Chicken Update

Today I gave the chickens the insides of the pumpkins I baked for freezing. Of course, there's always one in the crowd more interested in the empty container than in the seeds. I guess she's just making sure I didn't leave any in there, she probably figures you never can tell with humans.

A hen Doin' Her Job

This year, we decided to keep more hens over the winter. The demand for our eggs has increased to the point where sometimes we don't have eggs for ourselves. That kind of defeats the whole reason of chickens in the first place. We're hoping by having 17 hens instead of 10 will meet all our needs. I'm also thinking the more warm bodies in the coop the warmer it will be this winter. Personally, I really think we need a four legged animal in there to use as a walking furnace. A friend of mine has a goat and her barn stays a lot warmer than my coop. I'm leaning towards a donkey. Always wanted a donkey. Don isn't too sure about a donkey, may-be he figures he gets enough braying as is. (Now there's a question best left unasked!)

I'm hoping the increased number of hens will keep the two roosters living in relative harmony. So far it's been working. Last year, I ended up separating the roos because one was being harried to death. This year I kept two new roos and they are getting along better. Each have their own harem of hens and as long as the second rooster, Chandler, doesn't start courting one of Captain Morgans' ladies, they co-exist pretty well. They don't ever fight, Chandler knows he's second fiddle and seems to be fine with that arrangement. He doesn't crow and he always gives way to Captain Morgan. I think because there's more hens, they can easily share without any conflicts. The real test will be when they are cooped up together days on end during a winter storm or cold snap.

Captain Morgan (front) and Chandler (back) Ignoring Each Other Peacefully.

We're thinking next spring of getting a few more layers, hopefully Americaunas, like Leah; green eggs are cool. I might look into getting a few meat birds to raise over the summer as well. I really like my dual purpose chickens but it takes two birds to feed us, it might be nice to have a few of the bigger variety. While we might expand our variety, we will keep mainly to our heritage breeds. They don't have the problems the modern breeds have. Modern meat birds, because they're so heavy tend to go lame easily. Modern egg layers won't go broody; that trait is pretty much bred right out of them. That means they won't sit on a nest to incubate and raise chicks. I certainly prefer broody hens to incubators and brooders. What ever we do, as long as I can go into the coop and thrill to a nest full of eggs, I'll be happy.