Cows and chickens

I'm not in the habit of responding to columnists in national publications, but in today's Parade, D.C. of New York, NY, askes Marilyn vos Savant, "If a farmer has a total of 30 cows and chickens, and the animals have 74 legs in all, how many chickens are in the coop?"

She gave a complicated mathematical answer and said there are 23 chickens in the coop, but here's a simple answer:

All the chickens are in the coop. The cows are in the barn.