Yep, another typical day in the life... 5 fewer chickens in the yard and 10 more bird feet in the broth pot. I'm still a relative novice at fowl husbandry- I guess this is the third year. I first ordered hatching eggs from an eBay auction when I was 6 months pregnant with my little girl... and its been a real learning experience from there.
That first year, my incubator hatch rate was pretty low. Then when the chicks were about six weeks old, my sled dogs had a heyday and didn't leave too many survivors. In fact, they killed every single one of the tiny meat chicks- and all but three of the pullets. By winter, only one bird was left.
We called him the Aviator, and let him roost on a beam in the entry of our cabin. Needless to say, it was quite a surprise when we found a nest of his eggs the following spring. Now that was exciting stuff... to hatch a chick from an eBay egg, raise her in the cabin, and have her go on to lay gorgeous green eggs.
The Aviator is still with us... she doesn't lay many eggs anymore, and she's the closest thing to a jobless pet that we let hang around. Her favorite roosting place is on the woodbox just outside the cabin door... though I'll probably forcibly move her into the coop when winter hits with all its fury.
I liked the Aviator so much, that I ordered more hatching eggs from the same farm the next year. And I've been really pleased with her sisters too. One of them went broody this summer when I was roosterless, so I bought 8 guinea hatching eggs from a gal on Craigslist... and 28 days later, she hatched every one of those keets.
Its my first year raising guineas, so I'm not sure how they fit into our lifestyle yet... but its been fun. Five remain, and are still growing. I think there's 4 hens and a roo. I intend to overwinter them, lock em up in the spring when they start laying, and put a big bunch of eggs under a broody chicken.
I like the idea of raising gamier type birds, but haven't had a huge amount of luck so far. I lost all the turkey poults I picked up this summer, when they escaped overnight never to be seen again. And I brought home a dozen guinea keets just a little younger than my own... only to feed them for two months and have them disappear into the wild.
Free-ranging livestock definitely has its challenges. One would think that I'd have trouble with wolves, coyotes and foxes... but my biggest problem is with the hawks. We live near a landmark string of cliffs with alot of nesting raptors, and it seems I lose around 25 percent of my flock to hawks.
The guineas sure put up a ruckus when low-flying predators are scouting the area. And there's not much that draws my attention faster than the guinea alarm, and chickens running for cover. Aside from having alot of range shelters, there's not much to be done about the hawks. If I didn't choose to live in such a jaw-dropping locale, there wouldn't be so darn much competition.
Of the 40 Colored Ranger day-old chicks that arrived in July, only 28 made it to harvest. Some of those died early by accident or disease, but the lions share went to the hawks. The ones that survived are some big birds though... tipping the scales at 8 pounds average dressed out. And that makes a whole mess of chicken in the freezer.
I started canning chicken this year too. Bone, skin and meat all goes into the jars... with a touch of apple cider vinegar and a pinch of sea salt. 100 minutes later, the most beautiful broth and tender meat is sealed into those jars, ready for a quick meal. Gotta love home canned chicken. Wow.
Yeah, alot of living and learning... this chicken adventure has brought. Today's processing took only half the time that processing consumed in the beginning. And that means more time to spend on other everyday chores... something like a penny saved is a penny earned.