My father one day randomly said, I found an add on Craigslist for chickens. I had never even thought about chickens before, but it sounded like a good idea to me. I still don't know how he got my mother to agree, but either way we got them! 11 cochin hens, 1 beautiful rooster, and 2 little bantam hens that were thrown in for free. Later that fall I bought myself an incubator and our flock went from 14 to about 36. I then had to sell some of my roosters. But the real chicken math started when I figured out that I could order eggs from show quality birds online. Finally, my parents gave me a limit to the amount of chickens I can keep since they pay for the feed. I can only keep 20 at a time, that is much too small of a number, but it's an amazing hobby that I will always enjoy. If I get stressed with college work, I go down the barn and sit with my chickens, many of them will jump up onto my lap, and my one little silkie named Joey will even snuggle with me and he loves to have his back rubbed.