New additions

Well it finally is starting to feel like Spring in Alaska. Even though last Saturday I woke up to this.

But  most of the snow is gone in my yard and I'm finally starting to see green grass start to poke out.

We ended  up picking up 5 new chickens a few days ago.  More than I really wanted, but the lady was giving them away so we took them all.  I'll have some happy friends once out stockpile of fresh eggs is replenished and I start giving them away.

All five girls are Plymouth Rock Barred Hens, about a year old, and established layers.  As a matter of fact yesterday was their second day on the farm and we got 3 eggs.  We are slowly trying to integrate our last remaining legacy chicken, Nascar to the bunch.  And speaking of her, she started laying again as well once the weather finally warmed up.  I have her in the greenhouse quarantined from the other girls for now, but I've been letting them all roam the yard together and so far so good. All the new girls were excited about the treat block and fresh ground to scratch.  They are all nice sized birds and in a few years will make nice stew chickens.  We haven't named them and I don't know if we are going too.  It's not as hard to tell them apart as you think, but to be honest I'd never be able to keep 5 names straight with these girls.



 I also realized that the coop is now too small for 5 chickens let alone 6 if and when I can get Nascar in the new flock, so I'm working on a new coop.

I ordered some very large caster tires to help make the coop a little more portable and easier to move around the yard.  I'll post on that progress once I get it a little more done.  I finished the base frame last night and my wheels shipped from Amazon so maybe by this weekend I'll be able to really start building.

 The one main addition I want is to add nesting boxes and I've increased the overall inside dimensions of the coop by over a foot in each direction.  My goal is to build a coop one person can move and my hope is the nesting boxes prevent egg breakage.

That's all from the farm for now.