L to R: Caramel (Cari), Coco and Lemonade (Lem)
Jenna
For starters, chickens aren't stupid. They're not. When they cock their head and focus one beady little eye in your direction sizing you up, you know intelligence lay within their peanut sized brains. Yes, they're flighty and get distracted easliy but when you're low on the food chain and 99% of your day is made up hunting for your dinner, you really can't blame them for it.
Lemonade (or Lem)
The learning experience for the kids alone has been worth the occasional stomps in chicken shit. Chasing the chickens around the yard to get them back to the coop has been more fun than our trip to Seaworld. And then there was that time Coco escaped into the house...
Caramel (or Cari)
They're resourceful, friendly and low-maintenance. Their food is cheap to free and they gobble up kitchen scraps like mad reducing our need for feed, boosting their vitamins and elminating scraps that would normally just be waste. They're not laying yet but I'm hoping for eggs sometime in January.
One abrupt decision on a hot August day and I can easily see myself owning chickens for the rest of my life, who would have thought.
Crystal,
ReplyDeleteYour pullets are so pretty. I see Jenna is an Easter Egger who will give you either blue or green eggs somewhere around 26-30 weeks of age. What are the other two? Is Lem a White Rock?
Get yourself a few chicks in the spring, too. It's good to have hens of differing ages so that when 1 group is molting (and often not laying or laying slows down; starts at 18 months), the other is, and then you have a steady stream of eggs. And they don't all lay an egg a day - Easter Eggers are said to average 4 eggs a week - don't know if that's true, mine seem to be average 5-6 a week, but Scout just started laying.
And once your coop is done you'll be able to corral the droppings to use as compost in your garden.
Ara
Ara, they're actually all supposed to be Americaunaus. I got them all at the feed store which is adamant they all are that breed even when I went back and questioned it.
ReplyDeleteThe next chicks will probably come from McMurray though their shipping is killer, I want to know what I'm getting and be sure. We're going to add some Barred Rock, RIR's and Orpingtons to these 4 to give us 10-12 layer birds. I'm hoping to have them delivered in early Feb.