Flock 4 Is Here!

Saturday we welcomed Flock 4 to the Shawhan Farm! Thus begins our FOURTH year of raising chickens. And how fast the time flies!

In the morning we set out to Master Feed (the feed store in Hillsboro) where we always go for chicks. I was super excited to see they had a slew of Golden Comets (the yellow chickies in the picture above). We really wanted more Comets last year, but Master Feed didn't have any in on that day. Dan and I are too impatient to actually order birds, something you can do to get the breed of your choice, and just pick out chicks that are already there.

Along with the 7 Golden Comets we brought home, we got 2 Dark Brahmas (they have the cool feathers of their feet) and 3 more Araucanas (the birds who lay blue eggs)...so a total of 12 newbies. That puts our chicken total to 47!!

Needless to say we will HAVE to thin out the flock by June or July, when Flock 4 is old enough to join the big girls and boys. We also need to try and test the rest of the flock to see who is laying and who isn't...but that is another post in and of itself.

I like only having 12 chicks in the brooder. I don't think we've had a group this small in it before. The chicks aren't that big as of right now, and so far they don't mess it up too bad before you go out and lay a fresh layer of newspaper down. And please disregard that messy spot in the back. It's hard to reach back that far with the lid on and they all run to back when you put the paper down.

Carl was excited to be a part of things this year! He was all smiles going inside, and YES I took pictures of his first chick picking...

There were tuff choices to make. So many cute peepers to choose from...

But we were all happy with the final choice!

Stay tuned for more chick updates!