reorder and found I still needed to meet the 25 minimum requirement..... Well, 25 turned into 38! Haha! In the end, I will have 15 chickens (I've found homes for the others) and I'm still wishing I'll have more! But I'll do my best to hold off until next spring to decide if I want more. I'll have 10 different breeds and I'm excited to see their personalities great story's everyone!

 

[BullChick]

I went to pick up a trio. I had been offered 2 other trios, but didn't want them. I got my trio, and we began talking. 2 minutes later I was walking back to the pens for 2 of the birds I swore I didn't want. Without getting the rooster with them, it worked into my breeding plans! Then she asked if I wanted a duck!

After eating together, she started on the dog math. As if that weren't bad enough, one of the pullets began laying while here. Her egg is too light for a BCM, so the woman said she owes me another. And we know how well that went the last time!!

Chick Days are now upon us. I am in so much trouble!!

 

[angelbrenn]

Lol

 

[BTinks]

When DH and I first started thinking about chickens we had said we would get 6-8 laying hens...little did I know how many breeds I would find out about!
Once I started researching I discovered minimums... Our local hatchery had an assortment of 25 that was about the same price as 15 choose your own pullets. So 6-8 suddenly became 25 because that was cheaper per pullet. The hatchery only sells about 13 breeds so I felt sure that I would get a few Easter eggers in our assortment and we'd be done buying. But... We didn't. I was dead set on having blue eggs so I stalked our local tsc. Went in to get 2 eastereggers and walked out with 6 because MINIMUMS. The only problem was that I had been reading this forum and learned about Black Copper Marans that lay beautiful chocolate colored eggs. Obviously we needed those eggs in our egg basket. I found a local breeder and excitedly asked for two pullets. Well they turned out to be straight run only so instead of two I had to get four to help my odds of getting layers.
So.... 8layers=25 assorted pullets + 2 EEs=6EEs + 2 BCMs=4 BCMs and now we have 35 chicks in two brooders in our basement. Lets just say I'm trying really hard not to go to TSC next week or 35 will turn into 40something somehow. :-D

 

[BullChick]

When DH and I first started thinking about chickens we had said we would get 6-8 laying hens...little did I know how many breeds I would find out about!
Once I started researching I discovered minimums... Our local hatchery had an assortment of 25 that was about the same price as 15 choose your own pullets. So 6-8 suddenly became 25 because that was cheaper per pullet. The hatchery only sells about 13 breeds so I felt sure that I would get a few Easter eggers in our assortment and we'd be done buying. But... We didn't. I was dead set on having blue eggs so I stalked our local tsc. Went in to get 2 eastereggers and walked out with 6 because MINIMUMS. The only problem was that I had been reading this forum and learned about Black Copper Marans that lay beautiful chocolate colored eggs. Obviously we needed those eggs in our egg basket. I found a local breeder and excitedly asked for two pullets. Well they turned out to be straight run only so instead of two I had to get four to help my odds of getting layers.
So.... 8layers=25 assorted pullets + 2 EEs=6EEs + 2 BCMs=4 BCMs and now we have 35 chicks in two brooders in our basement. Lets just say I'm trying really hard not to go to TSC next week or 35 will turn into 40something somehow. :-D

My "blue layers" turned out to be green, and both of my BCM are giving me light(er) eggs. I now need more blue egg layers, and more BCM!!

 

[TheCrazyClucker]

I'm cracking up at these...

We started with 50 straight run, and out of that 48 lived. 33 were hens, and 15 were roosters. We butchered all but 1 rooster and kept the 33 hens.
About 8 were picked off by predators.
We got 10 from our neighbors.
A year after, we got 25 sexed chicks (hens) for My Pet Chicken.
For the next 5 years, we got 25-50 more. About half from 1 year were picked off by predators.
2 months later, we got 25 more from Meyers.
In the months after, we came to a grand total of around 200, getting hens and roosters from neighbors and friends.
A year and a half later, we had about 250. Some of them were killed by predators, some we butchered, some we sold, and others just disappeared.
As of now, we have around 100 hens and 10 roosters.

I have a problem... No, I don't just have a "problem", I have... drum-roll, please... A CHICKEN DISEASE!!!

Love this thread! <3