We are all looking forward to spring here at the farm. The hens are getting restless and ready to get outside, the ewes will soon lamb, and the garden looks bare. The fields are beginning to get greener and well, I’m just ready for spring. How about you?
Today’s update is focused on our pullets. We have 600+ young soon-to-be layers that we are hoping to sell in April. The week of April 8th to be exact. I’ll give a rundown of what we have and there will be an order form button at the bottom of the page where you can place orders if you so desire.
We started chicks at two different times, two weeks apart. So on April 8th, they will be 14 and 16 weeks old.
Our first 300 chicks were hatched on December 20, 2023. This batch is 1/3 Chocolate Eggers and 2/3 Olive Eggers. Being a newbie at this, I started them together…in the same pen. My initial thought was that when they are older…we’ll be able to tell them apart. Nope. Not gonna happen:) So for this batch, we have begun referring to them as our ‘Camo Eggers’. Just know that these hens will lay a mix of green and brown eggs.
Our second batch of 400 chicks were hatched on January 3, 2024. This batch contains 200 Easter Eggers and 200 Novagen Browns. These too are in a shared pen, but there is a distinct difference between these two breeds.
Our goal is to have these girls picked up the week of April 8th. We have more chicks (meat birds) arriving in April.
Order Here
The links above (as you may have gathered) are to the Freedom Ranger website. Freedom Ranger Hatchery has hatched all our chicks and we have been happy with them. Their website does a great job of describing the various breeds.
These girls still have their beaks intact and have not received any vaccines or medications. They are being fed a non-gmo feed and seem to be doing great.
QUESTION:
We are considering starting more pullets in May. They would be available sometime in August. Would anyone have an interest in birds in August? We could do Olive Eggers, Easter Eggers, Rhode Island Reds, or Novegan Browns or Whites. If there is interest, I will put an order form together and let you know the pricing and what we would request for a deposit.
We are also planning to begin our first year of meat birds. We’ve built a few chicken tractors and have our first batch of chicks arriving in April. We’ll be starting with 70 birds, which should be enough to feed our family of seven for the year. We are curious if anyone else would have an interest in meat birds. If so, we will do more batches. :) Let us know.
