It snowed yesterday...a lot. It looks like that old proverb about March coming in like a lion and out like a lamb just might hold true around here.
We've ordered our spring batch of laying hens, to be delivered the end of March. They will be a straight run (a mixture of pullets and cockrels) of 50 Buff Orpingtons. We've been reading and hearing over and over again lately about these guys. They are supposed to be good setters, brooders and mothers, hardy, and large. We'll keep all the hens and a few roosters as our layers and will send the rest of the roosters to freezer camp. We hope to have them reproduce themselves, so we'll do experimenting with leaving hens with her egg clutches with this flock. After all, you aren't really self-sufficient if you must order your chicks every time from a hatchery, right?
Eggs collected: 487 (about an 17/day average), or about 40.5 dozen
Eggs sold: 15 dozen
1 comment:
The snow and cold made it up to Wisconsin, too. A snow storm, and below zero temps are making us all the more anxious for spring!
We have a Buff Orpington rooster, and some hens, and they would make a great dual purpose bird. Have you ever considered incubating and hatching your own eggs? It is a fascinating process, as well as giving you your chicks. Do you "renew" your hen flock? We have found that our pullets will lay through out most of the winter, but after the second year they stopped for a month or so. Terri
Post a Comment