Chicks

Back in the winter, I ordered day old chicks and when they arrived it was down right cold so they stayed in the house.   Yep, I am a good rancher.

  They had to stay warm so they stayed in my bathroom under the heat lamp for weeks.  They grew fast but the weather didn't warm up fast.   So they stayed in my bathroom.   Finally it warmed up enough to go outside, along with their heat lamp, to a small shelter. And they grew some more.  Now they are beautiful yard birds, free ranging and eating all the bugs and seeds they can find. (Do you see the horses watching from the gate?)

Look at the biggest one. That is the rooster,  Mr. Fancy Pants.  He crows right outside my bedroom window about 4 AM (way before day light).  Its one of those sounds that is like nails on a chalk board.  He is a mixed bird.  I think he is mixed with a turkey because of his size and the sounds he makes......perhaps a goose......who knows!!

I have been throwing out scraps and some chicken scratch in an area that will be my garden next spring.  They have almost tilled the soil and removed all the grass.  They have also deposited lots of poo to help with the soils fertility.  They are roosting in the tree tops, for now, until I get the coop finished, perhaps this weekend.

The eggs began coming all at once. The eggs were laid all over the yard!  I had 33 laying each day!  Needless to say, many eggs went to waste and still others were not found until there was a pile of them.   Its fun to gather eggs but I will be glad when they are in a coop and its not like hunting Easter eggs every day.   I have lost some birds to the varmints also.  The plan is to coop them at night and free range them in the day.  

Check back next week.  My post will be about my quail.