The Strange Bet joke

A very well to do man was walking in the country one day when he came upon a farmer. He says, ‘Listen here, Mr Farmer, I bet you that I can guess how many chickens you have.’

The farmer laughed hysterically :
‘I have thousands of chickens. You could never guess that.’

‘Fine, shall we make a bet?’ asks the man. ‘If I can guess exactly how many chickens you have, you give me one of your chickens. If I can’t, I will pay you $1000.’

The farmer agrees: ‘Okay, how many chickens are there?’

‘You have exactly 3,342 chickens,’ says the man.

The farmer is amazed: ‘Wow, I really do have 3,342 chickens! Well, a bet is a bet. Choose the chicken you want.’

‘Okay, I will take this one’ says the man, picking up one of the chickens.

Wait a moment, says the farmer. ‘Let’s make another wager: If I can guess what job you do, you will give me back my chicken, and if I don’t, you can take another ten chickens.’ The man agrees to the bet and the farmer then
says, ‘You are an accountant.’

That is incredible! Well done! But how on earth did you know that?’ enquires the man.

‘Put my dog down, and I’ll explain.’