Suburban Homesteading – Frugal Living

In my Backyard Chickens post I told you all about our little surprise when we returned home from last weekends sheep show – CHICKS!!! – 3 at first, then another five by the next morning. Well, it’s been a few days with no new hatches. I think we are finished. Or should I say the hen is finished.

The final tally…drum roll if you please…14!!!

Little Frizzle hen still has 5 eggs under her, but I don’t think they are viable. Or maybe it’s hoping, praying actually they’re not. That would make 29 chickens total in a coop that’s built for 12 to 15. A tight squeeze to say the least.

All the chicks are nestled in their (enlarged) brooder box in the corner of the kitchen where they are out of the way, but can still be checked often. And, as fate would have it, or dumb luck, my neighbor came calling the other day to ask me about raising chickens. She wanted to get a few from the feed store and had no idea what to do or how to do it, so she stopped by for my help. “Well”, says I, “have I got a deal for you”. When she heard the peeps coming from the kitchen her eyes lit up and she ran over to see them. Needless to say I closed the deal and Fran will be taking 4 of our little darlings as soon as they are old enough to live in a coop. She even offered to buy the next bag of Chick Starter because I’m keeping them so long. What a deal.

I must have been on a roll that day. Either that or the chicken God’s were watching over me because I ran into another friend and she was talking about getting more chicks, but the feed store won’t have any until the beginning of April (last year they ordered too early and most of them dies from the cold). I told her about our population explosion and Amy is going to split the remaining 10 with us. Now all I have to do is get Brianne to decide which one’s she wants to keep. That will be a challenge.

But, for now we are enjoying our little peepers, watching them scratch and peck and run around the brooder is a sight. Definitely happy birds.

photo credit: jennifertomaloff