Now that we’ve settled in, I figured I could do a few updates on what has been going on at our farmstead in the last month and a half since we moved in.
I’ll start with an update on the chicks and chickens:
Before we moved, Nic built a 2-part chicken coop that we could move and finish assembling once we got to the property. It is essentially a movable coop, but is stationary at the moment, until we get our pasture ready. I will post pictures and maybe a how-to later on if we decide we like the design. Our original three suburban backyard chickens adjusted pretty well to the move and began laying regularly again about a week after the move. We let them out of the coop when we get home from work for a couple hours of supervised free-ranging. We wish we could leave them out all the time, but we have a lot of predators in our area. However, they really do love and appreciate their free-ranging time, which they spend exploring, and pecking and scratching all over the place!
The weekend after our move, we traveled about 140 miles round trip to pick up a couple Black Copper Maran chicks. We’ve always wanted this particular breed because of the dark chocolate-colored eggs that they lay, and I am also very fond of the look of the roosters. We brought home 5 of these un-sexed chicks. Unfortunately, a couple weeks later we lost one of the 5. We still aren’t sure why, but when we left for work in the morning it didn’t look very well, and by the time we got home, it had passed. A couple days later we brought home 10 more female chicks. We did a joint order of chicks from an online hatchery with a friend. Since we work, she was able to pick up the chicks from the post office as soon as they came in, and cared for them for us for a couple hours until we were able to pick them up. We only ordered 9, but got 10. J We have 4 Dominques, 3 Jersey Giants, and 3 Black Laced Red Wyondottes. So far all have lived, and appear healthy. We raised the chicks in two separate brooders in our laundry room, the Marans in one, and the 10 in the other. We use large plastic storage tubs as the brooder box, with chicken wire over the top. They start to get pretty smelly, so we couldn’t wait to get them out!
This past Saturday, all the chicks had enough feathers and the weather was warm enough to move the chicks outside into the coop. Other than the normal hierarchy squabbling, they are all doing well during this transition. I provided the chicks with extra food and water, as well as a box to hide in; just in case the older chickens become a problem.
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