A new run of chickens

We've had chickens now for 4 years and  if you ask me how many we have I couldn't tell you.  I do know we will probably have chickens for as long as we have this farm.  It just wouldn't seem right not to.  Of course we've had some turnover due to predators, illnesses and age.  Right now we have age and youth.  Many hens are up there in years and I don't even know if they lay eggs or not but they're part of the family and it's nice seeing the different colors and varieties wander about the yard.

We have quite a few young'ns at the moment.  I tried hatching 14 eggs last month with terrible results.  Only one chick survived.  I felt sorry for him so I went to Tractor Supply and bought him 11 friends.  This week some folks came to stay who were buying some goats and they gave me 8 chicks and 11 eggs to hatch which I can't put in our incubator till the ones I already have in there hatch.  We could be overrun by chickens in a few weeks.   I have 14 medium chicks outdoors in a coop with a heat lamp.  Some of them are meat chickens and some are egg layers.  You might be able to tell which are the fast growers in the picture.

I also have 5 smaller ones in the basement until they get a few more feathers on them.

I don't know what we'll do with all of them if many of my eggs in the incubator hatch. 

I recently told you of the passing of Foggy, the wonderful rooster.  Well, his successor is just as sweet as he was.  Big Red was hatched here a year ago but stayed in a different half of the farm from Foggy until he realized Foggy was gone and there were more hens he needed to protect (or something).   He's a handsome fella and about as sweet as a rooster could be.  I've been really lucky when it comes to roosters.  Come, meet him.


Chickens may not be the only thing we're being overrun by.  Today this little guy was on our kitchen wall.  I hope he's eating the stink bugs.