People often ask me how many animals I have. There is never a simple answer, like an actual number. It usually goes like this:

“Well I had four alpacas and then someone gave me two more…but one was white so I traded it for a rose grey one but then they had a fawn one and it was buy one get one free day so…”

Recently I finally got down to one rabbit, however, he managed to escape and take up residence in my neighbors chicken coup. I know this because I was feeding my chickens early in the morning when my neighbor called over the fence to ask if I was missing a rabbit.

After a lengthy convo over the fence that involved her explaining her rabbit math (she has four rabbits) we decided that what she really wanted five rabbits and one less goat. A bargain was struck. A trade was made. A goat was put on a leash.

When doing farm math it’s important to remember that 1. It’s not linear and 2. It requires lots of stories to explain why you have a goat on a leash while in your pajamas.

There’s nothing like first eggs. After raising 30 chicks last spring, I’ve started to get some of the first eggs from them. Since I have almost 40 chickens, some already of laying age, there is no way to be sure these eggs are from the babies I raised in the spring. However, I don’t recognize them as coming from my older chickens.

Each chicken lays a unique egg. I recall having a Wellsummer chicken which laid a beautiful dark brown egg with tiny even darker brown spots. I could tell her eggs from my other chickens including my other Wellsummers.

Today’s eggs, I’d like to think, are from my young hens. Raising newly hatched chickens is a boat load of work. Baby chicks are messy and require looking after several times a day. Clean water is essential and 30 chicks will keep their water clean for approximately three seconds. This means that the water needs to be changed approximately four hundred times per day. Their light source for heat needs to be constantly monitored and adjusted. Wasted feed and poop mingle together and foul up the bedding which needs to be changed. It’s a chore, but all that work is forgotten when you find a nest of first eggs.