There is a total of 184 birds in the 12 Days of Christmas.
Here’s how to work it out:
Day 1 – a partridge in a pear tree (1 bird)
Day 2 – 2 turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree (3 birds)
Day 3 – 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree (6 birds)
Day 4 – 4 colly (or calling birds), 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree (10 birds)
Day 5 – 10 birds again
Day 6 – 6 geese-a-laying, 4 colly birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree (16 birds)
Day 7 – 7 swans-a-swimming, 6 geese-a-laying, 4 colly birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree (23 birds)
Day 8 – 23 birds
Day 9 – 23 birds
Day 10 – 23 birds
Day 11 – 23 birds
Day 12 – 23 birds
Add all the days together and you get 184 birds.
Of course if you adhere to the theory that all the gifts given represent birds then there are many more than 184!
Do you have a different way of calculating the number of birds – let us know in the comments below.
27 Responses
Depends on who is intrepreting… 5 is said to be 5 Ringed neck birds… so… 184 is way off since 5 are omitted in each of the 3 days totals… ???
There are SEVERAL intrepretations… though
One movie claims over 300??? Totally nuts!!!
… but what if each verse is the new day, and then just remembering the previous days… so 4 calling birds arrive on day 4 and nothing else, but I already received…. then it’s 23, and that’s still over 200 pounds of poultry!
The song is quite clear. On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me two turtles doves and a partridge in a pear tree. That’s three birds.
How I prefer to calculate it…
12 = 12 * 1 partridge
22 = 11 * 2 turtle doves
30 = 10 * 3 French hens
36 = 9 * 4 calling birds
42 = 7 * 6 geese
42 = 6 * 7 swans
184
8 -12 are humans
I don’t think the gold rings can be a pheasant. There is a ring necked pheasant, but the ring is white. There is a golden pheasant, but its whole head and neck are gold – it isn’t ringed. And ignoring the rings, 44.44% of the gifts were non avian, so why not the rings as well?
All of the gifts are birds. The golden rings are indeed pheasants. It isn’t a matter of debate as to what the song is about. It is literally about 12 types of birds.
SURPRISE!, All of the 12 gifts are a form of bird the rings, maids, drummers, etc.
why birds? cats are a superior animal. on day one it should be a wee black cat in a basket and so on so on so on so on so on so on so :)))))))))) yeahg thats my virdict. birds are not a commodity
Bruh, no the birds repeat because every day the same amount of birds are given AGAIN, so then added all up it would be 184, do the math RIGHT!
No its 364 birds! It’s not 184. You don’t get the same amount of birds everyday
I too did the math, and you can work it out this way: (1 x 12)+(2 x 11)+(3 x 10)+(4 x 9)+(5 x 8)+(6 x 7)+(7 x 6)+(8 x 5)+(9 x 4)+(10 x 3)+(11 x 2)+(12 x 1)=364
The way this works is: the first number is the # of birds, the second is how many times you get it. (ex. (8 x 5) 8 maids a milking, 5 times.
364 is correct, I saw it on a trivia show
It’s ‘Four Calling Birds’.
The calling birds are “colly” birds in the original version of the song. Colly (or collie) is from “colliery,” an Old English word for coal mines. It was also used when referring to blackbirds, as in “black like coal.”
4 and 20 Colly birds baked in a pie” doesn’t have the same ring to it. 🙂
“So, we are referring to four colly birds or four collie birds (the words to the song were probably written before the creation of the dictionary, so the spelling of old words tends to be flexible).
What is a colly bird? It is a black bird. In England a coal mine is called a colliery and colly or collie is a derivation of this and means black like coal. For a long time in England, blackbirds have been referred to as both blackbirds (as in the nursery rhyme Sing a Song of Sixpence ) and colly birds as in The Twelve Days of Christmas.”
There is some suggestion that the 5 “golden rings” might be a species of pheasant
Five golden rings is about pheasants to put next to the colly birds (they’re good at rounding sheep up ) ?
Nope. It’s 4 colly birds, or coaly birds to be more accurate. Black birds, the colour of coal.
The true number of birds is 224. The “golden rings” are a type of pheasant.
Golden rings are a type of pheasant. Add five to every day starting with day 5.
Yes, Julie, the song is clear: on the (n)th day of Christmas my true love game to me [long list that increases each day]. So unless the grammar where you speak English is different than where everyone else speaks English, you get 184 birds.
Yes, Jessica, on the 12th day you get as many birds as the 11th, 10th, 9th, 8th, and 7th days, which is 23. I’m not sure why you believe there couldn’t be 23 birds on the 12th day.
This is really stupid. Just because they sing about the birds over and over, does not mean you count the same birds over and over….. you have 23 birds.
I am torn between both. I always thought that they were getting all the previous gifts as well so they had 12 pear trees at the end. But, also to buy 224 birds, 40 maids, 36 Dancers, 30 Lords, 22 pipers, and 12 Drummers, even if you pay them to show up and then leave like a sing-a-gram it is a bit crazy and over-the-top. To receive even 28 birds, 8 maids, 9 dancers, 10 Lords, 11 Pipers, and 12 drummers is crazy.
No there are not this was not helpful there can’t be 23 birds on the 12th day !
There are no more new birds after day 7 so every day after that you get a full set of birds (23) plus all the other stuff like the maids, etc.