 It's this quirk of chicken biology for the first two days of life. They don't need to eat. So if you can get your little chicks to where they need to be within 48 hours, they'll generally be fine being sent in a box. A box much like the one in my study pads, full of cheeping, chirping fluffballs. So Cecile puts in her order for 50 chicks, a manageable number for a small subsistence farm. But according to legend, somewhere along the way, an error is made. A fateful zero is added to Cecile's order. And what turns up is not 50 chicks, but 500.