Chicks

The chicks arrived on Monday.  We ordered some for us, and some for a neighbor, as chicks do better traveling in packs.  They’re packed tight to keep warm enough for delivery, but it doesn’t always end well.  One of the chicks was trampled to death in the journey.  As they say, death is a way of life out on the farm.

These are all laying pullets.  We’re raising them for eggs, not meat.  Knut and his cousin raised 50 meat chickens last summer,  and this summer they’re planning on doubling that to 100.  I was surprised how different, how much better the chickens raised off of our grass tasted.  Oh my word, we’re ruined to anything else.  Just like no one in my family will eat corn from a restaurant as it’s so tough, and now we can’t even eat chicken from a restaurant anymore because it’s so tasteless and dry, not matter how elegantly prepared.

Last year they built a movable trailer for the meat birds, that brought the birds over fresh grass every few days.  It worked very well.  This year they also scrounged up scraps in the barn and made a brooder for their 100 chickens coming later this summer.  It really works well, so I’m glad I get to use it for my layers in the mean time.  They’ll break it in.  It works much better than an old watering trough with a portion of chain link fence laid on top, as I’ve used the last few years as a brooder.

This is the first year we’ve had chicks AND cats.  Tiger, our best mouser, is always watching the new barn occupants.  You can see him lick his lips, and the kids have to be careful when lifting the scrap pegboard to handle a chick, because he has on more than one occasion jumped in with the chicks.  So we have to visit the chicks in pairs.  One to handle the chicks, and one to handle the cats.

We may have to wait a little bit longer for these chicks to free range.  Our current adult hens can handle themselves easily around the cats, but these chicks don’t have a shot until they gain some size.

Last year Silje’s hens took a red ribbon at the county fair because they were not mature enough.  This year I intended to order them earlier, but I had miscalculated how long an order of chicks would take, and they ended up coming a month after we needed them.  I really hope she has at least 2 mature enough to get her a blue ribbon this year.  She wants so badly to make it to the blue ribbon auction.  It’s possible, but not terribly likely.  I give it a 20% chance.  We’ll bring some hens, regardless, but I really hope she makes it this year.