My 1 year old hens are laying wonderfully. So, despite what critics say you can have a wonderfully successful 100% free range home layer flock. I have 14 hens and 2 roosters right now. The hens are: Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks, Americaunas, a Buff Orpington and a Jersey Black Giant. One rooster (Mr. Evil) is in permanent lock up until we get around to butchering him. He kept attacking the kids... so that's the end of him! I'm getting more eggs than we can use, and finally sold some today! First time I've sold any of my home grown goodies!! I'm pretty excited about that. The girls are 100% free range, get scratch grains in the AM and all our household food scraps. They get no commercial feeds, no medicated feeds, no 'yucky stuff'. The eggs are fabulous!
Part of maintaining a free range flock is backfilling any hens that go missing. Hey, it happens, and I figure the health benefits to me and the birds are worth a little attrition. I have 19 chicks brooding as replacements for my laying flock. 3 are home hatched babies from the homemade incubator the kids and I built (now that was a contraption! I can't believe we got anything to hatch. Will have to make a post on that). The picture above is of my home hatched babies. I literally hatched them in my hands as they were having a hard time getting out of their very tough shells. The little runt in the back is one of my feed store chicks. Mean little bugger had to go in with the bigger birds as she was picking on the other babies her size. They are a Rhode Island Red (daddy) x Jersey Black Giant and Buff Orpington (at least I think that's what their mommas are!)
Here are the other babies. I have 6 Black Australorps, 6 Rhode Island Reds, and 4 Barred Rocks. Soren and I changed out their shavings tonight and they had so much fun taking 'dust' baths in the new shavings! Soren LOVES watching the chicks.
3 comments:
Blogging is great and not at all silly. Egocentric? Well, you're not selfish, insensitive or inconsiderate. If someone believes their thoughts, feelings and experiences are unique -- and they're not -- that's egocentrism. I beleive your (you and Kendal) emergent adulthood has produced something unique. I will enjoy hearing and seeing how you're going. So post your ramblings and photos. Good on you Elizabeth!
Liz, How do you introduce new chicks to your flock? We have 4 adult hens, and tried to introduce 2 younger hens only to have one of them... well, pecked to death. It was awful. We put them in the coop to soon... so how do you do it? We currently have the one younger hen in the garage and bring her out to walk around with the adults when we can supervise. Suggestions?
Hi baby. I hatched 10 peacocks in a home made incubator, only problem I had was that they imprinted on me! Imagine half grown peafowl flying and landing on you to greet you because they think your there Mom...not a pretty site as they tend to "dump" upon landing! I gave all of the peahen eggs to my Spanish neighbor. They are HUGE and she loved them. Having bumped into the heat lamp many a time I agree with Soren..."ouch" I guess dirt baths are common amongst all such birds as the peafowl loved to sun and bath in the dirt. I do love birds and now get to watch the Sandhill cranes and there babies on my front lawn...so much like the peafowl are they. They mate for life, usually only have one chick which, they coddle to the extreme. http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/education/interactive/springscoast/sandhillcranes.shtml
love to the chicky fammer...gotta get him an Internation Havester!
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