Mine too! He has built me some awesome huge coops and keeps encouraging me to get more chicks. Well now that bought me an incubator, he's encouraging me to hurry and fill it!
Understanding Chicken Math
- Thread starter Lute
- Start date
Mine too! He has built me some awesome huge coops and keeps encouraging me to get more chicks. Well now that bought me an incubator, he's encouraging me to hurry and fill it!
- Feb 8, 2014
- 104
- 9
- 68
My DH has been good about chicken math, too. We bought a place in the country (finally!) last November, finished out our jobs and moved here full time in March. But even when we were house shopping, I was talking about getting chickens SOMEDAY...
Well, I found a breeder in February for the chicks I wanted and ordered them for late April. I was building a coop for 9 or 10, but the breeder would only ship 15 or more. But figuring my odds were 50/50 I thought that would be okay and ordered them. Well we finished the coop and the breeder was running behind, so we found three, 11 week old, cochins to test out the coop and run. We both loved them! And we decided that we should get a two one-day old silkies to keep them company. I found four!
Sadly, we had company one day and they left the gate unlatched and the cochins wandered into the path of a predator.
The cochins were so adorable, I thought we should get two more. Last week, we found another breeder, and picked up three. Plus he had a cute d'uccle that looked lonely, and a couple of polish, just to make the drive worth it.
The next day, my order came in. The breeder was only able to ship 8, and only 5 made it. And that would bring me up to 15, right? And still, some will be roosters so my coop is plenty big.
BUT NOW, I find out that none of them count? I can get more? They are all bantam or ornamental, they don't lay, and some are roosters, so by anyone's chicken math I should be good!
Seriously, since they are all small, I can put more in there so who knows what will happen next. And the silkies probably won't roost, so they don't count on the roost space either.
DH may grump occasionally, but he is just as prone as I to take tidbits out to the ducks...Oh, do they count? My daughter fostered/foisted her two KC ducks with us and they are adorable, too. . .And this morning when I said I was going out to modify the coop a bit to make it better for the silkies, he jumped up and engineered and drilled and made it happen.
We LOVE chicken math! Thanks for the great thread!
JW
Well, I found a breeder in February for the chicks I wanted and ordered them for late April. I was building a coop for 9 or 10, but the breeder would only ship 15 or more. But figuring my odds were 50/50 I thought that would be okay and ordered them. Well we finished the coop and the breeder was running behind, so we found three, 11 week old, cochins to test out the coop and run. We both loved them! And we decided that we should get a two one-day old silkies to keep them company. I found four!
Sadly, we had company one day and they left the gate unlatched and the cochins wandered into the path of a predator.
The cochins were so adorable, I thought we should get two more. Last week, we found another breeder, and picked up three. Plus he had a cute d'uccle that looked lonely, and a couple of polish, just to make the drive worth it.
The next day, my order came in. The breeder was only able to ship 8, and only 5 made it. And that would bring me up to 15, right? And still, some will be roosters so my coop is plenty big.
BUT NOW, I find out that none of them count? I can get more? They are all bantam or ornamental, they don't lay, and some are roosters, so by anyone's chicken math I should be good!
Seriously, since they are all small, I can put more in there so who knows what will happen next. And the silkies probably won't roost, so they don't count on the roost space either.
DH may grump occasionally, but he is just as prone as I to take tidbits out to the ducks...Oh, do they count? My daughter fostered/foisted her two KC ducks with us and they are adorable, too. . .And this morning when I said I was going out to modify the coop a bit to make it better for the silkies, he jumped up and engineered and drilled and made it happen.
We LOVE chicken math! Thanks for the great thread!
JW
Mine too! He has built me some awesome huge coops and keeps encouraging me to get more chicks. Well now that bought me an incubator, he's encouraging me to hurry and fill it!
Oh no, an incubator?! Lol That'll be when I know mine has really lost it!
I can't say I'm not tempted. That's the easiest way to get some lavender Orpingtons in my flock, it seems
Haha! I love it!
I found out just what a sucker I am for the cuties. I never thought, looking at pictures, that I'd want cochins. Well, I have a cochin/silkie cross and am sooo wishing I'd picked up a few more! He's so tiny. Not lonely, everyone likes him. But he's so little in the cage with his buddies!
Oh no, an incubator?! Lol That'll be when I know mine has really lost it!
I can't say I'm not tempted. That's the easiest way to get some lavender Orpingtons in my flock, it seems
He's pushing me to get eggs into it right away and we just had 8 babies hatch under a broody!
Lol! Hilarious!! It's easier when you don't have to ask permission or beg n plead for more
I love it!
I don't count any chickens there - all bantam or ornamentals...those are the invisible chickens - CALL THE BREEDER!!!
- Apr 19, 2013
- 368
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So Chicken math is really starting to count now. I have my original 21 birds left from last summer, those that survived hawk attack, brutal cold, dog wanderings and going missing in the cold spring. This spring I got 12 EE chicks, straight run, I have 6 pullets and 6 roos from that, so I've gone from 1 roo to 7, I plan on keeping 3 over winter, I'm just not sure which three, so that has me up to 29 for over winter, and 4 eventual freezer campers. (we won't mention the 55 broilers in the other coop, chickens we plan to eat can't actually count, do they)
I set 17 eggs in a homemade incubator, today is day 10, I am down to 12 after pulling the blood rings, but still we are nearly halfway there. DH is encouraging me to see if one of our hens will go broody, I don't have fake eggs, so I have marked several and left them in one of the nests hoping to tempt the girls this week, I have had one start sleeping in the nest boxes over the last month, if someone does go broody, I will put 10 fresh eggs under her. Finally today I got a call from the local hatchery, they are ready to start moving out their heritage breeding stock, so in two weeks, I will be getting 2 black australorp hens and 2 silkie hens from them, both hatchery breeding quality.
I currently plan on over wintering 33 birds, and that is if I don't manage to hatch any eggs between now and then, I had 25 at the beginning of last winter, two went missing, after wandering off during one of my visits on a cold day, one was killed by the dogs once they started going out in the spring, and one ate a shell casing, and she got sicker and sicker until I had to put her down.
I set 17 eggs in a homemade incubator, today is day 10, I am down to 12 after pulling the blood rings, but still we are nearly halfway there. DH is encouraging me to see if one of our hens will go broody, I don't have fake eggs, so I have marked several and left them in one of the nests hoping to tempt the girls this week, I have had one start sleeping in the nest boxes over the last month, if someone does go broody, I will put 10 fresh eggs under her. Finally today I got a call from the local hatchery, they are ready to start moving out their heritage breeding stock, so in two weeks, I will be getting 2 black australorp hens and 2 silkie hens from them, both hatchery breeding quality.
I currently plan on over wintering 33 birds, and that is if I don't manage to hatch any eggs between now and then, I had 25 at the beginning of last winter, two went missing, after wandering off during one of my visits on a cold day, one was killed by the dogs once they started going out in the spring, and one ate a shell casing, and she got sicker and sicker until I had to put her down.
We'll I also am just starting to get an idea of "chicken match" or "bird math" that matter lol. I had a few chickens, for a long time. Then I ordered 170 egg laying leghorns to pasture raise and sell the eggs. We'll not a lot of people wanted the eggs, not for any reason, just not enough buyers. So I sold all of my chickens, with a heavy heart, but I just couldn't pay for all the feed they were sucking down. (At $30 a 50lb bag, for soy free organic chicken feed, it can get painful feeding all those chickens that are eating 1 1/2 bags A DAY lol). So I after a year, I just bought a dozen chickens for eggs just for my family. We'll. I joined this blog a few months ago and then things get crazy ( in a good way) as far as chicken math. I now have 11, chickens, 17, turkey's, 2 emus, and in 10 days my 8 fertile red golden pheasant eggs will hatch. Plus, one of my friends said that if their peahen set another clutch, I may be able to do a turkey/peachick swap. So I haven't totally gone off the deep end as far as quantity, but, I think it's just a matter of time, since i am waiting to order another shipment of red golden pheasant hatching eggs. Plus I am going to buy 3-4 more emu hatching eggs this winter,. Plus I am going to buy a incubator that can hold WAY more eggs then my current model. And I'm also looking into green ring neck pheasant. So there you have it, chicken math in the works... XD
Last edited:
- May 3, 2014
- 161
- 6
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I would love emus, they are pretty cool my friends dad had a flock when he lived nearby a few years ago.
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