Sunday, February 10, 2019

Rebuilding the Chicken Flock

During November of 2018 we had a dog attack that killed 18 of our 24 chickens. We ended up with 6 survivors 1 rooster and 5 hens.  The owner of the dog took full responsibility and properly compensated us for the loss of the chickens. With the daylight finally lengthening the hens are laying again and our rooster, Lucky, is doing is job. The fertility rate is probably not the best since it has been so cold and the hens are just starting the lay.  However, it is time to start to rebuild the flock. This will probably be the the 1st of many incubator hatches. I am also going to supplement with a few chicks from the local feed store.
Some of the survivors of the great 2018 dog attack.

The selection of eggs is still kind of light but we did place 15 eggs in the incubator on Friday, Feb 8th.
Some of the eggs collected

Eggs placed in the incubator

I am going to candle them on Wednesday, Feb 13th to see their 5 day growth.  Most likely I will be tossing some then do to the fact they were not fertilized.