Our chick order arrived today. Twenty five Cornish meat chicks plus several layer breeds that had just come in with our order. About half of our layers are getting old and their egg production has been decreasing. We are thinking some of them will need to be replaced in the spring. I bought some Rhode Island Reds, Ameraucanas, and Black Australorps because I like those breeds, they are efficient layers and good sized birds.
The chicks were super sleepy from the rough journey but are now happy in their new home. My carpentry skills are slowly improving.
I seem to solely focus on building cubes for animal homes, but each cube gets better. This one is quite large so the chicks can stay in here comfortably for a month or so until they go outside into their run.
Raising our own meat chickens will be an adventure for us but I, for one, am ready. Every time I purchase a whole chicken for our boys I cringe and think how much better it would be to raise them ourselves. Well, we will see how it goes...so much of what we are doing is a big experiment. I definitely don't think it will be any cheaper but the peace of mind we'll have knowing we will pasture these birds and harvest them with our own hands may be worth it. For now they sure are the cutest little fuzz balls. It's been awhile since we have had chicks around here. Next may just be wild turkey jerky...
It's a great month for new beginnings! Us too! Chickens!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the chicks!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to you on your chicks! I just found your site and am looking forward to following along. We live in a subdivision and have 8 layers, but we buy our meat chicken from a local organic farmer. Honestly, with my animal obsessed daughter, who named all of the chickens ad carries them around like babies, I don't think we could raise our own meat birds--although I think it's an incredible opportunity. (She won't even eat chicken anymore unless it's cut up and doesn't resemble her girls.) Good luck with your cute little peeps!
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