My current flock: 21 The number of chickens here is actually 0!! Thoughts From The Chicken CoopĬhicken math is an inexplicable force that creeps up on unexpecting chicken keepers. These are the only chickens that count 1:1! They take up less space and eat less food. If they aren't laying, they don't count until they're done parenting! It doesn't matter how many roosters you have, they aren't hens - they count as 1 total.

These have a 50% chance of being a rooster, in which case they'd count towards that total.

Juvenille chickens younger than 20 weeks, in the coop or in the brooder

$chicken math definition$

ModifierĮggs under a broody hen, in the incubatorĬan't count your chickens before they hatch. Your chicken math may look different than mine, but here are my basic rules before you start adding things up. Arithmechick is the new hotness.ĭon't worry, Fowlgebra is easy - mostly cause it's personal to every chicken keeper.

Learning new skills in animal husbandry.

Effective use of food waste by feeding scraps to your flock.

Healthy compost for the garden and food forests.

The trigger for your chicken math urges can be varied and as unique as you and your flock. Or you stumbled across a list of black and white chickens and that white crested black polish captured your heart. But the store has a 'must buy 6 policy' so you bring home 6 more babies.Ĭould be a picture of someone's egg basket that you saw the most gorgeous olive egg and had to add one to your color palette. Maybe you walk into the feed store and hear the chirping of baby Whiting True Blue chicks, and you breathe deeply, picking one up and cradling it like a newborn. Asking for her breeder's information and convincing yourself that you need to buy at least 4 baby chicks. You may think you've got a handle on it, but then you visit a friend who just got a beautiful speckled Isbar hen and you're back in it. Building perching spaces, and searching for wooden ladders at yard sales to give your girls new places to sit! You guessed it, only 1.25 chickens! What Causes Flare-Ups?Ĭhicken math isn't a linear progression. I am here to tell you that it absolutely will.īefore you know it, you'll be taking coffee breaks in the chicken coop, hanging out with the girls. You're thinking chicken math won't happen to me. There are only 4.25 chickens in this photo! 'It Won't Happen To Me' By now, you're dabbling in guinea fowl, throwing up a pig pen, and painting bee hives. If you're like us, chickens can open your mind to all of the fun hobby farm animals and livestock that you absolutely need. For some people, chickens are the homesteading gateway drug. Moderate reactions to fowlgebra include many more chickens than you intended, coop renovations, run add-ons, and sneaking eggs under broody hens when no one else is looking. Mild cases lead to a couple more backyard chickens than you originally planned and a complete addiction to hanging with your flock. There's no rhyme or reason to how bad you get the fever and how weak you are to the pull of the Bawk. The level of 'mathening' that happens to each chicken owner is different. This might look like 3 beaks, but it's actually only. In a short period of time, you're looking at large coops, adding swings in your chicken run, and shopping for incubators.īefore you know it you've got a flock of 35 tiny raptors. It starts innocently enough, with a desire for 2-3 hens in the backyard to help provide delicious eggs for your family. Jump to:Ĭhicken math is, for lack of a better description, a way to calculate the total and utter loss of self-control when it comes to your chicken flock. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Chicken math definition