A Guest Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara
When people ask how many chickens we have, I usually say 30.
I hadn’t officially counted them, as they don’t stand still in the yard making it very difficult. It is like counting preschoolers.
However, one evening last week, as I closed the coop, I counted them. They were all roosting on various spots in the coop and were settled down for the night.
It was then that I made a shocking discovery.
We have 40 chickens not counting the bantams in the little yard.
There are six bantams so that makes 46 chickens on the Miller Farm.
I’m not really good at math but I know that 30 does not equal to 46.
This means that I have been misrepresenting our flock for months. Some might even call it lying although my son assures me that I was only saying what I believed to be true.
It’s still a disturbing thought.
Some might considered 46 chickens over population, but the chickens don’t seem to mind. As long as they have food, I suppose they would rather be crowded than be dinner.
Knowing the exact count does explain something, though. When I go into the yard, I feel like I am struggling not to trip over chickens.
Now I know why – there are 40 chickens in the yard.
I could let Bella into the chicken yard. She would gladly dispatch several. However, I’m somewhat attached to the lot and would feel sad to lose even one.
So I guess I’ll just keep walking carefully through the chicken yard. And when people ask how many chickens we have, I can honestly say – not 30.
I have to tell you Sara that I too have tried to count my chickens. I am thinking I have about 20. I will have to go out there and count them tonight when they are roosting. I too am a careful walker in the chicken yard. I had 6 more roosters and a man in our area was willing to take them to a new home. His freezer. Too many roosters is a very, vary bad thing.
I must confess some of those 40 chickens are actually roosters. We saw one of our neighbors recently and she said she had gotten a warning from the city telling her she had 10 days to get rid of her roosters. She doesn’t have any roosters. She called to tell the city but didn’t disclose the roosters’ location. I thanked her and am looking for new homes for our roosters. It may be time for them to go to freezer camp. Too many roosters is indeed a bad thing.