Hubby has figured out how to do Chicken Math!!

[Luke13:34]

I haven't told hubby about this thread....

We went outside to see the kuikens when he got home from work. He said, "so are you going to keep this brooder when they move out to the coop?"

Me, "Well, I figured we could use it to house the hens in the garage for one or two nights if we happen to get a really cold snow storm in the winter."

Him, "But when do you start replenishing?"

I didn't tell him that he is going to have to sell our house in town and buy me more acreage with a real wooden coop (we have a Little Tikes Coop) if he wants to start playing Extreme Chicken Math.

 

[mommyofthreewithchicks]

My math is really not good

We got 12 chickens in June but they were not chicks so

I ordered 65 chicks in June- 36 came so far... (might have to call and tell the company that the 30 still on back order will have to wait another year) I have been saying NO to ducks all year and then in a moment of weakness I

had a great idea for DH's birthday

DUCKS- and since I need to order more of everything I ordered 30 ducklings- 33 came 2 were not alive

So 31 ducklings are in the barn...

Really I have done super well this summer while expecting losses the only loss has been to a dumb dog

so our 12 big chickens went to 10. 1 being a silkie and since that was being ignored I searched craigslist and found some silkie chicks

Each child had to pick one and then since one was left in their great big box I chose that one too. (we all know that mom is a sucker).

So 12-2+36+4-1 chick= 39 chick/chickens + 31 Ducklings

Yep I have gone off the deep end and in theory I still have 30 chicks coming

 

[Luke13:34]

Quote:
Wow, thats a lot of eggs to have to gather!

 

[abercrombie575]

I started with 6. Two have died so I am down to 4. (Not sure what happened to one of them and a dog got the second one) They are going to be 2 next Feb. at which point I will replace them with chicks. I am getting at least 12 this time. Husband leaves it up to me as I do all of the work!!

 

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:
If you get a RIR roo, you'll be able to hatch your own black sexlink chicks next spring... I'm just sayin'!

(Sorry, I know you didn't need any more encouragement, did you...?)

 

[AllCoop'dUp]

I started out with 8 chicks...boyfriend said...aren't those cute...why don't you get some more. Got 8 more.. Dog got one, boyfriend felt badly and brought home 8 more to replace the 1 we lost. Darn if that dog didn't get another one, so he got me 8 more! Lost another one to that danged dog, next day...I end up with 9 more chicks. So over a 2 month period I went from 8 chicks to about 33 chicks, 3 different brooders going...What a circus!! Just when I think the madness is over, dog kills one of the first layers, boyfriend feels badly cause he left the gate open, tells me to get more. My order from MPC came 2 weeks ago..24 + 33 = 57....humm

...how'd that happen??

Did I mention the story about the ducks??

 

[dsqard]

AllCoop'dUp :

I started out with 8 chicks...boyfriend said...aren't those cute...why don't you get some more. Got 8 more.. Dog got one, boyfriend felt badly and brought home 8 more to replace the 1 we lost. Darn if that dog didn't get another one, so he got me 8 more! Lost another one to that danged dog, next day...I end up with 9 more chicks. So over a 2 month period I went from 8 chicks to about 33 chicks, 3 different brooders going...What a circus!! Just when I think the madness is over, dog kills one of the first layers, boyfriend feels badly cause he left the gate open, tells me to get more. My order from MPC came 2 weeks ago..24 + 33 = 57....humm

...how'd that happen??

Did I mention the story about the ducks??

See that is one of the scary parts of the chicken math. I have noticed that many people replace one loss with many chicks.

I have not lost any yet but now I am really scared to since you can't have only one chick running around!

 

[Muggsmagee]

I love, love, love this thread!

After pressing my husband for his approval on getting some hens, I dove in with the intention of getting only 5! At the time that seemed like A LOT!

Between the infectious enthusiasm of one of my friends over a few specific breeds, and the urge to have a variety of egg colors, I had found myself addicted before I even had the chicks!!! I picked up 15 day old chicks from a friend, had an order coming in from the hatchery (27), decided I wanted SQ stock on some birds and ordered 27 more day old chicks from a breeder, then decided I would order hatching eggs....dozens and dozens of hatching eggs! I have given a bunch of birds to friends, and hope to inflict this addiction onto many more people! This started in February, and today I have over 100 chickens, and more in the bator!!! My husband has not complained once.

Now I can only imagine what life would have been like with 5!

 

[ParadiseFoundFarm]

You guys are

insane! and hilarious! Thanks for the laughs

Glad to know there's some one weaker than I when it comes to our feathered bundles of joy.

 

[wsdareme]

Oh, it's so NICE to be validated by all you wonderful BYCers!!

I told my DH I wanted to get some hens (this is my friend's fault for giving us fresh brown eggs and seeing her simple set up for them). He mumbled and grumbled and said "whatever", which I interpreted to be "yes!". I was planning to get 6 brown egg layers, but when I looked on the MPC site, I just couldn't make up my mind and ordered 12 chicks. DH grumbled when he helped me make the brooder, but was the first one out to the garage to check on them every morning. I made a stealth-purchase of a Brinsea incubator, and finally confessed a few weeks later. He grumbled some more. When I found some BCM hatching eggs on craigslist (another friend sold me on her friendly BCM roo) and asked him to go with me to pick them up ("I just don't feel safe meeting someone I don't know -- you know those CL stories...") he grumbled but went with me. The night they started hatching he sat for 2-1/2 hours on a chair in the kitchen watching the fuzzy butts hatch. We lost 4 of the 7 due to humidity problems, so he suggested (huh??) I get some more eggs. The next hatch went without a hitch, and the next day my DH came home with 12 day old EE's from his boss (who breeds pheasants, peafowl, and has a gazillion chickens to boot). The original 12 had to be moved to an empty stall in the barn when the first eggs hatched, and that prompted us to get busier on the coop (which had gone from a small lean-to to a 15'x12' building). Construction sped up considerably when the first hatch had to be moved to the barn (but there was only one stall, so the first 12 HAD to move to the coop).

Chicken math at its finest! Start with 6...no, 12. Then add 7 hatchlings. 4 died, so get 7 more eggs. Those all hatch. Hey, let's get 12 EE chicks! Hmmm, that equation looks like this: 6+6=12+7-4+7+12=34. Of course, some of the 12 EEs are roos, so we will be more like 6+6=12+7-4+7+12=34-6=28. Also, I'll need to get rid of a couple of the BCM roos from the two hatches, so 6+6=12+7-4+7+12=34-6-2=28.

And I was just going to get 6 hens. Hahahahahahaha!!!!!