So chicken math. It is the only explanation that is possible! We decided a few months ago to get 6 day old chicks in March and then 6 more in late April when these first ones were ready to go into the coop. So potentially 18 hens come the end of summer. Yes, that could be a lot of eggs! But some might die or be roosters or…? We do have a lot of Orpington which do tend to go broody (stop laying for a month or so) but we will at some point have a lot of eggs. Matt looked into getting a handling license (?) so we could potentially sell eggs on a casual basis. Matt figured out that if we sold eggs for at least $8/dozen we could sort of recoup our costs plus we get all the beautiful, healthy, organic, pasture raised eggs we can eat. And I get some pets. They are truly adorable! Back to chicken math. Matt and I were going through the breed list at Lee’s Feed in Shingle Springs last night and so many good breeds. We were looking for heat tolerant, friendly decent egg layers. And some prettily colored eggs would be nice! There were eight potential breeds.
Then we see that Lee’s Feed will be selling Indian Runner Ducks in late April- perfect timing for the brooder to be available! Matt loves duck eggs and this breed lays and lays. Rarely go broody. Plus we might be able to sell those eggs too and maybe for more $. And most importantly- they are hysterical when they run around the pasture! Look them up! That gives us time to see if we can actually house them in the pasture since their behavior patterns are very different than chickens. Or we can get more chickens if desired! So…getting six chicks today turned into 10 chicks today, maybe more later, because there were five great breeds to meet our needs. Chicken math.
First off, they are so adorable! Lee’s Feed had these huge orchard boxes with all the different chicks. Just hatched the day before. So much cheeping! We stuck to our guns and got the ten we had decided on but then we had to pay inside the store. So I wandered and yes, bought some probiotics and hen treats. What can I say?🤷♀️ Then we took the babies home to thePremier 1 brooder Matt set up in one of the stalls. He and Dave spent a lot of time making the stall clean for them. So they are in their little brooder area with food, water and a brooder pan (supposedly better than just a lamp and definitely safer). I spent quite a few hours checking on them and making them eat and drink! They figured out the heat source quickly. So dang cute!
Edit: it is now day 3 and so far we still have 10 chicks who are already getting much bigger and faster. I’ll probably write again in a couple days. SO MUCH FUN!
