Bye Bye Old Chickens

The girls are gone, and we shall be eggless for a few months, until the new flock begins to lay. It's always a sad day when the old flock has to go because they've been faithful layers for years by the time they're ready for "retirement."

I am happy about their new home. They will be part of a young man's FFA project. He figures he;ll get enough eggs from them (with the help of his lonely rooster) to start a small flock. The hens were still laying a couple eggs a day--not enough to justify their feed as layers, but for his project, enough to suit his needs.

So now Larry has another project on his list: clean out the henhouse again and get it set up for the new flock. They're growing fast and need to be moved outside soon because the box we have them in, which is about 3' x 6' and 2' tall, is getting too small for 21 growing birds.

It's funny--I only wanted a dozen layers, but bought 15 chicks to cover any that might not survive. All 15 are still kicking. Then our neighbor brought us 6 more to replace one of our hens killed by his dog (that's a good neighbor) so we've ended up with 21 healthy birds. I am hoping we'll have one rooster in the flock-since our died (old age) last fall I have missed hearing him crow in the mornings.

Copyright 2012 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.