New chicks are here!

The post office called at 6:15 AM Wednesday morning to let us know our chicks had arrived from Cackle Hatchery. I jumped in the car to get them and bring them to their new home. Luckily, they all survived the journey and arrived safe and sound. We got 4 different breeds of chicken and 7 chicks of each breed. One breed, the Australorp, is a tried and true one for Deerfield, and the rest are new to us, but all of them are supposed to be good egg layers.

We set up 2 brooders. The first contains the Black Australorps and Speckled Sussex, and the second one has Partridge Rocks and New Hampshire Reds (which are yellow as chicks).

Sleepy time!

Our other chickens seem to be doing well. Some of the girls that we hatched last fall have started laying. Hooray! The Marans are laying very dark brown eggs, which are quite striking. We've been getting 6-9 eggs per day recently. Jeff and I are planning to take a Candling Class soon so that we can begin to sell our eggs. In the meantime, we have been bartering the eggs for various things, including a painting by a local artist.

-Annie