Ahh, and so we shift gears.  Up until today it has been plan, prepare, design, print, mail, pour over catalogs, etc., etc.  Today the real work began.  We’ve now entered the time of year where we get busy doing all the things we’ve been talking about.  Why did things change today?  Because the first 100 meat chicks arrived!

The post office called at 6 AM.  I was back home with the chicks by 7AM.  They are Colored Rangers from JM Hatchery.  The lovely folks at JM were kind enough to send a few extras.  All 102 chicks arrived healthy and lively.  I’m still amazed at how well they ship!  Right now they are in a temporary brooder in our basement.

The latest batch of Heritage breed chicks are down there too, under their own light.

The next step is to prepare a bigger brooding area in the barn.  This weekend is going to be colder than the last few so we didn’t want to take any chances but putting them out there right away.  The chicks will be in a brooder for 3-4 weeks and then move to their pastured area.  In 10 weeks we’ll take the first group for processing.

We’re keeping better records this year (of feed, etc.) so I’ll share more as we go.  If you have any specific questions please ask!  If you’d like to place an order for chicken head over to our website and sign up for e-mail updates.  The newsletter/order form will be up at the site soon; probably today.

P.S. Unfortunately I can’t post videos here on WordPress so you can’t get the full effect of how fun these chicks are to watch.  If you’d like to see a video clip of last year’s chicks you can find it in last year’s post on my old blog.  Luckily, I’m used to having chicks peeping in the basement now so I think I’ll sleep better this year! 😉

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20 Responses

    1. Yum, chicken. 😉 They are cute. I’m glad we don’t keep them too long. Last year I got really attached to one particular bird. He would follow me around and he was so small I didn’t butcher him. I kept him and was going to put him in with the layers. Unfortunately, when we were rearranging pens the puppy got him. I was so furious with her!! My poor little guy. 🙁 Lesson learned though, no saving the runts this year!!! Better to eat them then have them face the dog’s jaws.

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