The Call Again Farm Journal

The weather is lovely today, very sunny with a predicted high of 63 degrees Fahrenheit.  A customer was supposed to come today at noon for honey and possibly eggs, so I used this as motivation to do a badly needed cleaning of the chicken coop early this morning.  I couldn't seem to get anything done because I kept having to catch escaped chickens.  (They've been stuck in that coop ever since the rooster's death.)  I swear, for every one minute I cleaned, I spent four minutes chasing chickens that flew out.  In hindsight, it seems that I should have just let the chickens go where they wanted while I cleaned and did morning chores, then rounded them all up at the end.

With regards to incubation and baby poultry, a friend has offered to lend us an incubator so we have more incubator room to try and make us of the eggs that the chickens lay over the next few days which may still be fertilized.  I'm still afraid we won't have enough space, though, because we already have over a dozen chicken eggs and eighteen turkey eggs waiting to go in the incubator.  We are planning on ordering chicks, because we know whatever chicks we may be able to hatch won't be enough.  We're definitely going to order Javas, New Hampshires, and Iowa Blues, three heritage breeds, and may also try out the slower-growing Colored Range Broilers from J.M. Hatchery.