Chicken Math
An Unlikely Homestead in Freehold
At first, David Krause and Ayan Chatterjee planned to rent. “Ayan wanted chickens, but I didn’t,” explains Krause. “There are companies that will rent the birds and coops for six months, which seemed like a good compromise. ” But, when they went to rent chickens, there was already a three-year waiting list. “So I agreed to get two birds,” he says.
Those two chickens became three and then quickly became four. Now, 27 chickens, three coops, two vegetable gardens, and one dog (an Italian Greyhound named Levi) later, the couple has completely embraced country life. “It’s called chicken math,” explains Krause. “You start with two but they just keep multiplying. With chickens, two plus two equals 40.”
Photos by Winona Barton-Ballentine
