Cliché Month: Don’t Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch 🐣
by Crystal A Murray (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
We can’t have a post about chickens and eggs without asking the age old question, right? So what do you think came first?
The babysitter I mentioned in the “Giddy Goat” post also had chickens. It was the first time I ever saw eggs sort of x-rayed (called egg candling). They had this tray they’d put all the eggs in and shine light through it, so they knew which eggs had baby chicks in them. I love to eat eggs, and I’m really glad they have a way to not harm a growing baby in the shell just so I can have breakfast.
The Peril of Premature Calculations
But having one of those egg lights still isn’t a guarantee of what you’ll be getting when the eggs hatch because not all of them make it. And if any get dropped and break, then no matter what’s inside, it’s no longer new life or breakfast.
But haven’t we all caught ourselves doing that at least once—mentally spending a tax refund before the return is filed, rehearsing an acceptance speech before the judges deliberate, or daydreaming about any number of things before we know what reality will bring? Apparently, this happened a whole lot during the California gold rush in the mid 1800s. While many “forty-niners” began their journeys with big dreams, more often than not, they were just hard workers earning very little profit.
But a few really did strike it rich, so it continually fueled hope for others. Human nature loves to dream ahead because hope is a powerful driver, but when optimism borders on certainty, the enduring English proverb steps in: “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.”
I hadn’t realized it until writing this post, but I sort of acted this cliché out in a literal sense when I was a very young adult. I was living in a super small apartment and working part-time for minimum wage. Each week, I had about $10 to spend on groceries. I would push my cart around the supermarket once to put everything in I thought I might want, and then go around a second time to remove everything I couldn’t afford. At least I didn’t wait to calculate until I was at the register, but just putting more than I could afford into my cart was counting my chickens in a way.
From Tudor Proverb to Aesop’s Fable
While calculating in grocery aisles or dreaming of gold strikes is universally human, the literal poultry phrasing took root in 16th-century England. English writer Thomas Howell recorded the earliest known version in his 1570 collection New Sonets and Pretie Pamphlets, cautioning: “Counte not thy Chickens that vnhatched be.” A few years later, in 1579, Thomas North used it in The Diall of Princes, writing that it was foolish to “make reconyng before the chickens were hatched.”
Nearly a century later, in 1664, poet Samuel Butler immortalized the lines in his famous mock-heroic epic Hudibras:
“To count their chickens, ere they’re hatch’d;
— Samuel Butler, Hudibras (1664)
And calculate what they’re worth.”
Long before English poets turned it into a rhyming warning, the moral core of this cliché was born in the world of Aesop’s Fables. The concept comes directly from the classic tale “The Milkmaid and Her Pail.” As the young farm girl walks along with a pail of milk on her head, she daydreams about selling the milk to buy eggs, hatching those eggs into a flock of chickens, and selling the birds to buy a fancy gown. But when she tosses her head in pride, the pail crashes down—leaving her with no milk and no chickens to count.
Balancing Vision with Wisdom
There is a sizable difference between having visionary faith and making presumptuous plans. Scripture actually addresses this balance in James 4, reminding us to hold our timelines with humility:
James 4:13-15 BSB
[13] Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.” [14] You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. [15] Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.”
Proverbs 27:1 echoes a similar encouragement:
Proverbs 27:1 BSB
[1] Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
Where Have You “Counted Your Chicks”?
Think back on your own experiences:
- Maybe you headed out for the day without preparing for getting back home by making sure you had enough gas or maybe return bus fare.
- Or you celebrated a game-night lead just minutes before an opponent pulled off a surprise comeback.
- Or, maybe like me, you filled a shopping cart with wish-list items before doing the math at the checkout. I know I’m not alone there from the people I’ve seen digging in pockets and purses for change.
Share your favorite near-misses in the comments below.
Looking Ahead: Stepping into Aesop’s Fables for September!
This post officially brings our daily August journey through clichés and idioms to a close! But my love for timeless wisdom is just getting started.
Starting tomorrow, September 1st, I’m dedicating the entire month to Aesop’s Fables. I’ll be expanding on the full story behind that daydreaming milkmaid, kicking off day one by exploring the fable’s other famous takeaway: why it does no good to cry over spilled milk! 🥛✨
Thank you for following along every day in August. Get ready for talking animals, clever twists, and rich moral lessons all through September!
A Parting Riddle
To send August out with a chuckle…
Why do baby chickens make terrible secret agents?
Because they always crack under pressure! 🐣🔍
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