My chickens are finally laying

[twigcrafter]

I'm so excited. I've been having a great experience raising chickens again. I bought 12 TSC chicks in Late April, 9 turned into roos . So I bought 6 more chicks from someone late May, and 5 were hens and another roo. I sold the 3 cochins because I heard they get frostbite on their feet . sooo I bought more chicks from Cackle hatchery in June. 5 production reds, and 10 black australorps. One of the PRs turned into a roo, and they sent me 11 Ba instead of 10. All the BA's are hens.

So for the last couple of months I was getting 2 eggs almost every day . Some days I got nothing. BUT now I got 5 eggs today !!! And it turns out my roos are actually doing their job! I cooked 3 eggs today and all 3 were fertile. I couldn't believe it. I saw the roos trying, but didn't look like they were doing it right. I was wrong. I'm super excited to let them raise chicks in the spring.

I'm so excited I'm thinking of buying an incubator to get a jump start in maybe March? I have a tiny cottage business selling plants in the spring. Why not offer chicks? I already have the ag. license. Maybe sell eggs too. I love hobbies that pay for themselves. lol

I've been searching the incubator posts here and it seems you get what you pay for as far as they go. I'm not gadget friendly, so building my own is out of the question.

Thanks for letting me ramble, My DH is not a chicken person. He says all I talk about is...chickens, piggy's, and green things . lol

Laura

 

[sourland]

Hi, Laura, congratulations and continued good luck with your flock.

 

[twigcrafter]

Thanks Sourland,

I'm so blessed to have chickens again. They really add joy to my life .

 

[aart]

Congrats!

23 birds now? Hope you've got a big coop!
Whadja do with all those cockerels?

Hatching is fun......but, yeah, a good bator setup is not cheep...then you need more space for chicks...and more males to deal with

 

[twigcrafter]

22 birds, 20 hens 2 roosters.

My coop is small 6x6, by 7. it has a checker board grid roost so each bird has plenty of room at night. They free range all day. I plan on building a new coop for brooding. I have a nephew who will take unwanted roosters. I actually gave away 9 last spring to a farmer. I forgot to ask my nephew. So that's not a problem.

Also I'm trying the deep litter method of keeping the coop for the winter. I just started it and so far so good.

The chickens are getting used to the snow. I shoveled a path from the coop to the chicken compost. It's just a pile of litter and straw. I toss kitchen scraps on top and they enjoy it.

I put their main food tray under the coop so it doesn't fill with rain. They also have 3 other structures they can hide under. Plus a pine tree with low branches. Oh and a pig house. The chickens and pig get along great. I was worried the pigs would eat them.

The coop is about 15ft from my back door. on the windy west side. Flies were a bad problem this summer. Hopefully the DLM will help with that.

I think my biggest problem would be wanting to keep all the babies. Just kidding. I do want to get some different breeds like barred rocks. I hear they lay large eggs. I'll sell the extra australorps I have.

When I bought all these chicks I thought for sure I would lose a few to predators. Like my neighbors did. So far so good. I haven't had any killed. "knock on wood"


Laura

 

[aart]

Is this your first winter with chickens?

I have more this year than the 3 previous winters....21 in a 6x16.....15 was good, 18 was meh, OK.
21 is going to get crowded, it's not going to be pretty during that first 2-3-4 day long storm when they won't leave the coop.

 

[twigcrafter]

I had chickens a long time ago. Not this many lol.

They over wintered pretty well and were in a much smaller coop. 2-3-4 day storm is something I will deal with if it happens. YIKES!!!

I don't remember if I faced that the last time I had chickens, but I guess I must have. I had them for years.

until my hubby made me get rid of them. Long story, not worth repeating.