Anderson....we've got a problem.....We either have OLD HENS or some chicken is eating them! So we are taking evasive action. We have been collecting eggs this week and I barely have a dozen & 1/2 eggs. I should have 3 dozen eggs by now. We may have to make some Chicken Pot Pie, King Ranch Chicken etc....These hens have 2 days or their "goose is cooked"!
These are pictures of the farms official Chicken catchers: Parkie the unstoppable & Peyton the why do these things keep running away from me! (Parker did catch one for Peyton so she got to hold him. She caught the chicken we call scaredy because if you get close to it it freezes, shakes and poops.
The Growth of the Flock.....
On the fun & growing side of the farm biz.... We ordered 11 Production Red's
, 1 production red rooster & 3 Amerucana'
s (they lay blue eggs). We will pick them up from Ideal Poultry on June 25th so we have just over 6 weeks to expand the chicken nursery. So the the Medium size chickens will have up to two weeks before they are added to the hen house, they will be 12 weeks old. The small chicks ( 1 barred rock & 2 leghorns) will go into the nursery for about 5 weeks and they will be added to the flock when they are about 14 weeks old. In fact those two leghorns will probably start laying right about that time! We are now going to put a small band around the chickens legs so we can age the birds. So here's the cliff notes: Types of chickens: Leghorn (2), Barred rock (11), Rhode Island Red (7), Production Red (8) & Chicks ordered: Production Red (11), Amerucana (3)
What does this mean we'll be building a bigger chicken house! Again our goal is to have about 100 laying birds.
1 comment:
Hmmmm, I'm thinking a couple of things. Were these the hens that you purchased full grown?
If so, they could be spent hens which usually happens about two years. Get out the casseroles!
If they weren't full grown, then they could be moulting maybe.
If they are laying, then it is possible that the egg could be breaking and then they are eating the innards plus the shell. They usually won't just eat the egg without it breaking. We put hay in the laying boxes to help with the eggs breaking.
I think it is the coolest thing that you know the breeds of chickens. I have no clue. I think our original batch was a bunch of mutts. Good mutts, but mutts.
Can't wait to see the new chicks!
Lyns
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