I'm getting more chickens!

[pygmywombat]

We are down to only 16 chickens here- normally we have about 30-40, but had some severe flock deaths due to someone's dog running loose and killed a dozen of them last spring.

I just ordered 25 assorted brown egg layers from a local hatchery. And they are so close by that we are going to pick the chicks up instead of having them mailed. And they are coming by next Monday !

And even better, friends of ours have caught the chicken bug and are ordering a bunch from Murray McMurray. They are combining their order with two other people and still only have 17 spoken for, so we are going to go in on their order to get it up to 25 and pick out some interesting breeds that we have been tempted with.

I hauled out all my chick raising equipment yesterday. I need to get it scrubbed, get bedding, and chick feed. Then I am ready !

[Godiva]

That's so awesome! I'd love to have chickens. One of my favorite childhood memories is of hatching chicks in my first grade class.

[newcastlemama]

congrats!

How great! I am sorry that your other ones got attacked

We will be ready for chicks in a couple months....do you sell the eggs and who to? (I am asking because 40 would make a lot of eggs right!?) I want a lot of chickens like you and my husband finds that entertaining...I will show him your post!!

Also, if you don''t mind, how much did that group of chicks cost?
Jennifer

[Jennbee]

That's exciting, we got our first chicks yesterday. 27 chicks and 5 turkey poults. 6 chicks are going to a co-worker's relative.

[pygmywombat]

Originally Posted by newcastlemama

How great! I am sorry that your other ones got attacked

We will be ready for chicks in a couple months....do you sell the eggs and who to? (I am asking because 40 would make a lot of eggs right!?) I want a lot of chickens like you and my husband finds that entertaining...I will show him your post!!

Also, if you don''t mind, how much did that group of chicks cost?
Jennifer

We sell them to friends, relatives, and people in our organic food co-op. You can probably just put a sign at the end of your driveway that says "Eggs for Sale" and get people. In Ohio you can sell eggs without a permit or inspection as long as you have under 300 (I think) hens. Plus, our family uses over a dozen just to feed all 6 of us at a meal, so we go through plenty!

Mine cost only $29. But this is very unusual! They were only $1.16 each because it was a hatchery picked assortment and we are picking them up, so no shipping costs. A few years ago we bought 25 Americana pullets from another hatchery a few hours away and it was about $60 for the lot. We also have all the chick raising equipment from previous batches. Just need to get bedding and chick feed and we are set.

[Chicky2]

great for you!!! I sympathize w/the dog attack. I had to shoot one that was inside my coop (don't know how that happened!) w/a belly full of my hens. Grrrrr! We lost 23 last year, so had to start over this year. I have 82 3.5 wk old chicks of allll kinds right now. THey are just starting to enjoy time outside the 'baby' coop the last few days. I was able to reduce the heat lamp temp rather quickly this time when they were in the brooder, so they feathered out really fast. They are 3/4 feathered already! I actually had to keep them COOL enough the first week, instead of warm enough because it hit 101 here! Very strange, lol. We are raising 25 for a neighbor who didn't have a brooder set up, and 6 hens for my mom. The rest are ours, w/25 being a batch of heavy breed cockerels, and most of them are for meat. The rest are all girls that I picked for their various laying/setting/brooding/mamaing (is that a word?) characteristics. We ordered from McMurray, as I will every time! I typically lose only one chick out of each batch, and that is pretty durn good. I have auracanas, australorps, phoenix, white giants, black stars, red stars, white leghorns, partridge rocks, naked necks (turkens), white crested black polishes, blue andalusians, single comb brown leghorns, golden polish, light brahmas, buff orpingtons, dark cornishes, silver laced wyandotte, and buff rocks! Then there are a bunch I'm not aware of yet (not sure what they are, lol) mixed in w/all the cockerels.

We also just had our 3 guinea hens (one pearl and two sky blue) hatch out a clutch of 18 out of 24 eggs that came from my mom--they are all from pearl and/or splash guineas. One came out the off-white color of the guinea eggs! So cute! We are loving all the babies!!!

Oh, and if you are curious, the entire batch cost $203.11, including shipping. MUCH cheaper to get them shipped if you order a big batch, from what I've seen.