As a preface to this post, if you don’t know what chicken math is here is a great article from Meyer Hatchery explaining it.
Thursday August had his ISFP meeting. It’s a meeting with all the county providers to make a plan for the next year on how to best assist him. We meet with our ECFC coordinator, TVI(teacher of the Visually Impaired), PT(physical therapy), OT(occupational therapy), O&M(orientation and mobility), and ST(speech therapy). Our O&M mentioned being more intentional about cane training. Like most visually impaired individuals, August doesn’t need his cane at home. He used it when he initially began walking but once he was accustomed to the setup he no longer needed it. We took the opportunity to have a family outing Friday afternoon.
We headed to Runnings in Montevideo. Connor took the older two with him for some plumbing connections(see our progress on the commercial coffee maker in other posts!), and I took the twins to the poultry section. I wanted to gather the supplies we would need for our eventual chicks. While we walked August practiced his cane use. We had just picked out a feeder, the twins chose a yellow one, when I saw the large stock tubs with cheeps coming from them. We moved closer to investigate. Connor should have known this was the time to usher us out if he didn’t want the cheeps to come home with us.
The children were instantly in love. I slid the grate covering the tub over so they could get a better look. The tub was filled with 20 or so broiler chicks, meat birds. We peered into the other tubs labeled Ameraucana, Orpinton, and Wyandotte. All were empty. Connor said something encouraging that made me think to call other local stores. Well “local” turned out to be an hour away in Marshall. None of the kids were happy to leave the store. The older two were consolable with the promise of another chicken stop and some jelly beans. August begged to go back, desperately signing “chicken, please!” the entire way out of the store. He was not happy to be buckled into the car sans chicks.
We drove the hour to Marshall. Annabelle and I went through the tubs saying two from this one, four from that, one more yellow, maybe a nice orange. A mix of Olive Eggers, Calico Princess, Rhode Island Red, Deleware, Wyandotte, etc. The employees said we were at 22 so we added three more since I had wanted 25. The kids were beside themselves as we brought the cheeping box to checkout. As we left they started to talk about how hungry they were. Not a single one appreciated Connor and my jokes about all the chicken nuggets we just bought. No sense of humor. When we got home Connor noted there were only 22 chickens. I looked at the receipt and we had paid for 24. Either way not the 25 we had intended to go home with.
This morning, Sunday, I was filled with the desire to have more. I reached out to a friend who connected me to someone in Holloway who breeds chickens. He wasn’t far, had at least the breeds I wanted, and I was sure we needed more. 22 chicks in a 120 gallon stock tub isn’t as full as it could be. The twins and I headed out. He tried to get us to take a couple Naked Necks as well but I personally think they look freaky. Connor pointed out that there wouldn’t be any guessing if we needed to butcher them though.
We now have 34 chicks, the kids are delighted, and we are one step closer to having ALL the egg colors possible. Chicken math got us, just like it does so many others. Maybe one day I’ll find a Chicken Hoarders Anonymous group but for now they’re tiny and not causing much trouble. The only “problem’ is there is still room in the stock tub if you know what I mean.
