We went to town today for a roll of 6′ x 50′ chicken wire and came home with four bantam chicks and no chicken wire. How did that happen?

It had to be Chicken Math.

These little cuties were $1 each – end of the season left-over chick sale. Who can pass up a sale? And they’re little – they won’t take up much space, right? And winter is coming, so what’s a few more bodies in the coop to share their warmth? And there were at least a dozen cute, homeless chicks left. I think we showed great restraint.

These girls (I think – I hope!) were labeled bantam araucanas, they are more likely bantam Ameraucanas (or Easter Egg chicks) because they have sprouted tail feathers. Both breeds are reported to lay small pale blue eggs about 1/2 to 1/3 the size of a regular chicken egg.

Bantams or “banties” are miniature sized chickens. We’re guessing that these babies are 3 weeks old given their feather development and they are just the size of one of our regular hens was at about 3 days.

There’s something addictive about our hens. We’re now up to 16 hens and one rooster. According to the laws of chicken math, we should have built a bigger coop!

More cute chick pics:

2 June 2011: Mail Order Chicks
7 June 2011: Chicks Week One at Downeast Thunder Farm
13 June 2011: I Spy