- Jul 21, 2012
- 6
- 6
- 7
I got 10 barred rock hens at Tractor Supply on March 2nd, and on July 21st the first three eggs came in. Can't tell which hens laid the egges, but it was nice to see egg production started.
Aside from layer crumble, the girls get bread crumbs, cut up zucchini, cut up tomatoes, and sunflower seeds, with the zucchini, tomatoes, and sunflower seeds coming from our various gardens. Favorites? bread and tomatoes.
We had guinea hens before, and they were not just loud but not at all friendly. The barred rock hens don't make that much noise, come when you call them, and actually will hop on you lap!
In a few weeks grasshoppers in our big field will start getting large enough to catch, and I'll start feeding them those. I've caught smaller ones already, and oh my, the girls love 'em!
I wish I could "free range" them, but we have neighborhood dogs who come over all the time, and with just 10 chckens, I can't risk the loss to the stock with free range. But the girls have a 6x7X6 chicken coop, and two outdoor areas with fencing, one 6x7x4.5, and the other 6x3.5x4.5, and they seem to be doing fine.
Aside from layer crumble, the girls get bread crumbs, cut up zucchini, cut up tomatoes, and sunflower seeds, with the zucchini, tomatoes, and sunflower seeds coming from our various gardens. Favorites? bread and tomatoes.
We had guinea hens before, and they were not just loud but not at all friendly. The barred rock hens don't make that much noise, come when you call them, and actually will hop on you lap!
In a few weeks grasshoppers in our big field will start getting large enough to catch, and I'll start feeding them those. I've caught smaller ones already, and oh my, the girls love 'em!
I wish I could "free range" them, but we have neighborhood dogs who come over all the time, and with just 10 chckens, I can't risk the loss to the stock with free range. But the girls have a 6x7X6 chicken coop, and two outdoor areas with fencing, one 6x7x4.5, and the other 6x3.5x4.5, and they seem to be doing fine.
