Spring Peeps

Well, our adventure with chickens has begun...

We bought our peeps on Saturday from a man at the Channel 16 Expo. We were going to get all Rhode Island Reds but then he showed us these... The larger white bird is a Deleware Chicken, they apparently are on the the endangered species list. They are supposed to be very docile birds that lay about 1 egg a day right through winter. Mature weight is around 6lbs, so it is a good meat bird too. We are hopeful that this one is a hen, it was the only one he had left on his farm. The other larger birds are the Rhode Island crosses, I forgot to ask what they were crossed with, but I assume, as these are the only breeds he had, they are with the Delawares. The little black guys, or gals, are Dominiques, also an endangered bird. The grow up to be these beautiful speckled black and white birds. They are more docile than the Rhode Islands and also lay about 1 egg a day. Again, we are hopeful that at least 1/2 of our 13 birds are hens, but with my luck, they will all be, and I will have eggs coming out of my ears!!!!

For right now, these little guys are living in our garage under heat lamps and out of the cold. We are building, or rather collecting, our hen house. We are lucky enough to have many farmers in the family and between them all, we have been able to collect an abandoned backyard shed, about 20 nesting boxes, feeders, waters and assorted other necessities. We just have to put them all together and build a completely enclosed pen for them.

Wish us luck, there is no turning back now!