On our journey for a more perfect planet (and a desire for more eggs), we decided to add some more hens to our flock. Egg production has been down to 1-4 eggs/day out of 11 hens lately (which isn’t abnormal for this time of year). But when we feed 1 or 2 back to the flock in their feed each day, that doesn’t leave many for us. So now that we’ve got our current flock of 13 pretty much under control, it was time to expand.

Seeking to avoid another batch of auction birds, that are often factory hatched, typically received in poor health and are often bred specifically to produce fast out of the gate, but with little sustaining ability, we knew that now 2 years into it, we needed some new blood to keep up production.

In talking with others, we want to get to the point where we can just keep rotating new birds in and, for lack of a better term, cull the older “class” or group when their production drops. I am still not proficient processing them but each time it gets easier so will keep at it. None of these are “meat” birds so when “processed”, they’ll be destined for the freezer as future dog food.

Did you know…
The chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is the closest living relative to the Tyrannosaurus rex of millions of years ago? Thankfully, their diminutive stature keeps them from preying on us. As of 2023, there were 26.5 BILLION chickens sharing this planet with us!

Anyway, we got a tip from a couple at church, who told us of a home breeder/brooder in Pomona (about 40 mins away), so we made contact and arranged a visit.

On Saturday, we ventured over and saw a virtual chicken heaven. Dozens and dozens of beautiful birds, all free ranged and healthy so we picked out 9 young hens to bring home.

After moving our existing flock to the back 2 coops/runs, we settled the new girls in the front coop/run, since it is the most secure. Besides the quarantining required when introducing new birds, we wished to keep the 2 randy roosters away from them while they acclimated to their new surroundings.

Unfortunately, we quickly learned that area wasn’t as secure as we thought. Within 2 hours in their new home, a new arrival hopped over the entry gate and was free ranging in the yard. We managed to capture it and return it. Then, we added a barrier above the gate to prevent future escapes – or so we thought.

Live and learn. Within an hour, we had another escapee. This one was difficult to catch and ended up squirting through our yard fence and buried herself in the vacant property next door which is thick with brush and thorns. After a futile effort of trying to retrieve her, we gave up and guessed she would be some other critters dinner that night. I continued to check the fence line throughout the afternoon, hoping I’d see her again, but, there were no signs of her.

However at dusk, when we were putting the rest of the flock to bed, I glanced out at the driveway in front of the house and saw her pacing back and forth at that fence trying to get back into the yard. It was quite a happy reunion. We opened the gate and got her back inside, and returned her to her mates in the coop. This one will be named Emelia (Earhart) for her uncanny ability to disappear.

Lessons learned?

  • All of the 9 new birds had a wing clipped – although, this doesn’t seem to deter much. It may disturb their attempts to fly (straight) but doesn’t seem to inhibit their ability for the short leaps needed to scale the gate.
  • I literally had to turn their run into a fortress. It is already covered with bird netting to deter eagles and vultures but the flimsy lattice I initially added above the gate was reinforced so they no can longer jump up into it and have it bend forward (and down) so they can escape. After making the modifications, we enjoyed watching them leap against it – only to be rejected/bounced back into the run with no more flex to assist their escape.

We are hoping they’ll eventually give it up and figure out the best place for them is right where they are now. In a week or 2, we’ll open the internal gate (between the runs) and they can enjoy the whole barn yard with the rest of the flock. It’s always interesting to watch how the (now 20) hens sort out their pecking order.

We’ll see how that goes but we got 8 eggs today!