A Math Question

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twelvefootboy
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Re: A Math Question

Post by twelvefootboy »

triviawayne wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 3:28 pm I really want to thank everyone for jumping in with the math.

My initial thought was either 41% or 59% by doing the 80*80*80*80 thing...but couldn't figure out which was the number I was looking for (we want to see zero roosters).

So far, it's looking like all hens...but time will tell.
I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but you might have four roosters. If the customers are allowed to pick out their own chicks, then they may already be culled.

Our farm stores sell pullets (females) at about $3.50 each, and "straight run" (supposedly half and half) at $1.79 each. The pullets are sexed by the breeder and tagged and therefore the higher price. They are very accurate, and when we buy 25 from the hatchery, it's great except they give us an extra exotic bird as a "bonus", and it's always a damn rooster.

So, one day we watch a customer picking out chicks from the straight run tank at the farm and she studied how they acted, and snatched out the ones she wanted. I didn't notice her looking at anatomy, but maybe their faces. We've bought straight run birds before and got 80% roos, and now we know why.

When my sister had chickens, the farm store gave them a dozen or so unsold chicks - every one was a roo.

I don't know about the 80% pullet situation, they don't do that here. But you can be sure if you aren't there when they arrive, the pros have already picked the pullets clean.

We only keep about 10 hens now, and we will never have another rooster. As a matter of fact, with our 500,000 honeybee females (vs. 1000 or so boys, until Fall when they are all exiled), I am pretty outnumbered here. You will love having the chickens if you haven't had them before. It's even better if you can spend time with the chicks so they imprint as human. Otherwise, they will just think of you as an awkward chicken.
Disclaimer - repeated exposure to author's musings may cause befuddlement.
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triviawayne
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Re: A Math Question

Post by triviawayne »

twelvefootboy wrote: Thu Jul 02, 2020 1:07 am
triviawayne wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 3:28 pm I really want to thank everyone for jumping in with the math.

My initial thought was either 41% or 59% by doing the 80*80*80*80 thing...but couldn't figure out which was the number I was looking for (we want to see zero roosters).

So far, it's looking like all hens...but time will tell.
I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but you might have four roosters. If the customers are allowed to pick out their own chicks, then they may already be culled.

Our farm stores sell pullets (females) at about $3.50 each, and "straight run" (supposedly half and half) at $1.79 each. The pullets are sexed by the breeder and tagged and therefore the higher price. They are very accurate, and when we buy 25 from the hatchery, it's great except they give us an extra exotic bird as a "bonus", and it's always a damn rooster.

So, one day we watch a customer picking out chicks from the straight run tank at the farm and she studied how they acted, and snatched out the ones she wanted. I didn't notice her looking at anatomy, but maybe their faces. We've bought straight run birds before and got 80% roos, and now we know why.

When my sister had chickens, the farm store gave them a dozen or so unsold chicks - every one was a roo.

I don't know about the 80% pullet situation, they don't do that here. But you can be sure if you aren't there when they arrive, the pros have already picked the pullets clean.

We only keep about 10 hens now, and we will never have another rooster. As a matter of fact, with our 500,000 honeybee females (vs. 1000 or so boys, until Fall when they are all exiled), I am pretty outnumbered here. You will love having the chickens if you haven't had them before. It's even better if you can spend time with the chicks so they imprint as human. Otherwise, they will just think of you as an awkward chicken.
When picking so young, how do you know?

The store here gets from wherever it is they get them from, with the 80% claim. There are multiple breeds in the bunch. Buyer doesn't pick the chicks. My wife went and bought four of them, we're hoping for zero Roos.

I thought she was done getting animals (stupid me for believing what she told me), and I was really hoping this to be true, because I want to do a few things with the home in the next six years and put it on the market so it can sell prior to my planned early retirement date. I was figuring on the cat and rabbit being gone by that time, and as much as it would hurt, possibly even the dog. Then we could move away as wanted without having to deal with animals.

I really have to hope now that she doesn't get another horse before we move.
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twelvefootboy
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Re: A Math Question

Post by twelvefootboy »

triviawayne wrote: Thu Jul 02, 2020 11:33 am
twelvefootboy wrote: Thu Jul 02, 2020 1:07 am
triviawayne wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 3:28 pm I really want to thank everyone for jumping in with the math.

My initial thought was either 41% or 59% by doing the 80*80*80*80 thing...but couldn't figure out which was the number I was looking for (we want to see zero roosters).

So far, it's looking like all hens...but time will tell.
I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but you might have four roosters. If the customers are allowed to pick out their own chicks, then they may already be culled.

Our farm stores sell pullets (females) at about $3.50 each, and "straight run" (supposedly half and half) at $1.79 each. The pullets are sexed by the breeder and tagged and therefore the higher price. They are very accurate, and when we buy 25 from the hatchery, it's great except they give us an extra exotic bird as a "bonus", and it's always a damn rooster.

So, one day we watch a customer picking out chicks from the straight run tank at the farm and she studied how they acted, and snatched out the ones she wanted. I didn't notice her looking at anatomy, but maybe their faces. We've bought straight run birds before and got 80% roos, and now we know why.

When my sister had chickens, the farm store gave them a dozen or so unsold chicks - every one was a roo.

I don't know about the 80% pullet situation, they don't do that here. But you can be sure if you aren't there when they arrive, the pros have already picked the pullets clean.

We only keep about 10 hens now, and we will never have another rooster. As a matter of fact, with our 500,000 honeybee females (vs. 1000 or so boys, until Fall when they are all exiled), I am pretty outnumbered here. You will love having the chickens if you haven't had them before. It's even better if you can spend time with the chicks so they imprint as human. Otherwise, they will just think of you as an awkward chicken.
When picking so young, how do you know?

The store here gets from wherever it is they get them from, with the 80% claim. There are multiple breeds in the bunch. Buyer doesn't pick the chicks. My wife went and bought four of them, we're hoping for zero Roos.

I thought she was done getting animals (stupid me for believing what she told me), and I was really hoping this to be true, because I want to do a few things with the home in the next six years and put it on the market so it can sell prior to my planned early retirement date. I was figuring on the cat and rabbit being gone by that time, and as much as it would hurt, possibly even the dog. Then we could move away as wanted without having to deal with animals.

I really have to hope now that she doesn't get another horse before we move.
Good luck if it's actually as good as the math odds. Somehow (witchcraft?) the hatcheries can sort them and chicks are shipped as one day olds. I've heard the boys are drowned, btw... The 80% claim can only be made if someone sexed 8 chicks and removed 3 - what happened to them :o

Your schedule is tight, but you should be through this batch of chicks in 6 years. They will lay strong for two seasons and take a month in winter off in the third season. But you won't get eggs until January. The production peters out by year 4 and they go on Social Security in year 5. In year 6, you will find them standing in one place by the feeder one day and dead on the floor the next. Most Farmer's market type hens are "retired" after two years - the feed costs more than the eggs income. Ours are pets, they stay until they drop dead, hopefully the day before trash pickup :roll: .

If you have the resources for a horse, then some backyard chickens will be very low impact. The chicks are soooo cute, but by day 7, the smell gets them kicked out of the house and we don't bond with them as much as we should. If you play with them around your cat, he should respect them as family members.

Let us know down the road how your biological lottery worked out. We hatched our own eggs at one time and had no idea what we had. As they grew up together, each time two of them started fighting we segregated them. The last one (and wimpiest and most docile) became our rooster and the others were dinner for somebody on Craigslist. (We actually named the survivor Craig, lol..).
Disclaimer - repeated exposure to author's musings may cause befuddlement.
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