Posts Tagged ‘chickens’

THIS IS A POST I FORGOT TO POST!!!! These chickens are now half grown!!! Enjoy the Flashback!

We have been enjoying our Hens and Rooster from Dragonfly Farm, so much so that we thought we needed more chickens!  The kids and I were at Tractor Supply the other day and heard that familiar “peep peep” sound and had to investigate!

A quick call was made to The Farmer, to see if we could buy some more!  He agreed and we bought 3 Amerucana and 3 Reds.

When we got home Our Farmer quickly fetched our old rusty watering trough that was saved for such a time as this.  Our screened in back porch was quickly transformed into a brooder.  I quickly realized that since these chickens had not been sexed we might end up with all roosters!  So I called back to Tractor Supply a few days later and to my surprise they had just gotten in some Silver Laces Wyandotte chicks.  Another call to the Farmer, and then a dash to get more chicks.  Our Total now it 7 hens, 18 chicks, and the big daddy rooster Speck.

I think they grow faster than children! The kids have been enjoying looking at them every day and counting how many new feathers they have.  I will enjoy them one day when we have more eggs!!!

I think Grady would like to be a chicken farmer!

We have been enjoying our back yard chickens and our farm fresh eggs!  Our little chicks have grown so much.  You really don’t realize how fast they grow.  They are kind of like kids in that regard!

Above is the chicks just a few weeks ago when they were still under their brooder lamp on our screened in porch.  Below is the chicks in their new home outside with the big chickens and big rooster “Speck”

The big chickens excepted them pretty well, although, I now know the definition of hen pecked and flying the coop!  The big chickens eat at one feeder and the little ones eat at another one and Speck runs around like he is loosing his mind having to take care of all these hens and chicks!

Speck letting us know who’s the boss.

Oh, and we have a new “pet”. Her name is Rosie.  This little red hen has adopted me.  She follows me around and likes to be held and pet like a cat!

The kids had a great time watching their little chicks growing up, and we all enjoyed their peep-peeping on the back porch.  Another added benefit was the herb garden that has flourished with a little help from the chicks.

We used the old horse watering trough (that was their brooder) for our herb garden.  We mixed the chicks wood chips and litter with potting soil and planted our herbs.  As you can see they are flourishing!  This year, kitchen herbs…next year we are planning on starting a trough of medicinal herbs!

We have a new litter of bunnies too!

Until next time…Happy Homesteading!

Our little farm has grown recently, an I’m not talking about our newest addition Stella.  I’m speaking of an addition of the furry and feathery sort!  We have always wanted chickens and eventually planned on adding meat rabbits and other animals once we got in a permanent location and got a barn built.  Well, the barn isn’t built yet, but we found a deal we couldn’t refuse on Craigslist.

Above: Speck and the girls in their first night home.  Below: is a picture of a few of the hens.

We researched chicken breeds and chose Silver Laced Wyandotte’s and luckily found a breeder pretty close.  We had to wait 2 weeks for pickup, due to weather. It seemed  like an eternity, but we had plenty to do!  We had our cool coop delivered and we built our fence, gathered all supplied and feed we needed, and then waited!  We highly recommend Dragonfly Farms!  We picked up our 7 ladies and we chose a very curious looking “Speck” for our rooster.  He is 1/2 Wyandotte and 1/2 Ameruchana.  He is a sweetheart!  We let the kids choose which was their favorite and he was it!  He actually lets them pet him and eat grain out of their hands.  I think they were excited at the prospect of green eggs as well.  You see, since Speck has the “blue egg” gene, any chicks he fathers will lay green colored eggs.  This spring we are planning on incubating some eggs and see what we come up with.  Next year, we might just invite you over for green eggs and ham! Ha Ha!

Here is “Specks” baby book…

He is the blue egg in the middle…

His awkward teen years…

More about rabbits…TOMORROW!