How did it come to this? (Chicken Math strikes again)

[WhiteWyan]

This spring around February I decided to try to hatch some of our eggs from our flock. I thought it would be fun and at the time figured we could use more layers. We only got about a dozen eggs a day! Besides, our roo is an Easter Egger and we wanted more than just brown eggs. Olive eggs sounded great!

So, 42 eggs go in to the incubator. 10 days later.. looks like our roo wasn't fertilizing any of them! What to do? Get fertile hatching eggs of course.

So, 42 more eggs go in. 16 chicks come out. Sell 6 to my coworker and end up giving her 5 of 8 total females that came from the hatch. So I've got 3 more girls. I'm happy. Figure I'll keep one boy and the girls.

Mom invites me to meet our neighbor who has 100+ fowl and is hatching like mad. She's got a big batch of GORGEOUS BBS Cochins straight run and my mom falls in love with them.
We leave with 3 beautiful cochin boys and they are about a week or two older than my other chicks.

I introduce them to the ameraucana chicks and the big fluffs are just pushovers. The little guys get bullied by the even littler amers. So they get their own rabbit cage of course.

Now my mom and I are looking at these amazing Cochins and realizing we love them and we want more. So now we figure the Cochin boys are going to need their own pen because they won't be compatible with our other more aggressive breeds. And of course they will need girls because we can't have them all alone in there and of course we love Cochins and want more because how could you not want more cochins.

So here I am starting off 2018 right. How many chickens I'll have in 3 years I don't know but I can say this is a slippery slope!!!

 

[Chicks 'n ducks]

I too have fallen prey to chicken math already!

 

[WhiteWyan]

Chickens are just so easily obtainable! They really are a gateway livestock. So sweet and so simple to care for.
Also once you have a good set up it's not too challenging to squeeze a couple more on the roost. Or add a roost. Or just get another coop. Or get more fencing and just make a couple more runs.

 

[lmdengler]

Oh my gosh - this sounds like my life! I’m embarrassed to share! I started 2018 with 4. Then tryed my hand and hatching and attending a Chicken show (what fun). Then decided to be successful - I needed a super duper incubator. Here I am - 21 chickens with 11 more in the incubator. But let me tell you what - these are gorgeous chickens . And quite possibly my dearest friends. I embrace diversity! I have red sex links, barred rick, silver laced orphington, a golden laced orphington, a Maran, Easter Eggers, Olive Eggers, and now Sussex, and soon to hatch Swedish flower!

 

[WhiteWyan]

That's another part of it too. So many kinds, like Pokemon, gotta hatch em all!
Good luck with your eggs! So exciting and addicting to hatch. To hear those little baby peeps and watch them pop out.

 

[drumstick diva]

you can also have house chickens in case you run out of coop space. You can fit several bantams in the average house.

 

[WhiteWyan]

Yeah I'm eyeing the bearded d'anvers.....

 

[lmdengler]

I have "Kitchen Chickens", "Basement Chickens", and "Garage Chickens". Because they are too little in my opinion to be "Outside Chickens". The "Incubator Chickens" are going to the lake house with me this weekend - because they are due to hatch on Friday.
All seems "normal: to me!!

Is there any medication for this syndrome! Because soon there will be no room left!

 

[WhiteWyan]

Kitchen chickens.... Very convenient for omelettes!!

 

[FloDoe]

I’ve dived into the slipperiest (is that even a word) of slopes! Silkies! Here I am sitting with 5 adults... two “teens” and 12 blue and black babies I just hatched... I was going to sell at first BUT now I’ve talked myself into waiting to see How many hens and Roos I have.....because do you really breed silkies if you don’t have a black splash and blue coop you keep tossing the favs in.... oh and I’m picking up more at the end of this week.. there’s no math to owning chickens it’s just a complete take over!