New Digs

I've been so bad about posting lately that I don't even know where to start. I guess first things first: all 39 chicks survived the move from brooder to field pen and are doing very well. Initially we had all 39 in the 6X8 pen that we raised our original but it's gotten way too squishy so last night we finished building a new pen and transferred 24 of them over. The new pen is 8x8, so they'll have more room than the previous batch did.

Just moved outside. The chicks say "Holy cow, what's going on here???"

Building the new bigger and better pen.

We're using a different food for these chicks. Last time we bought our feed from our friend Dave but I can't remember where he got it from. This time we're buying the organic 17% broiler grower/finisher from the Otter Co-op. The chickens are growing well but they definitely don't like it as much as the feed we bought from Dave. They waste more and I've noticed there are more grain husks in this mix. I should probably give Dave a call and arrange to pick up a few bags from him but I just haven't gotten around to it. We've got a pretty significant range in size right now, so it will be interesting to see what the average weight is when they're dressed out.

On the plus side, these birds seem to be more active foragers than the last group. I'm not sure why - maybe because we've actually got some decent grass finally? We move the pen morning and evening and they go to town the second the pen slides onto a patch of fresh grass. It's pretty great to see!

The good weather means that the grass is finally growing. Unfortunately, so are the stinging nettles!