I am a victim of Small Scale Chicken Math. At the time I was planning on getting chickens, I was thinking... Eight, no expanding, no deaths just eight hens to last me for 3-4 years when I'd buy a rooster and start the next generation. Step-dad says, "No. Get one, we'll see how things go." So I put my hands up in defeat at the idea of one(no amount of proof or knowledge I had over him would help. Then I am researching hatcheries and find most have a three chick minimum(some have higher but none lower), sneak this into the next chicken meeting. Three, we'll get three! Three RIRs, no discussion. Wrong. I find out all the major hatcheries are in the US or far from here(the closest big city has a chicken ban), so we look at local breeders and find one that has RIRs. No other place had RIRs, I knew little to nothing on all other breeds because I had my sights set on RIRs(turns out RIRs are endangered in Canada, who would thunk it?). So we call up the guy, first thing I notice: Not a real breeder and has a six chick minimum! So we decide on six RIRs. They never arrive, he never bills us and claims he knew nothing of our order, I decide if he's that unprofessional I don't want to my chances. So the hunt is on again, I find a registered breeder of Cochins and Silkies who is(for the one year) selling RIRs! She doesn't have six, we're back down to three. But she'll throw in a discount if we buy some of her usual fare, Silkies or Cochins. I knew little of either but she had three varieties of Cochin and God knows how many Silkie breeds, so I decide to get three Cochins(one of each) as well! In the beginning it was 8, then 1, then 3, then 6, then 3, and finally six! It isn't exactly the same as Chicken Math but thought I'd share my story!
, and over the last 2yrs he has added 80 more birds to have a nice sized laying flock and has many loyal egg buyers each week
