have our own chickens

Looks like we’ll be having a community chicken butchering party come fall time.

(My mom sent me that article. She wasn’t willing this spring, but she’s changed her mind.)

is not going to happen anytime soon, so I’ll take it off the list..for now!

Me and my family always considered getting chickens, then one of my moms friends got some and they were really sweet so we went to one of our markets in town and went to collect our six chickens the next day, for about 15 quid each. They have their own pen and because we live next to a forest we got an electric fence to protect them from foxes and stuff, ELECTRIC IS A MUST-HAVE works on all animals.

Our hens are really cute, we got them when they were 20 weeks old ish, they’ve been laying about 1 egg each per day, and they are delicious. We have not decided to have chicks yet.

To have egg laying chickens, do you need a cockerel? Also, do chickens have to have their wings clipped to stop them flying away?

Our chicks arrived today, all of them, plus the ducklings my mom ordered. What a LOT of them, too! So cute and fuzzy, all cheeping and sleepy. Gabriel got a big smile out of them, but then lost interest, lol.

As well, last week, my mom got in contact with the neighbor who had several groups of chicks for sale. Some were a few weeks old, and some were just a few days old, and she bought a miscellaneous bunch. They are Araucana chickens, and the older two she bought are crossed with silkie chickens. I don’t want to be mean, but these araucanas are UGGGGGGLY! But… they lay greenie-blue eggs, so that’s kind of cool, and my mom loves variety.

Last week we ordered our chicks, and they were supposed to arrive yesterday. My parents and Tommy and I put our order in together, but unfortunately the barred rock chicks are sold out for two weeks! The catalogue said to order early to avoid being sold out – well, how much earlier were we supposed to order?! lol!

Anyway, my mom placed the order and the guy at the feedmill said that they would send the barred rock chicks in two weeks. She confirmed that there wouldn’t be two separate shipping charges, which he said no, it would only be one shipping charge. Anyway… the mix up was she understood the rest of the chicks would be in yesterday, but instead they will all be in two weeks from yesterday. So it was a wasted trip as my dad, Gabriel and I went down expecting to pick them up. Oh well. So we’ll get our ordered chicks May 5th, which is better in a way because they will all be the same age rather than weeks apart. Instead of being excited about cute downy chicks, Gabriel spent his time staring at the John Deere tricycle that was displayed prominently hanging from the ceiling. I thought we wouldn’t make it out without a tantrum, but surprisingly, no tears or screams!

Our incubator eggs have hatched. About half were duds, which is pretty surprising considering we have enough roosters, and one died, but the rest hatched, happily without a problem.

We expected them to hatch on Sunday, so Thursday morning my mom removed the “flipper” – the part of the machine that automatically rotates the eggs – so that the chicks would have time to right themselves to peck their way out, and it is a good thing she did! Surprise! One chick hatched earlier than expected that same night! The rest all hatched Saturday morning into Sunday.

My mom and dad have purchased an incubator and started to brood some of their eggs. Today my mom comes across a very interesting snippet of information – apparently you can tell in advance from the shape of the egg what sex the chick is!

It goes like this:

If the egg is rounded or oval at the ends, it’s a hen. But if it is more pointed, it is a rooster.

Not sure how true or accurate this is… BUT the forum she read this on had several people chiming in saying it had never failed for them.

Just thought I’d pass it on. If it IS true, that is very very cool!

My dad was just to the feedmill and picked up a catalogue for both my mom and for Tommy and I.

I’m not sure how many we’re getting at this point as we decided against the layer variety like we were planning on last year, and we’re also thinking about having a few for meat chickens. I’m not entirely comfortable with butchering but Tommy doesn’t have any issues with it. It’s a “Jack Sprat” thing – he can do the actual butchering part, but can’t stand the thought of plucking. I have my reservations about having to do the butchering myself, but could pluck them no problem.

So we’ll see. We have a bit of time yet as the earliest they will arrive is March 24th.

Time to reopen! I am excited!

Tommy and I have been planning our coop and chicken yard already. I went to Frey’s Hatchery and while looking at the breeds, Gabriel climbs up on my lap and goes “buck buck buck buck buck.” Awwww!

for now. We just weren’t able to this year, but that’s one of the things that is nice about this site: I can retire the goals for later and focus more (or add more! :D) on the ones I have.

So, next year for this. (: