The new layers are almost 4 weeks old. This is an Araucana chick. She will lay colored eggs, probably blue or green. We have 5 of the Araucanas.
We also have 19 of the Dominique chicks. This one is called Penguin by the boys since she has such a white belly.
Then we have the meat birds or fryers (called by dh). They are all roosters and do nothing but eat and drink and sit down. They have about another month to eat and drink.
Here's a comparison. The fryers don't seem to mind the little chicks next door.
And of course, we still have the 14 original laying chickens, led by Clucklin Pierce.
4 comments:
Dear Technoprairie--thanks so much for sending your blog address. I'm really enjoying reading it. "Technoprairie" is a perfect nickname for you, by the way. You're the quintessential blend of modern and old-fashioned, and you excel at both! I'm slightly jealous of your amazing competence, but I'm also grateful that I can learn a lot from you!
The chickens are beautiful! Who has the job of gathering eggs? Do you sell any of the eggs? How did your maple syrup making turn out this year? Was this the first year you tried it?
Dh and I were wondering what you do to keep the deer and other wild creatures from eating your garden. I don't recall seeing much fencing. What's your secret to a bountiful harvest for humans?!
Take care! ~Betsy
So glad to hear from you Betsy!
The chickens are mostly the two older boys' job. Every day they go out and feed and water them and gather the eggs. When the first flock was laying better, we did sell the eggs, usually at church. But the older they get and the hotter it gets, the less they lay. We have enough now to take care of our needs but none to sell.
That is why we got the second layer flock. We hope to be able to sell more eggs starting in the fall.
Maple syrup didn't do so well. The weather didn't cooperate much. We got about 1 1/2 gallons, much less than the 2 3/8 gallons we got the year before. This is our fourth year making maple syrup. It is a wonderful thing to do in March when the outside is usually too muddy to sled or to play baseball.
And the secret for animal control is threefold. First, the outside cat takes care of the bunnies. Second the Spray Aways take care of the deer (they sense movement and randomly spray out water). And third, the electric fence (not yet up) and live trap takes care of the coons who show up to eat the sweet corn and cantelopes.
This last picture is great. What a handsome bird. Do you remember Mike Cannady? He was in my class and was best man at my wedding. He told me, and I believe him, that when he looked at farm animals he would get hungry. Now I confess to not having that kind of culinary imagination, but I certainly can appreciate that bird.
He is a handsome rooster. But from what I've heard, he'd be a pretty tough meal.
Besides, it would break N's and S's hearts if we ate him.
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