Category: Chickens

July 2016 Egg Production

We added chickens to the place March 11th.  Five each, Barred Rocks, Black Laced Wyandottes, and Easter Eggers.  After culling the cockerels in early July, we were left with five Barred Rocks, four Wyanodottes, and one Easter Egger.  The Barred Rocks started laying first, beginning July 18th, at about 18 weeks and a few days […]

Monster Egg

A Monster egg?  From a Monster Chicken?  Well, not very likely, but one of the hens did lay this really big egg, which as I suspected, turned out to be a double yolk egg.

Roosters – Not Hens

When we purchased our chicks from the local farm supply this past Spring, the chicks were advertised as pullets.  Down in the fine print somewhere I am sure was a disclaimer about the actual sex of the chicks.  As the chicks grew, some had some real personality.  One of the Ameraucanas we named Clover, because […]

Ready to Move out of the Brooder

The chickens have grown quickly.  Seems they change daily.  Certainly, they are getting larger, consuming for feed and water, and of course, making a quick mess of the pine shavings on the floor. They are getting just enough ability to fly they can now fly/jump up on the top of the brooder and escape to […]

Amazing How Fast the Chicks Grow

Really amazing to watch just how fast the little chicks really grow.  Seems almost daily you can see the changes. We lined the incubator with a blue plastic tarp, then added about half a bale of pine shavings for the floor.  When it is time to change the shavings, simply lift the tarp out and […]

New Chickens

A trip to the local Orshelns farm supply today and the pick a chick fest had begun. A total of 15 chicks were selected. 5 Black Laced Silver Wyandottes 5 Plymouth Barred Rocks 5 Ameracaunas Our original thought was to order from Cackle Hatchery, but we did not appreciate how far in advance we should […]

Build A Brooder

Build A Brooder! So I started with pressure treated pine fence pickets. Cedar would have been my choice, but cedar is harmful to chickens.  I cut these to 38 inches in length.  You might want them a different length depending on how tall  you want the top of the brooder to be.  If you use […]