Because … Chicken Math

About four years ago Edie happened to let it slip – oh so casually – that perhaps we should get some guinea hens to fight the tick infestation in our woods. Before the sun set that day I skadoodled down to the Ag Services warehouse and brought home four ‘keets’ (aka baby guinea fowl).

Such lovely little things … over that winter turned into four entertaining ‘clown faced’ guineas.

Of course … those four little chicks needed a ‘little’ coop. Then the next spring those four big birds needed a ‘bigger’ coop. (Which is currently known and used as the Goat Cafe.) After the Guineas tried to take out a few truckers and bikers on the road … they moved to a larger farm.

The afternoon of the same day the Guineas left (the four of them) friends arrived with gift replacements (seven of them). See … that’s Chicken Math. Those seven turned out to be five roosters and two hens. The rookie Chicken Mom in me said … I love my roosters! I’ll build them their own woods habitat and then keep one rooster (the forever loved Goldie) with the two hens. Of course … that means we will need to build a second coop for the smaller group. That’s Chicken Math too!

By this time we are into two coops – two runs – seven chickens. We’ll fast forward a little to get past the point where I realized the roosters had it in for both my wife (just ask her about the time one chased her into the house and to the bathroom) and our granddaughters. That took us in the minus direction… Minus four roosters. 8( Soon though we added Sophie and Blanche. Then along came Lindy and Roxie.

The ‘hen house’ was becoming too small for Goldie and his girls. Our solution – the ‘Chicken Palace’ to give them more space on rainy or snowy winter days. Cha-ching! That’s Chicken Math too!

We were becoming incredibly fond of those fresh eggs. It is about now that I realize that our chickens have a couple of years of good egg laying days … and then the supply dwindles and peters out. Go figure! Time for the addition of some newbies! The old girls get to live out their lives right here. Now we are counting five ‘senior hens’, one junior rooster plus nine newbies. Yep … MORE Chicken Math!

And … can I say it again … fourteen chickens need a bigger coop than five chickens. That was this summer’s biggest project. The third coop – Coop 3.0. It is a beaut! And it DEFINITELY contributed its own cha-ching to our Chicken Math calculations. 😉 But – hey – our buildings are complete …

Until Mother Nature ‘huffed and puffed and blew the Chicken Palace down’! That happened one week ago tonight. We have been an impressively sedulous pair of carpenters ever since. Three days to knock it down – three days to put up the new and improved version. One day for winterizing … et voila! But THAT is tomorrow’s story! Stay tuned for the unveiling of the Chicken Clubhouse!