Chicks!

We finally have our chicks for our new flock of laying hens! (And the new pest control, fertilizer team.) I drove down to Jenks Hatchery in Tangent to pick up 26 just hatched NOVOgen Brown Egg Layers on March 30. We decided to set up the brooder (I put together a few cardboard boxes to make a 3′ x 4′ pen) in the closed in side porch of our house. It would be easier to keep the temperature warm, take care of them and keep them away from the cats there. When they are a month old, we’ll move them out to the new mobile coop, or as we will call it, the gypsy wagon. I am a bit worried about the cats; they really like hunting birds. Anyone know if electric poultry netting is enough to keep the cats at bay?

The chicks are very cute, growing fast and getting quite active and noisy. We can’t wait for the eggs!

In other farm news, the dry stretch of weather the last few weeks let us get out into the fields to mow, open up the ground to dry out, and prep the first fields for planting. The first starts went out yesterday: snow and snap peas! It is two weeks past the date I planned to plant them out. The last few springs were quite dry (last year, especially), so this is likely the real “normal” time we can get out in our fields, as our silt clay soil is heavy. But now the fields are drying out and there are lots of starts ready to grow out in the dirt, sun and rain!