Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Our Flock

Rhode Island Reds & Barred Rocks @ 1 mo. old, should be laying by June


Chukar Partridge
Bantam Hens...average 5 sm eggs a day

Bam Bam & Pebbles

Quail


I'd say John likes his birds. I actually initiated it all. This past summer the kids & I went to a local animal park and on a whim we decided to buy the ducks to put in our pond, they were babies and very cute. They grow fast. They stayed in our pond until the ice started taking over. John had a heck of a time catching them. Luke and him ended up using a canoe to get to the ducks because they wanted no part of that net. They were pretty to watch and we enjoyed going out to feed them. John caught them doing the naughty today (..so he thinks) so we are hoping to incubate some eggs. Anyway, we also bought 6 chicks at the animal kingdom and they ALL turned out to be roosters so John gave them to a friend and he turned them into stew. The bantam hens were given to us as chicks when the kids and I went to visit the goat farm last fall. John can take credit for the rest of the flock. He has had a change in plans for his next arrival of chicks, he is now getting 200 Rhode Island Reds and Barred Rocks (100 of ea), he will sell most of them I am hoping. I say he is starting to have a bit of a chick addiction!

I started some bean sprouts two days ago. Placed them in a canning jar covered with cheesecloth.
I have never done this before, if we like I will see if they sell them at the natural food store. I am sure I will be able to get a lot more beans for my buck, these I bought at Agway...can't walk out of that store without seeds. John has that issue too, he has quite a stash going.

1 comment:

Amy said...

Wow, so many different birds! How do you like those Chukar? I've never been around them. The quail are so cute. A guy I work with raises 100 of them every year (along with ring-neck pheasants) and releases them into the wild. I'm tossing the thought of getting ducks back and forth in my mind. We have a large pond BUT ducks are very messy. Decisions, decisions! I've got some Barred Rocks on the way as well as 13 Buff Orpingtons and 7 Black Australorps. I've heard from others that the BRs are very nice chickens. I'm REALLY looking forward to all those farm fresh eggs!