Chicken Math

They say there’s a thing called “Chicken Math.” It has something to do with the fact that people who raise chickens can’t seem to refrain from, well, getting more chickens.

For the first time in my life I suppose I can refer to myself a a mathematician!

But, wait. I have an excuse.

When I ordered our first set of chicks, back in December 2024 (scheduled to arrive in April), in order to be economical, I chose the “Egg Layers Assortment.” The hatchery offers assortments as a way to place their precious commodities that have a shelf life of just a couple of days. You see, newly hatched chicks will survive absorbing their yolk sac for about three days. After that time, they must receive water and food. It’s possible to ship them around the country, as long as they arrive within those 72 hours. Since there’s no way to know exactly what their newly hatched inventory for a specific gender of a specific breed will be on any given shipping date, creating assortments helps the hatchery deal with the unknown flux of their chicks.

Back in 1995, when I purchased my first chicks from this same hatchery, the minimum order size was 25 chicks. Apparently, improvements have been made regarding keeping chicks thriving during shipment in smaller numbers, because in December the minimum order of the Egg Layer assortment was 15 chicks. Baby chicks need to be kept warm while traveling in a cardboard box! Chicks rely on each other’s warmth to survive the miles.

I never wrote about it, because it’s sort of a sad situation and I am not into sharing bad news with the the world. However, when our chicks arrived in April, three were dead and two died in the first 48 hours. I don’t blame the hatchery, but rather the perils of shipping. I was reimbursed for the loss. Still, rather than 15, our little flock is comprised of10 lovely chickens. I love them all.

We began planning the coop even before we ordered our chicks in December. The process, which I hope to document before I completely forget it, was arduous and we went through many iterations before settling on our final design and size, of 8 x 10 feet. But, there came a time when we were able to purchase an 8 x 12 foot resin shed for much less than the 8 x 10 foot shed we were designing to build of standard lumber. More planning and designing ensued.

As I calculated the new available space for our chickens, I realized that our new coop was to be 20% larger! I convinced myself that, because we had lost one third of the our original planned flock size, that perhaps I could click on the hatchery website, just to see what they might have available. Chicken math is a real thing.

I was only going to purchase ten new baby chicks, however when I did the REAL math, due to a surcharge for small orders, it was going to cost more to purchase ten chicks than it would cost for fifteen fluffy, little cuties. As “they” say, “you do the math!” I placed the order for fifteen!

Here’s a video of the unpacking of those new little chicks. Enjoy.