Raising Chickens

When our four ladies first made it to the farm last summer, I spent hours sitting in the sun watching them. Now that the temperature has dropped and the spring rains of Arkansas have started, I do not spend so much time with them.   Our coop is a simple A-frame with no artificial lighting. Although we may be losing out on egg production, we feel that all creatures deserve a rest and if God intended them to stop laying when the number of sunny hours decreases then so be it. Interesting enough, egg production ceased only for about two weeks in mid-December.

Now that January is almost over, I am back up to four eggs a day. I am already back into baking/hard boiling mode and desperately giving them away.   Even with the temperature dropping below the freezing mark, our girls stayed nice and warm bundled up in their straw. They did lose some weight, but they are looking better than ever with their feathers coming in. When Michael brought them home for me, their backs were bald from an over-zealous rooster. The worst of the bunch was our Barred Rock, “Baldy.” She feathered out quicker than the others and now we have a hard time telling the two apart!

Baldy

Chicken projects for this summer include attaching wheels to the coop and constructing a type of detachable outdoor pen. The first, will make it much easier to move. The second will give the chickens more room to dig and graze. Unfortunately, with all the wandering neighborhood dogs, we cannot let our chickens out during the day unattended.