# Chicken math



## 15WildTurkey (Apr 13, 2015)

ive heard of this phenomenon. I believe it’s the same for goats. 
When I was putting together my chick order I decided on 15. Our previous flock at its largest was 10. 
I ordered my 15. They came but we sadly lost 3. So today I had to run to tractor supply. Yup. Chick Days are here. So to make back up my numbers I said what the heck. But the minimum is 6 so now I have 18 fabulous little creatures. The younger ones are holding their own. Today I added a light Brahma, 3 silver Wyandotte’s (I think) and to americanas. They have beards!!! I had no idea and sooo fluffy.


----------



## OpieDoodle (Nov 15, 2015)

Yup chicken math gets me every time! We have a 6 chick minimum purchase here too. A store got in Easter Eggers AFTER I had bought 12 from them a couple weeks earlier so I had to buy 6 more haha!


----------



## Trollmor (Aug 19, 2011)

My goats never needed any help for increasing their number ...
:kid3::kid2::kid2: ohlala::kid::kid2::kid3:


----------



## Lindan (Aug 19, 2018)

Yeah, we've ended up with 23 chickens so far this year, all at least 6 months old, but only because our eggbrooder(?) malfunctioned or we would have hatched about 54 more.
So we're troubleshooting the machine before we try again.


----------



## 15WildTurkey (Apr 13, 2015)

She has lulled 7 to sleep. Stinking adorable.


----------



## MadCatX (Jan 16, 2018)

LOL - some of you have heard my chickens in my videos..quick story on this...LOL
The wife and I decided we wanted a "few" chickens to have some eggs. We goto TCS buy the 12, ended up 6 New hampshires and 6 bantams. Well we set up our new coup raise those, our sons friend gave us a hen, that is quite literally psychotic who could not and would not stay in a cage. So we let her free roam with one of our roosters because our new hampshire rooster in one night went on a killing spree, so the only two left we separated.

well, from that we end up hatching out 13 wild chickens because of a hidden nest
9 survived and then we found 6 more. we ended up moving and lost some, but gained 6 more of dads. Well to make a long story short...we now have 26 hens and 3 roosters.
20 eggs a day avg..lol..they multiple like bugs if you let them.


----------



## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

:heehee: 

My husband works at southern states..... nuff said? :upset::waiting::shrugrofl)(rofl)(rofl)


----------



## MadCatX (Jan 16, 2018)

My wife used to buy and grain to southern states lol - ill have to confirm that but lol


----------



## Dwarf Dad (Aug 27, 2017)

15WildTurkey said:


> She has lulled 7 to sleep. Stinking adorable.


That's great! Taming them? The biddy whisperer.lol

Where is the Jersey Giant?


----------



## Trollmor (Aug 19, 2011)

Taming *her*?


----------



## Dwarf Dad (Aug 27, 2017)

Trollmor said:


> Taming *her*?


Taming *them.*


----------



## MadCatX (Jan 16, 2018)

her is female singular them is unisex plural


----------



## Trollmor (Aug 19, 2011)

Oh. Misunderstanding again! :hide: I was wondering who was taming whom. To me it seems as if those chicken have a nice, tame human! :inlove:


----------



## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

MadCatX said:


> My wife used to buy and grain to southern states lol - ill have to confirm that but lol


Chick season this year will be nice to start replacin older layers..... that what i keep tellin myselfs. Hahahhaha! What in actual will most likely happen..... PAUL is gonna come home with ALL the leftovers when they go on 25cent per bird for employees. There are only two of them workin in there that have chickens..... i am SO screwed. Glad he made taj.ma.chicken when he built our coop. The lady also ordered turkeys. Broad breasteds and heritages... we keep heritages here. But no dux... that is weird! I jus want dux for our pond. Finally talked mama into not bein a turd on dux.... they will be clser to her house than ours hahahahahha!


----------



## 15WildTurkey (Apr 13, 2015)

They've moved on to brooder stage 2. 


Dwarf Dad said:


> That's great! Taming them? The biddy whisperer.lol
> 
> Where is the Jersey Giant?


Gah im so confused. I "think" this is her. There are 3 black chicks. I ordered 1 giant, 1 midnight Maran and then there's one mystery black chick. Apparently the giants grow slowly. She isn't as big as the other 2 black ones. Her name is Bruce. Cos, you know The Boss. New Jersey. :heehee:
She is black with a white tummy. A bit like a penguin


----------



## 15WildTurkey (Apr 13, 2015)

Her big job is to handle the 4 silkies at least every day. As at least one will most likely be a roo. Our last rooster John Travolta was a silky that chased her. She was so happy to hold him after we culled him because he was so fluffy . 
So we are trying to condition friendly chickies. Takes her job very seriously


----------



## cristina-sorina (May 4, 2018)

Cute chicks and very cute chicken whisperer in the pen


----------



## Dwarf Dad (Aug 27, 2017)

I read that the Jersey giants grew slower than others. I am fascinated by the thought of a chicken that grows taller than my NDs!
I hope the chicken whisperer gets them tamed really well.


----------



## Mike at Capra Vista (Nov 30, 2017)

Sfgwife said:


> taj.ma.chicken when he built our coop


Not often I laugh out loud ...... Thanks for that.


----------



## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

Mike at Capra Vista said:


> Not often I laugh out loud ...... Thanks for that.





Mike at Capra Vista said:


> Not often I laugh out loud ...... Thanks for that.


Lol no really..... when he was buildin it Brother told him the ameneties he wanted... yanoo.... wrap round porch, lil pot bellied stove for the corner, loft, runnin water, and most of all.... a sky light.....

It only cost us mayBe. A benjamin to build. The rest was forraged from roumd here. I never realized HOW BAD a pack rat my dad was. He was always whinin bout my mama. Guess since her junk was takin space in the house and he had 120 acres to spread his junk on. His didnt look so cramped. Hahahhahahaa!

Race car tires... how many old spent race car tires does one person neeed? Evidentally he thought every single one that came off his race car! It is gonna cost uus bout SIX bens to haul them to the junkyard. That is us haulin and just the junkyard tire fee.


----------



## Mike at Capra Vista (Nov 30, 2017)

Sfgwife said:


> Race car tires... how many old spent race car tires does one person neeed? Evidentally he thought every single one that came off his race car! It is gonna cost uus bout SIX bens to haul them to the junkyard. That is us haulin and just the junkyard tire fee.


Goat toys!?!?! So many goat toys you could build.

Great coop. (but no chickens)


----------



## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Great coop!


----------



## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

Mike at Capra Vista said:


> Goat toys!?!?! So many goat toys you could build.
> 
> Great coop. (but no chickens)


Hahahaha! We have used some. And the chickens free range durin the day. So nope. No monsters in there right now.


----------



## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

ksalvagno said:


> Great coop!


Thanks! He made sure that when chicken math happened he wasnt addin on to chez crews. Lol! Plus bein able to stand in it was important for cleanin. The side doors have layers.... outter layer is in the middle and can be closed closed for winter. Then the next layer is open but hardware clothed. Then all open and come off easily and are easy even for me to put on again. The bottom of that side pops open outward so i can put my wagon under it and jus scoop the poop in wagon and go go go. It os deep litter under the roost bars. All windows have the cloth. I can get from my nest boxes inside and out. He really loved and used carolina coop design in it a lot. But since he is pretty handy with wood he did it all from the plans up himself. I was just the tool monkey and wood measurer and cutter mostly.


----------



## Mike at Capra Vista (Nov 30, 2017)

It is helpful to have someone who is handy. Also helps when you can find reusable material around the property.

How many residents live in your taj.ma.chicken? 

We only have 5 chickens. We started with ten but quickly got swamped with eggs so I sold half my flock. We have had them for two years now and it is time to replace them --- soon.


----------



## 15WildTurkey (Apr 13, 2015)

I think we just used more eggs the more we had. Having had to buy eggs these last couple of months is crazy!!! We use about 2 dozen a week but only cos that’s all I can buy! I can’t wait to be swimming in eggs again. 
Come on fluff butts!!!


----------



## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

Mike at Capra Vista said:


> It is helpful to have someone who is handy. Also helps when you can find reusable material around the property.
> 
> How many residents live in your taj.ma.chicken?
> 
> We only have 5 chickens. We started with ten but quickly got swamped with eggs so I sold half my flock. We have had them for two years now and it is time to replace them --- soon.


We have 28.... 25 hens and three roos. There IS a bcm that has four chicklets in the chicken tractor too lol. She so bad wants them to come to the coop. Maybe next week we will put them in at night on the low bar. But it is supposed be cold and rainy here this week and i dont want them spazzin out amd goin outside. We leave the pop door open.

It is like fort knox up in that place. He has hardware cloth buried and up the sides, chicken wire, netting and two strands of hot wire round it all. The rabbits live in the space as well. They are off to the side in their own digs.

I sell some eggs at the end of the drive and we take the rest to church every sunday we have extras. We do sunday dinner here every week and my mil and father always take a dozen and half if i have em. Then the oldest and dil take them when they make it to dinner too. This winter i averaged 10 a day and now i am gettin 18.

Half of ours are two years old so we need do some pickin amd choosin when paul brings home chicks. I just hope i have another broody every.single.time he does that. Hahahah! Lettin a broody hatch is SO much easier! And i waffle on who goes this time.... the leghorns stop layin in the cold but are machines in warm while the buffs stop layin in the hot but are machines in cold. :/.

Up the hill with my goats we have turkeys.. six hens and a tom. Last year we had duelin mamas hatch 13. They decided to share their nest and mama duties. Fine by me. We only lost two poults and the rest went into our freezer, church auction, friends that had helped us do stuff round here and we kept two hens... oh i did sell two hens. I got my first eggs of the season from them ths week. Yay! By the looks of it i have three hens layin. Paul prefers turkey eggs for his breaky if he is gonna eat eggs. The yoke is bigger. He was havin some egg withdrawl let me tell you! He had the talk with the girls at least twenty times a week for the last month bout give up the goods or some such nonsense as the pot will scortch you clean. Goober!


----------



## Treva Brodt (Jan 11, 2019)

Does anyone else here raise guineas? My hubs wanted them for organic pest control. They eat all the ticks and mosquitoes and leave too much fertilizer to suite me but I'm in favor of not spraying pesticides around the goats. We also witnessed a snake dinner take place which is something I can get behind. We started with 25 chicks to have nine that actually flocked up and stayed a full year. I've been told that when they are allowed to free range like ours do that this year we may be surprised with chicks.


----------



## dreamacresfarm2 (May 10, 2014)

Well my chick count is liable to skyrocket this year. Hubby got us an incubator for my birthday. First I have to hatch the 12 goose eggs I have.


----------



## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

Regarding the race car tires: We got rid of a bunch of junk snow tires last fall, put a for sale sign on them by the main road. Someone cut the chain and stole them all! Left the chain!


----------



## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

Hey they left the chain. That was nice of them. Lol. If it was still in a usable length for somethin. Lol.


----------



## Mike at Capra Vista (Nov 30, 2017)

Treva Brodt said:


> We also witnessed a snake dinner take place which is something I can get behind


My chickens caught a little (8") garter snake last year. It caused quite the game of keep-away for 60 seconds until it disappeared down someone's throat. I would have saved the snake if there was any hope of catching the chicken. I like to see the occasional snake around the yard. Garter snakes are all we have here on Vancouver Island, so I do not have nasty things to worry about.


----------



## Treva Brodt (Jan 11, 2019)

Mike at Capra Vista said:


> I like to see the occasional snake around the yard.


Sorry but not me, its a phobia that began in childhood. There was a healthy population of Copperhead snakes where my grandparents lived. As children we were taught to give all snakes a wide berth since the grown ups couldn't trust our skill for identifying the species. Copperheads are rare where I live now but the fear remains. When I see a snake become lunch meat, I do the Happy Feet dance. There would be zero chance of catching a guinea anyway, they can fly but prefer to run at about 35 MPH.


----------



## 15WildTurkey (Apr 13, 2015)

I watched a keep away game last summer. One chicken had a frog that was simply too big for her to swallow. Hilarious. They are definitely small dinosaurs. 
My littles are getting so big!


----------



## 15WildTurkey (Apr 13, 2015)

They are all doing great getting well socialized by the kids except for LiiLii. One of my Americanas. She’s so shy, always last to the feeder never comes for treats etc. so today I decided to catch her and carry her around for a bit to try and get her used to me. 
She has a cute little fuzzy beard but I noticed that some of the fuzz seemed to be sticking to her eyes!! That cannot feel good and who wouldn’t be anxious if they couldn’t see. So I gave her a little beard trim and in 5 minutes I see a braver little chick.


----------



## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

15WildTurkey said:


> They are all doing great getting well socialized by the kids except for LiiLii. One of my Americanas. She's so shy, always last to the feeder never comes for treats etc. so today I decided to catch her and carry her around for a bit to try and get her used to me.
> She has a cute little fuzzy beard but I noticed that some of the fuzz seemed to be sticking to her eyes!! That cannot feel good and who wouldn't be anxious if they couldn't see. So I gave her a little beard trim and in 5 minutes I see a braver little chick.


We do this occasionally with our polish hens.


----------

