Chicken math is real!!

My sister contacted me last week to let me know someone she knows was looking for homes for a flock of chickens. They no longer wanted the work of taking care of a flock. (Oh, just wait, I’ll come back to this!)

I get it, it can be a lot of work and depending on your set up, a dirty job.

I, however, LOVE my flock. I grew up on a farm and taking care of animals is just something my soul feels like it needs to thrive. A farmer at heart, I guess. So, once we moved out of the village nearby and were able to get chickens, I got to work! (Not to mention the kids did NOT want to move, but the promise of having chickens, and the awesome huge tree in this yard won them over. LOL)

I wanted to build the best coop and keep it low maintenance. I was pretty proud of my idea too! John, an older bachelor farmer friend of my parents, had let me know where I could buy an old trailer for cheap. This was the base I used. This way, with the coop on wheels I could move it around the yard easily.

He also was taking apart an old trailer house and said I could use whatever I needed from that. Since I was stuck to as cheap of a budget as possible, this worked out perfect! We cut a chunk of the flooring, which had about 6 inches of spray foam insulation, for the coop floor. My flock was going to live like kings! LOL

We also used some of the roof rafters for the roof.

John was so kind as to even come and help me work on my coop often. I was SO happy how it was turning out.

Of course, Paul being the construction worker he is, he had to nit-pick and point out anything that was not up to his standards. ugh. LOL He did lend a hand and help every time I got stuck, and I had to hear a big, long explanation on why using screws is so much better than using nails. UGH!

We also found someone else we knew with old barn boards, and I got enough of them to cover the outside.

Found some little shed windows online for cheap. yay!

(Now, Paul said I should build it larger to hold more birds, but I insisted I was only going to have maybe 10 at max. I didn’t want a huge coop. Yeah….. hold onto that thought.)

The hardest part was the double doors. Paul built those. They were big and heavy, covering the entire long side of the coop so I could easily open them both for full access to clean the coop out. It worked great!

We even had the nesting boxed attached so I could open them from the outside to collect the eggs.

The small run I built entirely myself. I’m proud to say, it turned out pretty good AND I didn’t lose any fingers! Well,,, I almost did, lost 1/2 of a fingernail on the table saw thing.

(Yeah, I don’t really know the technical names to all these power tools, saws and things that Paul has. I just use them and make it up as I go. When he’s NOT around to witness it. LOL)

Anyway, despite Paul’s opinion, the chicken run turned out good. If it’s an old farmer judging it. HA!

All in all, I only spent around $250 total to build a heavy, fully insulated, Predator proof, moveable chicken coop. YAY!

Finally, we got our chickens. I believe we bought 8 chicks. I found two different people who bred several different breeds and I picked out a few from both people. I had the idea to have every chicken be a different breed. That way, I’ll know who is who. Good idea, I know. LOL

The kids won and named them all. Mostly after Disney Princesses since Janina was only like 8 years old at that time. 🙂 It was cute.

After several months we finally got our first egg! It was so fun!

Fun,,, picking one tiny egg. Paul didn’t think so. He said that was the most expensive egg he’s ever seen. LOL

I guess technically he was right. (DON’T tell him I said that! ha!)

Then Paul and his friends said we should raise the Cornish Cross meat chickens to butcher. So, the guys built a large chicken run inside the old machine shed here. Which doesn’t get used at all during the winter so, it just made sense to park my little coop in the shed and let my flock use that run during the freezing cold Wisconsin winters. They loved it, it worked great!

The next spring, we bought a few new baby chicks.

and the next spring,

and the next spring.

And this is how chicken math begins. These tiny baby chicks cheap at you and they’re just so stinkin’ cute! And you can’t have just one or two because they won’t stay warm enough, so you need to have several.

So, I ended up selling my beloved little coop. We did learn that chickens do NOT need all that extra insulation! They don’t need heat lamps. (I had more chickens sick more often when I tried to keep them warm with heat lamps and such in winter, compared to not.) Something EVERY flock owner needs to learn. They literally are so easy, they just need a place to roost at night that’s safe from predators and free from any drafts or wind.

So, out with the awesome cute little coop and in with the Dog kennel modified coop/run area inside the shed. Paul put a small door for them to leave the shed into their outdoor pasture area. The flock loves it, easy and works perfect!

The coop being built on a trailer also was perfect for the couple who bought it to haul it home too. 🙂

Anyway, somehow, (I honestly don’t recall how) I ended up with 30 chickens. THIRTY! That was a lot!

I found a friend who lost a bunch because of a hungry Fox over the summer, so I gave them over half of what I had. I’m only going to keep a small flock, I promised myself and Paul. 15, max.

I was doing great too!

Then yesterday happened.

This flock my sister told me about. I thought, well I lost 3 hens from my flock this summer. I’ll just replace those. yeah.

I met up at this house. They were like,,, There’s 30 birds. You pick whatever you want and we’re just going to get rid of the rest. (I assumed “getting rid of” means butchering or just putting them down. I didn’t ask.)

There was a lot more than 30 birds! Chicken math hit there hard! Garrett and I guessed there was closer to 50 birds. LOL

They were everywhere, hiding inside the walls of their little coop area. Everywhere. She told me she didn’t care what we did with them, keep them, sell them, butcher them, they just needed them gone.

It then became chaos! People trying to catch chickens… chickens being shown to me upside down from all sides asking, “Do you want this one?” & “How about this one?” I barely had time to think; much less give much thought to judging if I like the chicken enough to take it home.

Sure, Okay. okay, not that one, okay,,,, soon my son was telling me, “I think we have enough mom.”

But I felt so bad! I didn’t even see water down for them. (Granted maybe they just took it out since they knew they were all going.?) Anyway, I felt like I needed to rescue these poor birds from a sad fate. I’m ONLY going to rescue 10. TEN BIRDS.

Then the lady was extra nice and even gave me a few nesting boxes to go with the birds.

Yes, thank you so much. We REALLY need to get on the road to home now.

I barely even looked at the crates in the back of the truck. Garrett packed them in there.

We got home, ate a very quick supper then got to work getting the new flock settled into a temporary pen for the next week before they are introduced into my little flock of 10.

We counted as we inspected each and every one. Three adorable little bantams, two solid black zombie chickens (we think. lol), a very pretty grey & golden Wyandotte, and so on…… Somehow, I ended up with, I swear, the ugliest chicken I’ve ever seen. I have NO clue what it is or how it got in my crate, it’s missing over half of its feathers. LOL!

24.

We brought home TWENTY FOUR chickens!

I now have 34 chickens! Oh My God what did I do!? Again!

Bahahahahahahaha

Not to mention as soon as we set them down they all but attacked the waterer! They were beyond thirsty, the poor things! Garrett even refilled that waterer before we went back into the house. So, I’m happy I rescued them.

In my defense! Paul did say I should take them ALL and sell some for some extra cash. So, I can fall back on that reasoning, right? LOL

I’ll give them a few days to settle in. Then well check to see exactly who is laying eggs and who is not and go from there.

All in all, this is the perfect example of how chicken math is a real thing. Unless you have your own flock, you won’t get it, and that’s okay.

If anyone needs a chicken, let me know. LOL

Take care of yourselves!

*Hugs*