For a while now, I really can't remember how long, I've really been wanting some laying hens. I've always thought that I would enjoy having a few for laying fresh eggs. With the cost of food these day's, and my love for fresh food and wanting to provide healthy meals for my family I've always thought about being a bit more self-sufficient when it comes to growing/having our own fresh foods in our backyard. I always knew it would take a bit of effort and work but I think that's what makes them taste so good! :)
So here is my start to a "goal" of being more self-sufficient.
This is the house that my sweet husband built for them. We made it off the ground so that snakes and other wild things can't get to them at night.
Cameron is so excited about the chickens.
The black and white one is a Barred Plymouth Rock and the other is a Black-Star or also known as a Black Sex-Link. The reason for the name is because from day one you can tell which one is a boy or girl! Boy's are born and have a white dot on their heads. The Black Sex-Links are a cross between Barred Rock and a Rhode Island Red. You can clearly see the Rhode Island Red in her!
This is Ginger.
She is a tall chicken and she will lay around 250-300 eggs a year!
These girls are very docile. They are not bothered by a whole lot and the boy's can just run around and they don't even spook and go crazy. They are really good hens. They are 19.5 weeks old and should start producing eggs any day now. You may be asking "Where's your Rooster?!" Well, they have already have been fertilized and since we are not hatching any babies right now we do not need one. I've learned a lot about these two breeds of chickens over the course of this past week!
The boy's love the chicken's and cannot wait to go out and see them every day. :)
My little farm boy's.
Landon has had a fascination with chicken's for a long time now. He got some toy ones for Christmas and since then he will go around saying "Bach, bach, bach". That's what he call's them "Bach's".
Getting a closer look.
Love it!
This is Oreo. She has gotten to the point Justin can just walk up to her, pet her and pick her up! No running around looking like an idiot trying to catch chickens! LOL. Oreo will also lay around 250-300 eggs a year. It may sound like a lot but they typically only lay one egg a day (some don't even lay every day) so that would only be 14 eggs a week. We will be getting about two more hens so that we are guaranteed fresh eggs all year long!
So far we have really enjoyed them but can't wait until we start finding eggs every morning!
I will let you know when I do find one or two!
