Dear Farmer just ordered chickens to follow the cows (being the cow-vets) in the mobile chicken coop for next year! It's a very exciting day!!! First he got to make someone at the hatchery very excited when he placed an order for 240chicks to come in this year (next year he'll order the remain 160 chicks we need)! Then he got to tell the whole family that the chicks were coming, and what kind they were, and why he chose them. It's a beautiful thing to have an absolutely silent table of twelve people hang on your every word...and Dear Farmer loves to tell them all the details when they're listening:
He ordered Barred Rock Chickens because they have a nice temperment and are good egg layers, and later they make good stew birds. They lay well for about four years, they have brown eggs, but the chickens don't eat ticks.
He ordered Black Australorps because they are so docile, good egg layers, they are heat-tolerant(which makes them good for summer laying) and they do eat ticks.
And he ordered a newer breed, the Madisons. They are mix between two other breeds and are supposed to be good layers and foragers, especially bred for living in the cooler weather of the north.
He ordered these three different breeds also be cause they are so diverse in color, which makes it so pretty to look at!
Every so often we get a "broody hen", which means she just wants to sit on her eggs and takes great care of them, so they will hatch. This makes collecting eggs from her a little more intimidating...she'll peck your hand, and sometimes "bite" you...but that's the exception, not the norm.
Dear Farmer's going to be busy this winter, caring for all those chicks, but he's so excited about having a great flock next year, it makes all the work worth it!
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