how many birds total in 12 days of christmas

247. The 12 days of Christmas song actually contains a lot of birds! There's two turtle doves, three French hens, four calling birds, five golden rings, six geese a-laying, seven swans a-swimming, eight maids a-milking, nine ladies dancing, ten lords a-leaping, eleven pipers piping, and twelve drummers drumming. That's a total of 247 birds in the song!