New Arrivals and an Invitation

We had some new arrivals at the homestead last week. Last Wednesday the boys and I headed down to a near-by chicken farm to pick out five new young (to-be) layers. They are not quite two months old yet and are so tiny compared to our big mama hens. Their baby feathers are just about gone, but they still have their sweet chick peeps. And so our flock is rounded out at an even dozen.

Drew and Garrett had a blast and wanted to help get them all set up in the coop. Jim modified the former doghouse inside the coop to make it nice for the new girls, who need to be kept separate but close to the older girls until they have a chance to get used to each other a bit. In the next day or two we'll arrange a meeting and (hopefully not) watch the feathers fly as they work out their pecking order.

The addition of the new hens reflects our enjoyment to date of our chicken raising adventure and of being able to share some good fresh, local food with others, as well as our goal of establishing some homestead income. Of course eggs from a dozen hens will not be, how shall we say... lucrative or substantial. But it is a start, and significant in that light.

We are also planning to take the next step and try our hand at raising some meat birds for the fall. This will give us the chance to learn more about what goes into eating chicken, and also to provide ourselves and some others with chicken meat that was raised the way we would like: free roaming and fed wholesome feed on the side. And this is where the invitation comes in: If you would be interested in joining us, let us know. We are planning to raise enough for ourselves, and have had interest from some friends and family in receiving some as well. We have a set number of birds we're willing to raise at this point, being it's our first time, but we haven't quite reached that number yet. In order to help cover costs, we would ask some contribution (which we can work out with you). But be in touch if you'd like to be involved in this adventure, be it visiting "your" birds, joining us for the harvest party (or the "harvest" for that matter), or simply stopping by to pick up your share of meat. We'd love to have you.