Adding new chickens to our flock

[MoonShadows]

We decided to add 6 - 8 new chickens in March/April depending when the weather breaks. Over the past 4 years, we've gone from 16 down to our present 3. (We free range them and the dwindling is due to hawks and foxes.) We were going to get chicks and raise them in a separate area in the coop until they were large enough to let them in with our present hens, but instead, we have decided to buy 17 week old hens. They will be Red Sex Link hens from a farm about 50 miles from here.

So, on Monday, when the weather was nice, I started building a separation in our run. I will build a much smaller, temporary coop in that area that will house the new hens while our older hens get used to the fact that they have new "friends". Slowly, we'll start to let them mix, but only under supervision. Eventually, we think they will work out their differences and take up home in the main coop.

I'll post some pics as we go forward.

Below is a pic of our coop and run from last summer. You can see the door in the lower right side of the run that leads to "chicken freedom". (Notice the rope running up to the house so I don't have to walk down there every morning and night.) The separation is going to run from the wall where the clock is (between the hanging baskets). The new hens will not be free ranged for the first week or two. We'll probably make the separation a permanent structure. We planted 3 grape vines last summer in the back end of the run (protected by wire cages). Since we let the chickens free range (something we didn't do the first year), we plan to use that area to grow grapes. The entire run is 10 x 16...split up, each section will be 10 x 8. 80 square feet is plenty of room for the chickens if we have to keep them in their run because of predators in the area.

 

[MoonShadows]

I found the battery charger!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After searching the cellar and tool shed twice, I sat down and started to think.....my other half has a habit of stashing things in any drawer, cabinet, closet, etc., instead of putting things back where they belong. I decided to check "hiding spots", and found the charger in a desk drawer under a collection of old mail, paycheck stubs and Mass cards. I even found the vacuum bags I was looking for the other day stuffed in there too!...maybe, I'm finally learning!!!!!!

 

[MoonShadows]

NP @lcertuche. Nice looking birds and setting. Is that pond part of your property? I would give my right arm for a pond.

Just got in from clearing snow since 8 this morning. It was a dry snow, but I guess between the winds and letting it sit overnight really compressed it. We still have more to do, but at least we dug out the 3 vehicles and can turn around and get out of the driveway. Tomorrow I'll clear down to the warehouse. It was sunny for a while, but it has turned gray and windy, and it is snowing again.

 

[waretrop]

OK...OK You don't have to make excuses......allot of us are like that with animals.

This silly thing still lives in my kitchen....LOL He is beginning to crow and will follow me just about anywhere....

 

[MoonShadows]

I do keep allot of chickens and have about 60 customers. I do not allow them to come to my home so I text them every Wednesday and deliver every Thursday. It is a wonderful thing and they think I am doing such a wonderful thing to take them to them...This way I can sell all my eggs and not have to hang around the house all week. Use the phone one day and drive a few hours another day and I am done with getting rid of the eggs. It is all on the way to pick up my chicken food so I would have been using the gas anyway. Just recently I have been buying 2 pallets worth of food so I haven't had to go every week but my bank is there also and have to stop in that area anyway.

By the way, I watch for discounts on feed from Tractor Supply. They are 10 and 15 percent discounts. When you buy as much as I do it is quite a bit of savings.

I have a customer who has an egg delivery service. He lives in Greeley, PA and has about 60 chickens. At Christmas, he offered his customer home baked goods, and now he is offering them a selection of our products that I private label for him. He is doing well, and his customers like the expanded items he has to offer. (I don't think you can read the "brand" from these pics, so I'll post them.)

 

[MoonShadows]

Today, after the new hens decided to "invade" the main coop, I decided to clean the main coop out so they all start with a "fresh" coop. I cleaned the poop board and put new Sweet PDZ in. I hauled out 9 large garbage cans of old pine shavings, vacuumed, and put in a few new bales. The new 8 hens rewarded me with 8 beautiful brown eggs. Not as many as you, @waretrop, but we only use them ourselves and give them to a few neighbors and friends.

 

[lcertuche]

Arkansas in March. Sorry @MoonShadows.

After trying and trying to upload a file I finally just copied a picture from my facebook, lol.

 

[lcertuche]

We actually have 3 nice ponds and a creek/overflow off one of the ponds. Good for boys who like to spend the summer fishing. Long driveways for riding bikes and neighbors close enough if you need help but not so close you see them or hear them.

 

[sumi]

It's time you two stop honking at each other and get to visit and come tell us all about it

I bought 2 pullets in August 2015. They were roughly 20 weeks old at the time, a Bluebell and a Sussex. They started laying and just didn't really stop, except for a short period when I moved house with them. Sadly I lost the Bluebell to an unidentified predator about 4 weeks ago The Sussex stopped laying for a bit after that incident.

 

[waretrop]

Here are some others coming up. They are Polish chickens. The smaller ones in the tank are Serama. The taller ones are more Polish. I weed out anything in my Serama once it is full grown. Then I sell anything that is over 7 inches tall... I don't want any that are 12 inches tall..

They are the cutest little chickens...not that I do anything with the eggs...LOL