Chicken Math for Beginners

 When I got my first chickens I was not warned that I would need to be educated in chicken math. To keep any fellow newbie chicken owners from going through the same confusion I did I decided I would give you all a crash course in chicken math.


10=60 is our answer. Here is step by step how we arrived at the solution. It is going to be a bit Life of Fred word problemish.

I went to Tractor Supply to pick up 10 straight run leghorn chicks. While in tractor supply I noticed that they had Rhode Island red pullets. Since they were guaranteed to be female I purchased 5 of those. I had the kids with me and as soon as they noticed the ducks I knew we would be taking some home. We were required to purchase at least 2.

10=10+5+2

What is this math you speak of?

A local friend decided she had too many hens and was selling them at a great price. Since they were already laying I chose to purchase 3. 1 died in transit.

10=10+5+2+3-1

A few weeks later I decided we needed to add some variation to our less than colorful flock so I went to a local farm that sells a variety of chicks and purchased 10 more girls. I also decided that it was time for the ducks to go so we had them for dinner a few nights after purchasing the new girls.

10=10+5+2+3-1+10-2


                                   

Three weeks ago we lost 5 of our chicks to predators. We decided to replace 3 of them since three of the five lost were our favorites.

10=10+5+2+3-1+10-2-5+3

Now that our leghorns are older we know for sure that we have 4 roosters. We have decided to add more girls rather than getting rid of some of the roosters. We will pick up 10 chicks on Monday.

10=10+5+2+3-1+10-2-5+3+10

Now, at this point 10=35. But 35? That is not a nice number. If I am going to have chickens I will have to have them in multiples of ten...because...well, because that is chicken math. So I planned to add 5. But then I got to thinking; eggs can only be sold in dozens, so I can't have 40 chickens. Chickens should be kept the way their eggs are kept, in multiples of 12. Clearly, at some point 25 more will have to be added to the flock.

10=10+5+2+3-1+10-2-5+3+10+25

Now solve.

10=60


Congratulations on solving your first chicken math problem.

Country Living We Got Chickens!

The first thing I asked my husband if I could get, when we started our downsizing adventure, was chickens. I have been wanting to raise my own backyard flock for years now. Pastured eggs from our area run anywhere from $2 to $4 a dozen and most of the time it is hard to get my hands on some of the cheaper ones. I also just can not afford to pay for pastured chicken meat.

So here I am! About 2 1/2 weeks ago I went into the local feed store and purchased 10 straight run white leghorns and 5 Rhode Island red pullets. Oh, and two ducks. Don't ask me what happened there. I made the cardinal mistake of purchasing them because they were cute. Thankfully, they have been easy to raise and I am looking forward to some roasted duck in a few months.

Back to the chickens. We *think* that we have 7 roosters and 3 hens from the straight runs. A little disappointed since the leghorns are supposed to be my big layers but that is the risk you run when you buy straight run. I am glad I decided to get the reds as back up.

We started them off in big totes in the house with plans to move them at about 6 weeks into the large outdoor coop we made. However, after about a week and a half I was chatting with a friend who said that we could move them out now as long as they have a heat lamp. I know that probably breaks every chicken raising rule, but it is true, they have been out for about 5 nights now and even through a near freeze and survived and are thriving. They seem to be enjoying it much more than being cooped up in the boxes. The ducks especially. They have quadrupled in size over the last 3 days.

CONTINUED

I forgot about this post so things have changed a bit since I started it. Mostly, I have contracted a horrible ailment called "crazy chicken lady" and what is commonly known as "chicken math" followed close behind. We have since the top part of this post added 2 hens which we have had for about 2 weeks now. They have been laying an egg each, regularly since we got them. I have also added in 10 more chicks, just over three weeks old. I wanted to add some variety to our mostly white leghorn flock. I now have 6 different varieties of chicks, which I will have to edit in the names later because I didn't write them down when I purchased them!

My husband has been ever so tolerant of my new obsession. The day we got the new babies he came out to watch them with me and suddenly looks at me and says "did you get more?". I said yes, and he playfully walks away and says, "I don't want to know any more". I love that man. It definitely isn't his thing, but he supports us doing it anyways.

My oldest has become known as the chicken whisperer. She would spend all day around the coop if I would let her. I can not tell you how many times she has gone "missing" and we have found her cuddling chickens in the coop. I think we might let her show one next year.