Chicks

We've had 15 hens who were laying eggs consistently since 2020.  In the early Spring though, we began getting about 5 eggs each day.  That was also when the stores were experiencing a shortage of eggs, so we had lots of customers stopping at the house for eggs randomly.  We were having to turn them away because we didn't have enough for everyone.  We stopped eating eggs, and I stopped baking anything containing eggs.

One day, I was cleaning and Dan came home with 15 chicks from Tractor Supply.  He told me that he walked in, offered to take 15 of them for $1 each, and the manager agreed!  

There are some barred rocks and some Isa Browns.  

This is only the second flock we've raised out.  The hens we currently have we bought as ready-to-lay pullets.  We decided it was worth it to not have to hassle with chicks and feeding chicks.  

But this time, I'm keeping track, and so far, they've only cost us $40.

They got their cute little feathers.  Unfortunately, the littlest chick just died two days ago.  :(

I started taking them outside to get fresh air in the daytimes.

And this is them now.  We put them in our old, moveable cage which Dan made 5 years ago.  It still works!  Turns out, our hens aren't done for after all!  I started really picking grass to feed them 3 times a day, I feed them any and all weeds from the garden, and also switched their feed to laying mash instead of the crumble or cracked corn.  Now they are giving us about 11 eggs a day.  Two of the hens were very broody, so we shipped them off to the farm.  They lived there for about 3 weeks until they disappeared.  

I don't love chickens...but I love eggs.  So it's worth it to have a couple chickens to get eggs every day and not have to worry about egg shortages and such.  

Hope you all are doing good!