The new flock has arrived (well most if it anyway)! How cute are they? We are busy brooding over here and it is so much fun. Who am I kidding? Most of the time is spent just adoring these adorable sweeties.
We are trying some new breeds for our next batch of layers. Right now we keep Black Stars, Red Stars and Ameraucanas (not pictured). This time around we will be keeping Amberlinks (not pictured), Welsummers (the cutie on the right) and Ameraucanas. For you chicken-folk out there Black and Red Stars are amazing! This was our first year keeping them and we love, love, love them. If you haven't kept them we highly recommend them. They lay very big, brown eggs ranging from light to medium in color. They are docile, although they lack any significant personality in comparison to other breeds we have kept. The only reason we are not keeping them again is purely experimental and aesthetic. Amberlinks and Welsummers are both breeds that are much more likely to range away from the coop and get a great deal of their daily ration from whatever they may find. Organic grain is expensive and we are committed to staying organic so we thought it would be interesting to see if we note any difference in grain consumption during the next laying cycle. Our chickens free range but yet the Black and Red Stars hang around (and in!) our house most of the day. Amberlinks are quite popular in Europe since many more of their poultry farms are leaning toward free-range operation. The only downside that I can see so far is that they are a mostly white chicken, speckled with brown which makes them a lovely stand out target in free range situations.
{Welsummer}
The Welsummer chicks look an awful lot like an Ameraucana chick. Our Chippy got her name because she looked like a little chipmunk when she was a wee bitty chick. I would say this lady does as well.
The black chick in the first picture and next picture was a 'freebie' and anyone who has ordered chicks knows what this means. Rooster! They sent five of them. Thank you very much.
But don't they look darling together?
Next up, the Basics of Brooding. So many people are getting into keeping backyard flocks so I thought it might be fun to share some of what we've learned over the years and show you how we go about brooding our baby chicks! Stay tuned!
Oh, by the way I added the Facebook 'Like' feature to the blog. It's in the sidebar there somewhere. I am not sure where to put it yet! Go ahead and 'Like' away :)
