It’s about time that I posted again. Since I put my notice in at work, things have been hectic. That and there have been two new baby boys in my immediate family and a round of stomach flu in about everyone! So needless to say, blogging has not been in the forefront of my mind.
I gave a 30 day notice in to work. It’s bittersweet. I am thrilled to not have to work anymore but I will miss everyone and my job. For all the stresses it created – and sometimes I came home with little more worth than a lump of blubbering mess due to the stress – I loved my job. It’s just time for me to move on to different things. And what I am about to do is vastly different than before. I was a technogeek at a local college. And pretty darn good at my job. However, as of Friday, I am turning a complete 180 degrees. I am going to be a full-time house mom, mini-farmer, and creator of organic crafts! Oh, and work about 10-15 hrs a week for my brother to help finance my new endeavors.
As part of this, we went down to the local Rural King. To be honest, I didn’t know that this place existed. Or that I would enjoy it as much as I have. Think of it as a mini-Walmart in farming stuff. And guess what they have?! Baby chicks!
We picked up 8 this time and will be picking up another 12 tonight. I am finally ready to get out of the house (stomach bug hit me Tuesday/Wednesday) and so will head there this evening. So to see some of the babies I have so far? They are the cutest! On Monday, we did attend a Chicken Orientation and it has changed my ideas on breeds a bit. I was looking to get a lot of dual-purpose chickens in the effort to become closer to my food source. These girls will be my egg layers and after 2-3 years when they stop laying, chicken stew. What I will do with the next season (this is the changed idea part) is I will raise broilers. Cornish Cross chickens who are ready for harvesting at 6 weeks of age! Crazy to think of that, but if I did it right, I could raise these chickens and get my home-grown chicken meat for the freezer. I would know exactly where my food came from, without sacrificing these other chickens that will no doubt become my pets.
So let me introduce you to my peeps:
At this time I have 2 Golden Lace Wyandottes, 2 Bantans (think mini-chickens, my kiddo fell in love!), 2 Light Brahmas, 1 Jersey Giant, 1 Black Australop. This next round to Rural King, I’ll be buying Rhode Island Reds and Isa Browns for their egg laying skills.
What about you? Do you have chickens? What are your favorite breeds? If you raise meat birds, how do you cope with the harvesting process?
Getting Crunchified! 
I love chickens. I am slightly obsessed with chickens that lay fun colored eggs like the Ameraucana and Auraucana, they lay blue/green eggs. Then there are the Easter Eggers which are fun because you never really know what color you are going to get since they are a chicken mutt. Maran’s lay beautiful chocolate brown eggs.
I hope you have lots of fun with you little chicks, and don’t count on them quitting egg production around 3 years. We have a chicken at the barn going on 9 still producing at least 4 eggs a week. We are pretty sure she will only stop when she dies and with the way she has been going she might just out-live us all, she is one old stubborn chicken.
-K
That’s great to know about the 9 year old chicken! I do hope to get 3 years out of my chickens. It depends how the egg-selling business goes. If they become a major source of income, I may sell (instead of eat) them at 2 years old and start over every 2 years.
I did get 2 Aracauna chicks. I have 20 now! Needless to say, my kitchen is loud with cheeps!
What about meat chickens? They are 7-8 weeks old at harvest and from everything I have read, they are personality-less, mindless eating machines – which supposedly makes them better to harvest.
I haven’t had too much experience with meat chickens but any animal I use for meat I usually do not interact with hardly at all, and because I am me and must name absolutely everything I give them names like Hot Wing or Lemon Pepper. I find a little bit of humor makes it all much easier.
That’s the deal I have with my kiddo. Any ‘mama’ chicken he can name. But any meat animal he has to name them food names. Like nugget, chow mein, hot dog…helps keep the perspective.
The entire getting closer to my food source is a new avenue for me! I lost one of the baby chicks today. My kid took it very hard but I was able to stay neutral. I guess that’s a good thing.