Counting Chickens

We all know you can't count your chickens before they are hatched, but sometimes counting them after they are hatched is no easy task.  I have a simple method of chicken counting, that has served me well for a decade now.  When Mr. B shared this handy bit of info with his mother-in-law, telling her I'd shared it with him; she pulled me aside in admonishment.  She felt it was very demanding of me to insist that he learn how many of each color we had . . .  I find my method to be quite easy if the flock is mixed.  

I have two flocks of chickens, and usually a brood coming up, but the two adult flocks are free range.  One flock, of 12 young hens and a rooster, is in a 2500 square foot pen, the other flock has the full run of the place.  I keep two flocks for what I think is a pretty good reason.

I keep the young flock of 13 in the pen for two reasons.  They are the most productive egg layers, but since they are young, if they are not somewhat contained, the eggs could be anywhere on the place.  Keeping just one rooster to cover these 12 insures the eggs are fertile for hatching and there are no spontaneous cock fights.  Two roosters will fight and when that happens, the hens are not always "covered" and there are injuries.

I let the older flock run the place, which is great for pest control, and they know their way back to the nest box for egg laying.  The fact that they are older, I don't rely on daily eggs from all the hens, and I have a few too many roosters roaming, but they are old, now.  The fall I broke my arm, a few of the roosters escaped the freezer, and now they're old.  Butcher age is about 5-6 months, and anything past 8 or 9 months will take some stewing.   The older roosters would be tough to eat and they are not so aggressive with each other, so I'm letting the few who got a reprieve, just live out their days, eating bugs, and die of old age.

There are some breeds that are not heavy meat, but good layers; while others are not as productive layers, but quite heavy and meaty.  Rhode Island Reds, Plymouth Rocks, and Black Australorps are my favorite for both meat and egg production.  Buff Orpington also fit in that group.  The Orpington hens seem to be the best brooders, while the roosters of that breed seem to be the most aggressive and invariably end up in the stew pot or frying pan.  Now that I've been at this for a decade, I'm grateful to not have to buy eggs.  Dressing chickens is by far, not my favorite part of homesteading, but it's preferable to purchasing meat and wondering what I'm actually eating . . .

I still have a few purebred Plymouth Rocks, I think, and a couple of pure Black Australorps, but most of the flock is now cross bred amongst the four breeds I have listed above.  The individual chickens have some very distinctive characteristics that make most of them quite individualistic.  

For those new to chicken ranching, I discovered a simple method when the colors vary or individual characteristics are identified.   The original flock was 12 poulets of various breeds and two Buff Orpington cockerels.  Chickens will not hold still to be counted and they don't line up to enter and exit the chicken house.  Trying to count twelve or fourteen that are all moving, often results in "starting the count over."  The roosters are easily identified pretty young, but the hens, I identify by color.  It's much easier to count to three, four times, than it is to recount to twelve a couple of times.  Three red ones, three black ones, three speckled ones, three brown ones . . . everyone is accounted for.

A Consistent Truth

The starter homestead was purchased between Passover and Shavu'ot in 2005.  I didn't get to just jump into homesteading that summer, as there were a number of loose ends to tie up, 250 miles to the north.  I don't know how many times I covered those same miles between the spring and fall of that year, but I made the final "official" trip the day after Yom Teruah.  That was the last High Holy Day I spent with mishpocha at the Temple I had attended for a number of years.  Between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur, the place took homesteading shape.  In less than 10 days, there were a dozen pullets, two roosters, and two nanny goats on the place.  By late October there was a third nanny and a young jack donkey.  The chickens were still young, and the goats were all bred, but there were no eggs or milk until early 2006.

What has been consistent and now confirmed this 9th season once again, is the first hen to begin laying again after the winter respite hides her eggs and the first goat to kid is never the one I'm watching . . . Free range and organic has many advantages, but the one disadvantage is animals have a built in propagation of the species, that excludes even their trusted caregiver.  As an organic, natural homesteader, I don't keep my chickens all penned up.  They are free to cover the entire place every day, although most of them don't.  There are nest boxes in the henhouse, but there is always an enterprising little hen that will find a special little spot to build her nest.  She'll disappear for three weeks, and then reappear with chicks following.

When it comes to the goats, I don't pen them up for breeding, I turn the buck into the same pasture with the does right before Sukkot, and let nature take it's course.  That means most of the kids arrive in about a month's time beginning mid February, which means the does are pretty big by mid January.  Inevitably I'll take note of the one that looks like she could deliver at any time . . . and then another one does first.  Nine years, so far, this has been consistent.  I've had my eye on Willow for over a week now, and she's still not delivered.   Cherie, who joined the herd in Goshen in early September apparently arrived already in her condition and is now a very proud and good mama to little Tamar.

Every year, consistently, I tell myself, next year I'm going to be watching the right one.  I am very thankful that Abba knows which one will deliver first and the weather through the years, consistently, has been unseasonably mild when the lesser expected arrival makes their appearance.