I will ask him about bitzers (though aren't Olive Eggers kind of bitzers?). He may have because when I went to collect there were chickens roaming around where I parked the car so at least some of them are barnyard chickens. He did say he doesn't buy from the big hatcheries except occasionally to supplement and that gave me some comfort too. I dunno, I had in mind a flock of 10 and I am only at 5, on the other hand everyone is very settled as Shad says.
I think maintaining a flock of ten by adding 2 every year or so might work out pretty well mathematically considering the life span of a chicken. You won't add every year but most years.
Hmmm, a tough one to figure out. "Ratacombs" however is a wonderfully descriptive word!Aurora Knows when I'm not Around
So I was gone Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Somehow Aurora knew I was not there and forced Phyllis to sleep here on Friday and Saturday nights.
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But on Sunday night, when I could do something about it, she let Phyllis sleep in the coop.
Fortunately, run security is greatly enhanced since the Maleficent incident. Even more so since I destroyed the ratacombs and closed off their entry point. Still this is not where I want poor Phyllis sleeping in the winter. I will be home for a few weeks, every night, so I can intervene. I need to figure out a long term solution though. It seems everytime I think it is settled, it is not.
She's a cheeky monkey.
Keeping your flock @ 10 could be the difficulty. The sad fact is most of us lose chickens & then they need to be replaced. I like to do pairs so everyone has a running mate to start with. I work with a max & min number. I don't like dipping below 10 but 20 would be my absolute max. Somewhere inbetween those 2 numbers works well for me.
She sure knows when she can get away with things. I didn't see him today so look out ladies! Gandalf is baaaaack!
I'm going to try and stay between 6 and 4. Never below 3. We shall see. Hopefully decades to come and many new friends to meet.
I'm slowly building up to eventually maintain the flock at 8-12 hens.
