Last May, we purchased 400 new baby chicks. We asked for all females, but with every chick order we always get a small percentage of males. So far we have noticed only one or two, and while they strut about, trying to figure out how to crow, the females have gotten productive and have started laying eggs!
Chicks are fragile birds. Despite a lot of effort (putting them in round containers and keeping few birds in each container, adjusting them as they grew), the Fourth of July proved to be too noisy, and they piled up on each other. We lost a few of them as a result.
Most of the chicks have been growing well and eating good grains from the farm. At three months, they were set out on pasture. They have also been getting veggie culls from the Store and barley grass that we raise on the Delta Farm. As you can see from the photo above, their combs are developing and they look almost full grown.
Our egg count started with only a couple of scattered eggs here and there in the hen house, or outside in the yard. But every day the count increases. As they reach full maturity, the size of their eggs will also increase. This group of hens will then join the flock of our adult birds in the large pasture.