Cock to Hen Ratio

I prepared dinner at our house for several guests yesterday and made an apple tart that tasted better than ususal . . .perhaps that was becuse I used the still warm, just-laid eggs of my hens and some apples off of our straggly apple tree. One of the eggs had a double yolk.

Every time I walk out to the coop and find an egg, I feel a slight twinge of excitement. Perhaps I'm having pleasant flashbacks to my childhood Easter egg hunts.

At dinner, one of our guests told us that the perfect ratio for raising chickens is ten hens for every one cock. Roger was in agreement. So I guess I have to find seven more hens.

This guest went on to tell us that his parents had a cock and a few hens, and that the cock had a "favorite" hen that he wore out every day with his sexual escapades. Our guest claimed that the hen walked around with her head drooping, visibly worn out.

In case you're wondering, around these parts, the sheep producers tell me you need one buck for every thirty ewes.

Human males think they have such prowess but they are mistaken. The most reliable indications are that the "correct" ratio for humans is one male for four females . . . at least that is what is enshrined in law in some Muslim countries, and that would be our most reliable time tested recipe.

Of course some men behave more like sheep rams . . .my boss at the Embassy of Oman told me that his father had 250 wives. He wasn't proud of the fact, it bothered him. He'd be travelling in other Arab countries and he'd see someone who looked just like him, and he'd assume that the person was his brother, but he didn't want to be impolite by asking.