All the info i can get about raising chickens for eggs

[the funny farm6]

i dont think there is any subtraction in chicken math. just adding and multipling!!!

 

[Beekissed]

I subtract every year so that I can add fresh~hatch replacement hens and spare roosters~ and keep a constant number of chickens that I've determined to be the amount my soils will carry, the coop will hold and that will provide enough eggs and meat for my family.

 

[Beekissed]

For a first timer, I suggest buying pullets ready to lay as your first flock. This eases you into chickens and you won't have to learn about chicks just yet nor provide different types of feed or housing accommodations for chicks and then change it up for adult birds and vice versa.

Keep it simple. Adult chickens first, medium sized and affordable coop and equipment, feed from the local feed mill, fresh water, fresh soils and fresh pasture...it all is easier to start out with simple and then work into the more complicated things.

You don't have to have enormous coops....those are for folks wanting to get into selling eggs as a side income or breeding and selling chicks as a side income. If you simply want eggs, you can have a small flock and just keep a small flock.

"Chicken math" is a term for those with poor impulse control or without a firm plan before they get into chickens and without clear goals for their flock. Plans and goals can change but this too can be managed without getting more chickens than you can provide for. If your goal is to have eggs, then plan for a flock that will support how many eggs you want/need and keep it to that level. It's not difficult and folks have been doing it for thousands of years before the term "chicken math" was ever coined by those without serious intentions for their flocks.

 

[BarredBuff]

I subtract every year so that I can add fresh~hatch replacement hens and spare roosters~ and keep a constant number of chickens that I've determined to be the amount my soils will carry, the coop will hold and that will provide enough eggs and meat for my family.

I agree with this, I have kept a constant of 20 to 25 laying hens for the last 3 years and that is a good number for us. I have about 5 to 8 to rotate out next year (as I have for the last 3 years, which would be when homesteading began and hobby fell out) and I will replace them with home hatched birds (hen hatched or bator hatched).

"Chicken math" is a term for those with poor impulse control or without a firm plan before they get into chickens and without clear goals for their flock. Plans and goals can change but this too can be managed without getting more chickens than you can provide for. If your goal is to have eggs, then plan for a flock that will support how many eggs you want/need and keep it to that level. It's not difficult and folks have been doing it for thousands of years before the term "chicken math" was ever coined by those without serious intentions for their flocks.

I don't agree with this. To me "Chicken Math" is more of the realization that there are other oppurtunties with your poultry (at least from a self sufficiency stand point). For us it was we wanted just 5 to 8 hens and a rooster for eggs, we would keep them in our little run and they would lay us baskets full of eggs. Well, that dream died. But another one prospered, one where we had a self reliant unit of birds that could provide most needs. So here we are: 4 Buff Orpingtons (I retained a few pullets that I kept from selective breeding, selected out of good layers, large birds, and broody mamas) 11 Australorps (that have been combed through, and are continuing being combed through), 4 Dominiques (selectively culled for winter laying, and size), 3 Delawares (new breed that I like thus far and plan on building up), 4 Black Sex Links (exceptional birds with size and laying skill), 2 Ducks (culled through by laying ability and brooding ability), and 2 geese (new birds). All of which total to 30 birds. Over time I have edited my goals, and now I want eggs, feed efficient birds, good meat (through extra roosters, extra drakes, and I plan to start caponizing in the spring to substitute for Cornish Rock Xs). As Bee said in the above quote, I have the coop room (two coops), pasture space (two orchards, large yard, and an acre'ish plot of "rangeland") Plus I provide water for the waterfowl. To me this is chicken math......when you increase because of changing goals that were not considered initially....

 

[Beekissed]

That's a bit different than what most folks describe as the source of their "chicken math". For most, they describe it as once you get a few chickens you'll just simply want more and more...sort of like eating Doritos.

Like poor impulse control or a badly born idea of having a few but changing one's mind because they are just so darn addictive(never got that one in all my days) that one would just naturally have to obtain more.

Adjusting one's goals after the new wears off and you realize the potential of your land/coop/abilities to increase food supplies is not, IMO, true "chicken math" as described by many who use this term. It's merely increasing the flock after carefully weighing the options. That's not what I call chicken math, it's what I call making a sound judgement based on certain factors that have been studied upon and found to be doable.

The opposite of that is going to TSC, seeing some cute chicks but knowing you have no room for them, buying them anyway and having to throw up some kind of new space in a hurry to accommodate your new purchases......

OR.....

Buying an incubator because everyone else you know is hatching with one and you simply must hatch like everyone else and you have some dim plan of maybe selling the chicks, if you can, and giving some away to a "good home" if you cannot sell them or maybe putting up another coop in case you can't find them homes...and doing it all again as soon as spring comes along because you didn't learn your lesson the last time.

Float on over to BYC and you can see about a thousand examples of these two descriptions....

 

[BarredBuff]

Sorry Bee, you are quite right. Mine would be more like "poultry reasoning" or "logistics of homestead poultry"

 

[Beekissed]

Yes, BB....I don't see you as a chicken math kinda guy. You are wise beyond your years and are on a serious mission to develop food sources and your skills at animal husbandry. No accidental multiplication going on at your place, just good learning about flock management by trial and error, reading, asking questions and applying what you have learned.

You, IMO, are no casual flock keeper but one who is on the way to becoming a flock master to be reckoned with.

 

[Hinotori]

We have chicken math. 6 male reductions here soon to help with the 6 ameraucana pullets I just got for my wheaten boy. Any EEs that don't lay by spring are gone. They are molting badly right now. I got my replacements late this year and they aren't laying yet.

We will eventually have just ameraucanas and brahmas. I don't count the silkies as chickens, they are catagorized as incubators and brooders. Hubby doesn't care for them, but they are so good raising chicks.

We sell a few eggs and the green and blue ones are liked a lot. So we have a plan.

 

[BarredBuff]

Yes, BB....I don't see you as a chicken math kinda guy. You are wise beyond your years and are on a serious mission to develop food sources and your skills at animal husbandry. No accidental multiplication going on at your place, just good learning about flock management by trial and error, reading, asking questions and applying what you have learned.

You, IMO, are no casual flock keeper but one who is on the way to becoming a flock master to be reckoned with.

Well thank you Bee

 

[Bettacreek]

I think "chicken math" is typically for the pet chicken keeper. You know, oh, that one's pretty, so lets get one or two of that, this one is pretty too, so let's get two of that, and that one I cannot live without, so let's get five of that, lol.

However, I do have plenty more than I had planned on. First, we fell in love with a meat turkey that was supposed to be MEAT, and is now a pet. I ended up with double the duck hens I had thought I would, more cornish cross hens than I expected, etc. However, one thing, everyone must pay for themselves here, period. If you're "worthless", then you have no sense being here (well, except me of course, lol). So far, we've been doing fairly well. We had some hitches at first, but now, we're cruising.