Last week, in the early hours of the morning, the kids and I made the 30 minute journey to the post office to pick up our much anticipated package of baby chicks. It never quite feels like spring will come until there are new babies on the farm. These 50 Barred Rock chicks will become our new laying flock in about 5 months. We missed getting new hens last season as the hatcheries were all sold out before we were able to order, so this year I didn’t waste any time getting all our chick orders lined out for this season! These layers are all healthy and growing fast in the brooder. It always amazes me no matter how many hundreds of chicks we’ve raised, that our kids never cease to be fascinated by new babies each year. Caring for these little balls of fluff is the coveted farm chore around here! We are looking forward to being able to offer organic pastured eggs for sale as soon as our hens begin laying consistently, which we anticipate happening by August or so. Now to just get that new pasture egg-mobile built before they move out of the brooder in 3 weeks;).
Other exciting news is that our broiler chicks are scheduled to arrive starting April 1, and will continue to come in 4 week increments over the next 4 months. They take about 10 weeks or so to grow out so this will allow us to process one large batch every four weeks over the summer, starting in June. Don’t forget to get your pre-order in for fresh chicken this summer!
Spring is a busy time on the farm and we are all excited to get outside in the garden and pastures to soak up the sunshine!
~Brandi