Flock Increase

After months of searching, we finally found some young-ish layers. It's surprisingly difficult to find hens that are pretty young (don't want to get a hen that's too old, cause they decrease the number of eggs they lay as they age), and we aren't equipped for chicks yet. Anyway, we finally found some -- our flock is now up to 17 hens and our first rooster!

King George and his harem

The new chicken run, still unpainted

Our flock now consists of Comets, Jersey Giants, and Leghorns. Comets are a hybrid of Buff Orpingtons and Rhode Island Reds, Leghorns are the breed most often used in industrial agriculture (not my first choice, but they came with the rest of the flock and the only rooster we could get was a Leghorn), and Jersey Giants are the largest purebred chicken. I'm particularly interested in the Giants because they're on ALBC's watch list and I believe in the importance of preserving old breeds for genetic diversity. Eventually I'd like to maintain a pure flock and rooster of an old breed.

Now that we have a rooster, we can hatch our own eggs to grow our flock!

New Chicken Coop

We did not make it through the winter unscathed. After a 3 night battle with the weasel, we are left with only two chickens (out of six) and fresh weasel tracks around the old coop every day. The remaining two hens are sleeping in our basement for safety while our repeated attempts to trap the little predator are unsuccessful. One thing I have learned: weasels can and will rip through old chicken wire. We thought we had the ramshackle coop we were forced to use sealed up pretty well, but it seems like a weasel will find that one spot you never even saw. So the moral of the story is: never, ever use an old dilapidated coop unless you have no other choice (which we didn't, at the time).

The last two.

Kenny working on the new coop.

As soon as the new coop is built and the weasel removed, we plan to increase our flock to 15 for now and 30 when we build a second, identical coop. We've already had several people express interest in buying eggs as well as encourage us to put a sign on the road for extra customers, so we think we'll do alright.

As long as there are no weasels.