I have a question for you...
something that has me worried.
Here it is.....
At what point does one qualify to be labeled a chicken hoarder?
Seriously, I know I am not a hoarder,
but my flock seems to be growing as the years pass.
My problem is this....
after several years of laying, chickens eventually stop laying.
Because I have chickens of varying ages,
I never know exactly which chickens are laying and which are not.
So amongst my layers are quite a few retirees, I am assuming.
Even if I knew which gals were no longer productive,
I don't think I would have the heart to stew them.
So as the years pass, I start more chicks so that I have
plenty of eggs for my ever growing flock of customers.
This summer I have started 25 (the Cuckoo Marans and Henri).
And because my old layers are just not up to speed in egg production,
I have ordered another 25 assorted brown layers to be delivered in July.
As for room in the henhouse....there is plenty with 4 henhouses.
And because the hens are free ranging, they basically only sleep and
lay eggs in their houses.
The rest of the time they are galavanting around the farm.
I assure you I have happy chickens...
very happy chickens.
Each of the coops gets cleaned every morning.
They always have access to fresh food and plenty of water.
Table scraps are a common treat
(they eat as well as we do!),
and their days are filled with dust baths, insect hunting, pasture grazing,
and communing with all manner of farm critters...peacefully....
making for a well fed, non-stressed life.
So I ask you.....
do I need to worry?
Or better yet....
do my chickens need to worry?
PS....
I wanted to show you this sweet iris.
It is called a black iris, and it came in the mail
early this spring from a sweet friend.
I am so happy it bloomed!
Just lovely....thanks Linda!!
Comments
Gee are you getting the rain also. OMG..we are floating. Think I will bring the horses in for awhile to give them a break..ugh..mud again.
Have a good day..Judi
Have a blessed holiday weekend.... Enjoy your chicks!
You are right about the hens as they get older they stop laying. I need to get more I think. Chickens sometimes only live to be about 4 or 5. I have lost 2 older ones last year and one this year. One of our friends found a game hen (in the bantam family I think)running around down in the city and brought her here to the farm.
She was not accepted too well at first by the other hens. They had to start the pecking order again. But she sure does lay eggs. She keeps flying out of the pen to lay her eggs in the dog house. I think the other hens don't want her in the coop. I keep putting her back in the pen at night and she has to wait until the others have gone in before she can go in. She has found a spot in the coop under the roosting board to lay her eggs. They are hard for me to reach. I think if I left them there she would sit on them and let them hatch. We have to keep our chickens
in a pen because of the coyotes and coons. I really don't have time to raise baby chicks inside like we use to every spring. But maybe next year we will have to replenish the flock.
Have a nice day
Tamera
Country at heart
So no, you can never have too many.
'out to pasture' at my age so those girls just deserve all the wonderful life you provide for them...they worked hard. lol
I would do the same as you, i dont think i would be able to give them away of the other either. But tell me this......with that many chicken, how do you keep them out the flower beds?? That was my post this week. Mine are free ranging for the first time, and i love watching them, but my poor flower beds are in a disarray but bug free....LOL..... Sheryl
If you've got the space, don't mind them scratching everything out (in my garden!) and can afford the feed (I feed mine organic and it's getting really expensive!) I say hoard away! (I never have the heart to eat my own chickens either!) It's all good clean fun!
Blessings!
Oh I do crack myself up sometimes! lol!
hugz
You're fine on the chickens! They look happy, healthy and well-loved! I was the same way with my retired chickens! I just let them enjoy themselves since they served me well!