We are going on 5 years and just now officially adding the rooster:chicken:egg dimension to our farm plan. A few years ago we added about 12 chickens and one MEAN rooster. They graced our farm with their hen like cuteness for about 8 months and something came in one eve and left nothing but feathers for us to find the next morning. We then decided then we couldn't have chickens until our fences were up and we could keep them secure. We couldn't have them running round in the yard like "sitting ducks(chickens) for raccoons, weasels, neighbor dogs, and foxes just to name a few. The locals all had different suspicions about the crime scene, all different. We never arrested anyone! I guess the whole occurrence made us a little gun shy, not sure we wanted to feel the heartbreak again. So, wait we did.
As many of you have heard, our new chicken DIG's arrived. The chicken house is now home to 45 hens and 3(maybe 4) roosters. . We chose hearty varieties of chickens that are good layers and we also wanted to stay true to our belief in heritage breeds.
Well as it goes the wee ones arrive and they begin their life under a heat lamp. They grow FAST and eat ALOT. A bit more then a month has passed and the girls and their few token boys have decended upon the pastures! Here they are coming out for their first peeks. I wish I could have captured this moment. Now, they run about as if they own the place. They do make us laugh. My mom once said she could imagine them in the halls of congress, "clucking" issues out! I have never been able to look at them the same since.
