Chicken Trails back on Track

Two day old poultry of geese, turkeys and chickens grace our lives - yet again. One of our local ranch stores got their yearly boarders of geese, turkeys, ducks and chickens. Cackle Hatchery had already mailed our chicken order so it was soooo easy to justify...JUST a few additions to the already large chicken family en route! Yesterday we brought home a couple turkeys and geese; today 2 ducks. Presto; the new Hasty Acres poultry flock is complete!


"EXCUSE ME, but you're hoggin' the water bowl"!

The larger poultry waterer at the other end of the sheep tank seems to be the playground for the geese and turkeys so we added a few small water bowls on this end, for the lit'ler guys. The water levels don't last long and the chicks do more swimming than drinking!

Most of these chicks are too small to easily reach into the chick feeder so we sprinkled a generous amount of feed on the paper towels. Most is wasted during the daily paper changes but the chicks seem to eat more this way. And even at 2 days old, a few of the chicks already know to scratch around in it besides the initial pecking instinct. Mother Nature gives these little guys a quick start!

We bought 5 different breeds of pullets and 3 different cockerels, with plans to bring together certain breeds that will propagate a combination of broad traits into the flock. We're hoping to combine productive layers, tasty meat as well as natural tendencies to set, to allow a natural growth of the flock.

1. -White Leghorn pullets (female), white eggs, almost daily layers, but non-setters.
2. -Americauna pullets, green, blue, pink and brown eggs, multi-colored birds that are good setters, tasty meat.
3. -White Rock pullets, fast growers, good layers of brown eggs.
4. -Light Brahma pullets, large birds, fairly good layers of brown eggs, good setters.
5. -Dark Cornish pullets, excellent tasting meat birds, fair egg layers of brown eggs, good setters.
6. -Americauna, Cornish and Rock Cockerels to hopefully support the tinted eggs, tasty meat, quicker growth and natural setting tendencies.
   

The turkeys, ducks and geese will also provide meat that does not contain medicines and pesticides. As an added benefit, the geese love to eat goat-head stickers which plague our yard; the entire flock will hopefully keep down the persistent hoards of grasshoppers that graze across our property and garden every year, eating everything in sight!

It seems more and more people are raising chickens. Articles are popping up in magazines; more cities are allowing poultry raising within city limits; poultry websites are growing and the building of chicken houses is growing into an art-form! And some inner city chicken stories are worth retelling...for a long time.

Thinking about a few hens and some home-grown, healthy eggs? Leave a comment, ask questions. We'd be glad to help - OR - send you somewhere for helpful answers.

Hasty Acres chicken tracks...are back! Weekly updates ahead.

Nature prevails.