Mo will be taking 5 of his pullets to the County Fair next weekend. We aren’t experts (really not even novices) of chicken raising, but they look really healthy, hearty and happy. It is hard to believe they were so TINY just a few months ago!
Of the 25 chicks and 1 rooster he was given, exactly NONE have perished. Seriously. They eat about $8 of feed a week plus scraps Grammy saves and we save for them. They like just about anything. We don’t give them meat, but they love veggie and fruit scraps as well as their feed and cracked corn (small can daily b/t them all–helps with digestion).
The rooster is now crowing and strutting. No evidence of anything else on his part (no pun intended 😉 … yet.
Mo says of his chicks: “They are greenish blue on the back and the rooster crows at 7 a.m. in the morning. We (me and Papa) feed them quality food. If you feed them junk, they could die; like cheap food and dirty water. I have learned how to raise poultry and how to care for chickens. It is medium hard, but my Papa helps me with the work and is happy to have the chickens in his yard.”
And for your viewing pleasure:
Without further ado, this is “Mr. Squawks”:
[flickr video=7696173492 secret=194139e914 w=400 h=225]
*By the way, the first “squawks” you will hear are not Mr. Squawks but rather Li’l Bro. :)*
And here is a just another video I took of chicken duties:
[flickr video=7696123404 secret=47ba43e701 w=400 h=225]
Is he going to sell them?
Some of them he will because the local 4H group we are a part of gave the chicks and rooster to him. In return, Jackson agreed to bring the 5 best pullets to the county fair, where they will be auctioned to the highest bidder. That money goes back into the Chick Chain 4H program for next year’s chicks. And then we’ve had offers to buy some of the others by a local farming friend, but we would love to keep them all as we go through about 50 or more eggs a week! 🙂 True, we do. But they are at my parent’s house down the road as our neighborhood doesn’t allow poultry … but we hope to move OUT sometime in the not-too-distant future where we can have them on our property … so we’ll see. Probably way more than you wanted to know LOL!
Naw that is awesome! I would have asked more questions had it been short!! We had chickens when I was growing up outside of Austin…was a crazy experience..we had to contend with the snakes getting in and eating the eggs or the chicks!! I have a ton of awesome childhood memories about our chickens!! Best.thing.ever! Your kids will have those memories for life!