One step closer to farm life!

I've thought about adding a few hens to Narleeville for years, yet every year I talked myself out of it. Well NOT this year! I decided that with the garden being productive the next logical step would be to get some hens so we can produce our own organic eggs. So for Easter this year the Bunny brought me some chics!

We brought home five fluffy, little peeps and made them a home in our old dog kennel. They are fairly low maintenance and with a heat lamp, feed and some water they're doing great!

We need to build a chicken coop, and fence them into a run. They'll move from their "brooder" to the hen house at approximately 8 weeks old, or when they are fully feathered. Matilda and Tuna are almost constantly camped outside of the brooder and haven't tried any funny business...yet. We have three named so far, Izaak named one of the brunettes "Poe" and the other brunette is "Camilla" after the chicken that the Swedish Chef is always chasing on The Muppet Show, and alas, Aliza named her little yellow chic, "Chickey". They all have little personalities and are gentle to hold. At about 4 months old they will begin laying one egg a day each. That is 35 organic eggs a week! In addition to organic chicken feed they will take care of any and all leftovers, bugs, grubs, garden waste and everything else they can find. The only thing that will make them sick is green potatoe peels. The output is great garden fertalizer and food - can't beat that!

Can you imagine what I could do with an acre of land?