On Saturday, after the Husband got off work, we went out to a farm about 2 hours away from us. We saw this silo painted to look like corn on the way over. Cute!We met up with a woman that I'd been emailing back and forth with for a couple weeks and walked away with some new friends.
What did we get, you ask?
Chicks!! Or as we like to call them, chicken nuggets!We finally got chicks after I'd been talking about them for awhile.
I'm hoping these will be my egg producers in the near future.
6 Buff Orpingtons (yellow)
6 Speckled Sussex (striped)
3 Rhode Island Reds (rust)
They are so much fun to watch and the girls just love them. They are busy naming them, though we can't yet tell them apart so we're probably naming the same one over and over!
Here are some of the names we've come up with so far--
Blackhead, Petunia, Kayla, Sophie, Rocky (in case we have a rooster in there), and Henry, plus a few others I can't remember.
We're chicken farmers!
Ahhh... cute.
ReplyDeleteI remember cleaning up the hen house every morning when I worked at the dude ranch for three summers. Ugh. Make sure they are protected from the wild animals out like coyotes, stray cats, foxes, etc, especially in the nights.
Oho, you're in for a chicken run of fun! And heartbreak... I've kept chickens before and they are amazing for eggs, eating kitchen scraps, entertaining you forever and ever and, should you have the heart, dinner! They are awful however for mites, pecking each other, smelly coops and beligerent roosters if you have more than one. Every predator in your area will suddenly be your friend and you are in for a whole world of learning about how to keep their shells thick and how to find where they are laying their eggs when they're broody and have decided that the coop is a prison!
ReplyDeleteI'd keep them again in a second mind you, they are among the funniest animals on the planet and don't let anyone tell you they can't have individual characters!
Blue Yonder (http://blueyonder.typepad.com/my_weblog/), who has 3 little boys, bought Easter chicks last year and the posts she has made about the adventures of those chickens have been absolute delightful to read! I look forward to reading about your kids' experiences with the chickens, too!
ReplyDeleteCongrats! What a fun project for your kids :)
ReplyDeleteKaren-- We plan to build a coop and put up fencing for the chickens to roam around in. We have seen foxes and raccoons around here, so already plan to keep the chickens locked up at night. I'm looking forward to eggs when they start laying.
ReplyDeleteSparx-- The chicks we got were straight run, so there may be a rooster or two (or three!). I'm hoping that out of 15 chicks, at least 10 will be female. That was my main goal, 10 laying hens. Might keep 2 roosters and then the others will be dinner. I've never butchered a chicken, but I've been reading up on it so.... we'll see. The people at the local farmer's co-op have been great and they're helping me with what I need and what kind of feed, etc. Will post updates on our chicken farming experiences from time to time. Stay tuned! :o)
Stephanie-- I also read Blue Yonder and have them in my blogroll. Reading about theirs' and others' experience with chickens helped push me along into getting chickens of our own. Please keep coming by for future chicken updates.
Trapper-- We are excited about them. I have a hard time keeping the girls away from the chicks during the day! But it gives me a little peace, I must admit, they're occupied and I know where they are and I can get things done! That was an unforseen bonus! :o)
Congratulations on your chicks! You can look forward to eggs in about five months. Buff Orpingtons and RI Reds are good layers, too. I don't have any experience with Sussex.
ReplyDeleteWe're picking up our broilers in a couple of weeks. My "middle" is actually counting the days until they arrive. Kids are so funny :). We're planning to raise 26 broilers, spaced out over the summer, two ducks and two more hens.
Have fun with them. Now that you have them, you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner ;).