Our goal: reducing our winter flock while maintaining our freezer and egg stock.

We found Light Brahma chicks at Tractor Supply on April 23rd. We bought 4, all girls. Light Brahmas grow to be large, friendly chickens. One of our favorite hens (Boyo) was a Light Brahma. We like to introduce different breeds into our flock…because we can. Besides, feathered feet are fun.

Our first duckling hatched on April 29th. Michael gathered about 20 eggs for the incubator, but I left for the Thelma and Louise trip before it was time to candle them. As Michael did ALL of the chores, he didn’t candle eggs. We ended up with 9 ducklings from those 20 eggs. Tractor Supply didn’t have any ducklings we wanted.

We hatched 6 Speckled Sussex (with a bit of Golden Laced Wyandotte mixed in) by May 3rd. We keep the very small birds in the basement under heat lamps so they don’t freeze. They need temps in the 90s when newly hatched.

We brought home 36 straight run broiler chicks from the feed mill on May 5th. Michael prepared a space in the winter duck coop for them as there were too many for the bins! A “straight run” is where you get both males and females in the mix.

We moved the ducklings and heritage chickens to the winter coop on May 7th.

Those Brahmas love to jump up and perch on things. The ducklings tend to be afraid when you come to feed and water them, crowding into the furthest corner possible. Both these tendencies resulted in injuries. We noticed one Brahma not moving much, and one duckling had a leg that wasn’t working right. We brought them inside again and I splinted the chicken’s foot and wrapped the leg so it was immobilized. Both birds fully recovered; I got my bird first aid ⛑️ badge.

The ducklings moved to pasture on May 25th and have been happily running with the big ducks ever since.

We’ve inadvertently raised a clutch of robins and phoebes in our canoes. We hope to evict the nests when empty and go fishing one of these days.

This is not a dead bird. It is a bird that tipped over and couldn’t right itself again. We knew it was time to start harvesting the broilers when this happened.

Our son-in-law came and helped with today’s batch. Average weight was 5.5 pounds per bird. Three days ago the average weight was 5.25 pounds. Once broilers hit that 5 pound mark, they grow quickly. We harvested 6 birds today. 6 birds 3 days ago and 7 birds last week. Several were very small due to hip dysplasia which kept them from being able to access the feeder. I tried to nurse one back to health, but it was a genetic defect and not an injury. We lost 4 broilers to a variety of predators and injuries. We hope to raise the remaining 7 to roasting size.

Cheesy noodles made with chicken broth energy!