We've had a broody hen with chicks this summer and last, but darn it if
the only ones to survive were the roosters. We gave away 3 and thought
we were okay, but we have learned (and will not repeat) the lesson of
what happens to several hens with two or three roosters about (not to
mention to the humans living in the farmhouse who have listened to more
than one rooster crow at 5:00 am) and we've corrected the problem.
Today we picked up a shipment of baby chicks (hens only!) from Murray
McMurray. We chose a wide assortment including araucana's (sp?), brown
egg layers and even added two white egg layers to or flock. We split
the order of 25 chicks with a neighbor, so MMM gave us an extra exotic
chick with the order instead of the usual one. That was a nice bonus we
weren't expecting. We're taking care of the baby chicks for the
neighbor friend for the first couple of weeks--so we get to keep both
exotic chicks and my boys are so thrilled with the new chicks and the
possibility of what the exotics will turn out to be--you'd think today
was their birthdays and Christmas all rolled into one. Today is a great
day.