Better Luck 2026?

With all the turmoil and loss of chicks last year, we changed up a few things. 1) Found a hatchery closer to home for less travel/delivery issues to contend with. 2) Added a new top to the transition coop for hopefully, fewer weather issues. 3) Watching the ducks' pen more frequently because of a hawk attacking Diego this year. 4) Not raising broilers this year.  5) Pushed back the chick starting time a couple of weeks in hopes of not having to deal with extreme cold temps at the start.  Chick delivery was the first week of March, and this flock will be six weeks old next week.  Ready to go outside next week. 

We originally started last fall with about 15 hens retained from the tragic delivery group of March 2025. We kept them in one pen, apart from the younger May pullets. The March layers were a rough, rag tag group. They were less than cohesive.  All winter long,  I kept giving away a few more trying to find a cohesive flock. But as the numbers continued to dwindle, the aggression did not subside. Because of the aggression, I had few consistent layers in that group. I finally sold the last five in February.  On the other hand, and in a separate pen, the 18 that I retained from my May flock start over has been very solid.  Great layers, and very minimal aggression. I have to assume that the trauma of the delivery last year really set that entire first group back in a bad way. 

Winter was not as cold or destructive this year. Definitely wet with lots of atmospheric rivers pounding the Pacific NW, but the water flooding has been nominal for us. Thankfully. Only had one flooding incident with about 4 inches of water surging into the garage.  Picked up an extra water pump to help reduce that from happening again. 

I have my tomato starts going, and plan to keep most of our garden focus on easy plants this year. 

Photos below: Chicks during human socialization time in their play pen in the garage, new vinyl roofing on the transition pen, ducks are 4 years old now and great foragers, plus photos of our current flock of egg layers. 

Still Pulleting Along into Summer

The chicks we received in March are still not starting to lay even though many look like they should be laying eggs.  Unless something is going on that is either preventing them from laying eggs, or is stealing the eggs, it is not clear. It could simply be that the trauma from the shipping and the extreme loss of life had delayed their development.  Not sure.  But, yah, I am at a loss to explain.  

This year, we only sold half the number of young pullets that we sold last year.  Granted, we are planning on keeping more for ourselves, but after the initial March group, we had a really difficult time selling the May group. So, even though I had more reserved to receive mid-July, I cancelled that order.  It is not worth the amount of work to get those sold. I have three pullets left to sell, and three roosters. Oh Boy! 

All together, we plan to keep close to 30 hens this year.  So we are trying to revamp the transition coop, the one I call the Grow Out coop, since we put the pullets in that coop when they are ready to be outside. 

We are trying to figure out a way to insulate a roosting area for them and protect it better. 

The flock that we had in there all last winter did fine but we did have to bring those birds into the garage a few days when things got too cold and/or windy.  They did well in there, for the most part, so I'm not too worried about doing it a second year.  However, the young pullets tore holes in the covers when roosting, and basically created sky lights and extra ventilation.  I now have the areas where they poked holes, covered with a large mesh panels, that they should not be able to get their beaks through to damage the new tarps, when we have the time and energy to put new tarps on. But, we are hesitant to do any of that until we have some PVC roof panels to put over their new roosting area. It's a project that is going to take some time. 

I had a nesting box plan that I had hoped to use in that coop, but things change, and so the idea got revamped.  We are trying to do things on the cheap. So some old cherry tree branches were utilized as roosting bars and perches. 

The May pullets that we are keeping are in, what we call, the Double Decker Pull Pen.  It's one of the pens that we use when raising meat birds to move them across the field on a daily basis. They are still small enough to stay in there for a few more weeks. Then we need to get them moved into the Grow Out coop and the older March pullets moved into the main "Mansion" coop.  We had hoped to start selling the layers by this time, but without new layers, we really can't start to clear out the main coop..... Ugh! Plans, Pullets and Problems. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicks, Cornish Cross, and Layers. Oh My!

We've been busy chick rearing. The first flock of pullets are almost layers now at 13 weeks, outside in their temporary home.  We did end up with two roosters.  Both are Welsummer.  I'm sure I can rehome one rooster.  The other rooster is a dwarf.  Not sure there will be a new home for him to go to. 

Mid April, the 30+ Cornish Cross rooster chicks showed up.  One had splay leg that we caught early in the first week.  We were able to hobble his legs together to bring the one "lazy" leg back underneath his body in alignment with the other. Took about a week of this, and readjusting for his growth to get the hip to grow stronger.  So far, he is doing great.  The CX are all out on pasture now.  Hoping the better weather holds out. Not too hot, not to wet, and not too windy. They should be ready for us to start processing in about two more weeks. 

In the meantime, we picked up 30+ more day-old layer chicks the first week of May. They are doing well.  About three weeks in, I discovered that one has scissor beak (cross beak).  It is pretty pronounced but she seems quite capable of eating and drinking.  She is a pushy little gal, if she is a gal.  Fingers crossed.  I really don't need another rooster that I can't get rid of. This group is mostly Delaware, some Lavender Jersey Giant, Americana (a slightly different version of Easter Egger), and a few Amberlink. 

The plan is to rehome about 15 of these newest chicks, and keep the rest for a secondary flock over the winter. That will give us two flocks, each with about 15 layers, We still sell farm direct eggs in the neighborhood, and with the price of eggs in the grocery stores, our customer base keeps growing.  I sense that once people realize how much better fresh eggs taste, they keep coming back.  The 13 hens we currently have, can't keep up with the weekly egg demand. 

And this is the Scissor Beak with a friend. 

 

 

Pullets are Outdoor Ready But we are NOT

The young Laying Pullets are more than seven weeks old, and all are definitely ready to go outside. Unfortunately, we don't have everything in place yet. So they will stay in the garage for another week or so to give us time to get their coop ready. We will keep two or three of each breed and rehome the rest after about 10 weeks. Rhode Island Reds, Barred Plymouth Rocks, Easter Eggers, Gold Comets, Welsummers, and Lavender Orpingtons. The Welsummers were the strongest survivors of this brood and we have a lot of them. Unfortunately, they are not the best layers, but they are typically sweet hens.

The 19 reserved pullets are all with their new families.  One day after three pullets went to their new home, I was contacted by that new owner advising me that one of the new pullets escaped and they never found her. I could feel the despair in the message. So, that was very sad news.  The person wanted a replacement of that breed, but we don't have any spares of that particular breed.  They didn't want the breed that I do have lots left over. Sad turn of events.  The rest of the reserved pullets went to their new homes by the end of the day, on Monday, two days ago, without any additional incidents.

31 Cornish Cross Delivered Today

We had much better luck with the Cornish Cross chick order. The delivery was made from the hatchery located in the Midwest, in less than 24 hours!  All chicks were alive. Some are wobbly though, one definitely appears to have a form of hip dysplasia or spraddle leg.  

When they first arrived, we gave them plenty of warm water to get them rehydrated.  About an hour later, we gave them food and the majority of the chicks were all over that.  They are, for the most part, thriving. 

We do have one that may not make it. He won't eat or drink. I have given him access to watery food with mashed egg yolk added in, and some Poultry Cell vitamins but I just don't think he is going to survive. The one with spraddle leg may also not work out.  Cornish Cross need really strong legs to grow.  Especially since we raise ours out in our pasture after three weeks of brooding, and they have to be able to move, stand, walk, and run. So will do our best to help these little fellas, but it may not work out.  (Update 04/29/25 - Initially, both chicks were getting stronger, but the smallest one stopped eating or drinking, and constantly kept getting pastybutt. Washed it off every few hours and his coordination went down hill quickly. He died 4/26. The hobbled one did get strong and sturdy enough to have the hobbles removed two days ago. He's back in with the crew and seems to be doing quite well.  Walks like a duck, but doesn't fall down. )

Trauma Never Heals?

It's been a rough bird week.  So, yah.... the chicks are five weeks old, and these are the most traumatized and stressed-out brooding flock I have ever worked through.  I'm hopeful, as they get older, that they will settle down, but that may simply be wishful thinking considering we are five weeks in and they are hyper sensitive to sounds, lights, and each other. They are quick to attack one another for the slightest of offenses... I have one chick that developed vent gleet which I have to assume is due to the amount of stress she feels.  Some of the chicks have no tail feathers left because of the bullies... It's not just one bully, it's a lot of bullies. 

I have put the one with gleet in an isolation box inside the brooder which takes up precious floor space, but I don't know how else to tend to her extra needs. I have been adding probiotics to her food and giving her a dose of extra vitamins every day. She has grown back six of the tail feathers that was just a "nub" a few days ago. I have ordered some yeast infection treatment from a homeopathic source because getting antibiotics through a vet is nearly impossible around here. Plus, the cost of the bill would be, to say the least, cost prohibitive. I think I would be dis-owned for paying $200 for a vet and antibiotics to care for a $25 chick.... So..... Big Sigh.  (Update 04/23/25 - The homeopathic treatment seems to have helped. She is back in with our flock at this point and working on becoming one with the flock.)

We have the Gimpy Hen, who twisted her leg trying to pry herself under the water fount.  We have her isolated in a small pen situated next to the main laying flock.  She can get around, but is stiff.  She's still determined to lay an egg everyday, even though she really should just be resting.  What's a Mother to Do? (Gimpy Hen healed and is back with her group in a much better state, physically and emotionally.)

Then, tonight, Diego, the duck, escaped the pen and got herself stuck IN the netting trying to get back in. Don't know how long she was stuck there, but as soon as we were able to get her unstuck and back inside the fence, she went straight to the pond for a big, long drink of water. So I'm guessing she had been there for more than a few hours.... UGH! 

Earlier in the day, I went out to clean out one of our "transition" quarantine coops only to discover that the floor was covered in mold and mildew.  A leak in the roof that I didn't realize was there.  I had the floor covered with rubber mats, but obviously, the leaking roof had been dripping full tilt in this very wet spring we are having. I washed/bleached everything down, but the flooring, being a chip board, is fully degraded.  So we need to get that fixed by this weekend.  I will need a place for the forty pullets that will be six weeks next week. That transition coop was going to be our option for the two Gold Comets that we keep in isolation from the rest of the flock, since they are bratty and bossy, and I want to sell them in the next month or so. The 2 Comets are in our Large Summer Grow Out pen that can easily hold 25 full sized hens or 50 pullets. So, yah, the Comets are using WAY too much space for their actual needs. Their accommodations need to be downsized.

19 of the pullets will be going to their new homes in two weeks, leaving us with 21 pullets for another five weeks to figure out which ones to keep for ourselves.  All the left overs from the 21 are already spoken for at 10 weeks.  It is amazing how easy it is to sell chickens this year! I keep getting contacted by previous customers from the past four to five years, asking if we have birds for sale!

Have another 30 pullet chicks reserved for the first week of May.  Hopefully, that brooding flock will be much less stressed on delivery.

The first photo below is the pullet in quarantine, and the rest of the photos are the 19 that are reserved for people in the area wanting young pullets.