New Chicks on the Block

After a full year of chicken ownership it is now time to expand our flock once more with new chicks. Over the course of the last year we've gone from 8 chickens to a high of 12 and now back down to just 7. When the chickens really hit their stride in egg production we had a few months of getting 8-10 eggs every single day. Alas the life of a laying hen can be short if egg production is what you're after. The first year is generally the most prolific in terms of number of eggs layed and production drops off after that. Chickens can also fall victim to a number of maladies. 

We've had to cull a few hens due to behavioral problems or sickness. Once was picking on the smaller chickens and drawing blood constantly. One had sour crop and we also lost a hen due to a stuck egg which broke inside her. Most recently we had to cull a chicken which had picked up the most dreaded of all bad habits: Egg Eating. She single handedly ate 3 eggs one morning before Sean caught her in the act! 

Due to these losses our flock was getting quite small for their space and so we decided to expand! We now have 8 adorable baby chicks living in a mini coop. They will need to be kept separate from the adult chickens until they are old enough to switch to adult chicken food and they are large enough to assert themselves in the flock. Meanwhile, the big chickens love to sit around under the mini coop and hide. 

They are too cute.