After "harvesting" our first batch of 30 meat chickens we decided it was not so bad and so here we are doing it again! This time we have 50 birds...well make that 53. The hatchery throws in the bird equivalent to a bakers dozen because one can expect a certain casualty rate. Although out of our first bunch of 31 we only lost a single bird. I'm hoping to finish with 53 this time, but maybe I'm being unrealistically optimistic!
These sweet little chicks will spend the first 3-4 weeks in our new improved brooder. We have an eight foot diameter metal cow tank with two foot high sides. The floor is covered in several inches of wood shavings and they have three water troughs and three food troughs. These little guys have a ton of space. They only require 1/2" of space, but are happier the more room they have to roam. They start getting quite large even at 3-4 weeks when they move out to the chicken tractor (see previous blog post about that).
Taking care of the chicks is one of the many home school projects that the girls get to take part in on the farm. Elli has become the primary farmer for bottle feeding the one calf on milk replacer and both girls have taken on the job of making sure the cats have water.
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