The last installment of the Great Chicken Miscalculation of 2010 has arrived. I got the call from Sand Hill yesterday that my "5" Welsummer chicks were ready. If you are looking at the photo and thinking, gee, that doesn't look like five, you are better at chicken math than I am, also you probably haven't been following the Chicken Math saga and need to catch up.
So this time 5=14....makes perfect sense, right?
So this time 5=14....makes perfect sense, right?
Seven of the chicks are the 5 Welsummers that I ordered....plus two. Are you confused yet? There are 7 "filler chicks" that could be anything. Linda, from Sand Hill, told me that Glen has been working on some cross-breeding so I will have to wait and see what some of the little guys are.
Fate was on my side because I happened to have two broody hens that I was able to slip chicks under. I will happily let them raise these chicks, 'cause, I'm not gonna lie, I am a little tired of taking care of chicks this spring. One of my Barred Rock hens has adopted the Welsummer chicks.
And Black Chicken has the remaining chicks. This is not a great picture because Black Chicken likes to try to kill people that get near her chicks.
The 5 (A.K.A 20) chicks that I got two weeks ago are really growing. They have hit that lovely in-between stage where they look so....ummmm.......interesting.
Above and below are two of the Blue Orpingtons.
Below is a Barred Holland looking especially lovely....it's a good thing they grow out of this stage quickly!
And Black Chicken has the remaining chicks. This is not a great picture because Black Chicken likes to try to kill people that get near her chicks.The 5 (A.K.A 20) chicks that I got two weeks ago are really growing. They have hit that lovely in-between stage where they look so....ummmm.......interesting. Above and below are two of the Blue Orpingtons.Below is a Barred Holland looking especially lovely....it's a good thing they grow out of this stage quickly!
The First batch of chicks ( 10=24 ) that I got in March are nearly as large as the adult birds.This is a very dark Blue Laced Red Wyandotte pullet.
This is a BLR cockerel.
Buff Rock.
OK, so let's recap to see if you have been paying attention. I ordered 20 chicks altogether. The first batch of "10" came, that was 24, the second batch of 5 came=20, the last batch of 5 was 14, so....I ordered 20 chicks and ended up with 58. Now you know how to do chicken math. I can't even remember now how many chickens I had before this chicken flood started, but let's just say that there will be a lot of chicks leaving once I am able to determine which are cockerels. Also, I think that perhaps I will not be ordering any chicks for quite a long time.
On a positive note, Miss Effie and Honey stopped over last night to let me know that our Kent Feed dealer has been running a promotion with $1 off coupons on the bags of chicken feed that we buy, on the down side we didn't know anything about the coupons until after the fact so I ended up having to dig through my barn garbage in search of the empty bags with the coupons. Don't judge me, there is no shame in dumpster diving, I have a lot of chickens to feed!
I am not sure what kind of barn slop is on this coupon, but this is how they are getting it!
10 comments:
oh my god please save me 5 hens for layers! PUH LEAZE!
Thanks to your lesson in Chicken Math, I don't think I will EVER do mail-order chicks - at least not from Sand Hill! Brian wanted to replace the hen that died suddenly, but eight is plenty for our little henhouse and chicken yard. But I do love those blue-laced red Wyandottes . . . and the Blue Orpingtons . . . and the Barred Rocks . . . . :-)
we may have to put a new "chicken math" section on the ACT Math test!
If only my checkbook would learn to do 'chicken-math' (something along the lines of: deposit 10 dollars & then when the statement comes in the mail it'd show 24.00+ lol)
Dumpster diving for (saving) dollars is quite normal if you ask me (but then again I may not qualify as the icon for 'normal', lol). At least the staff at the feedstore will be more flexible in the concept of 'stained coupons' than a retail store :-)
Thanks for yet another great story/adventure shared!
Faye
Love this saga! Sand Hill operates along the lines of buy 1, get 2 free! Amazing customer service....if you have room! Maybe they are in cahoots with the chicken feed sellers!
oooh, i was just looking at welsummer's today thinking i needed some chickens that laid pretty dark eggs
let us know how they turn out in personality--i like friendly girls
i'm sure i'm not the only person here who browses chicken magazines in her free time :)
you lost me on the math...but i struggled through to see the whopping 58 finale! lol
and i would put money on the fact that you aren't done....chickens are addictive :)
i need to know the rules for slipping chicks under broody mommas..how many? only during night? and the big question....at what age can you do this to?
i had week old chicks and they seemed to have lost the instict to huddle under a hen...so my matchmaking didn't work and i'm left brooding the little ones
excited to see what mixes you end up with!
oh, and what do you to to get a chicken un-broody?
LOL. I am actually very good at chicken math. Let me explain:
Craigs List (my first mistake) - approximately 30 straight run chicks: BC Marans, Welsumers, Barnevelders, BLRW's and some mixed. $2 a piece, must take all. Discussion with HB....."but we don't need 30 additional chickens"....ME..."I know but it's such a good deal"...HB..."but we don't need that many"..."I know but maybe there aren't 30 AND well it's too late". (2nd mistake)
Picked up chicks from very nice man. He hands me three boxes and says there are a few more than 30 but let's just call it $60. I, of course, say "Great" and go home to welcome my 40 new residents.
I won't even go into what HB had to say!
:)
Can you really have too many chickens????
Have fun!
Sandy
What wonderful skills you have in chicken math. I'm afraid I have my own version of goose math. My numbers seem to be rising quite rapidly. I think the coupon looks perfectly acceptable. Nothing wrong with going in after something you need.
I really, REALLY need to live closer to Sand Hill...their chicks are so beautiful, and I even have a $16 credit from last year, but I never got around to using it...
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