Saturday, October 11, 2008

Replenishing the Flock


Paid a visit to Foothills Alpacas and picked up 11 Plymouth Barred Rock pullets and one Rhode Island Red this weekend to replace some of the hens we've lost over the past year.

These new birds will be kept separated from the rest of the chickens until they mature a bit more. They are too young to compete with the larger chickens for food and we worry about free-ranging them at the rental cottage for such a short time---might as well get them on the new Collinsville Road property.

Using mostly existing materials from previous coop construction, we made another smaller hoop house and fenced off the back section of the run (which isn't used by our free-ranging older birds.


Apart from the one Barred Rock with a deformed foot and the singular Red, we can't tell any of them apart... but the kids can!

The kids have begun the usual process of naming them which means we won't be eating them.