We were thinking it would be fun to have a few chickens running around the yard and a bonus to get
farm fresh eggs. We were'nt thinking of having more than 20 or so chickens. And when ordering them online we had to purchase
atleast 30 chicks so they would survive the 2 to 3 day shipment. No problem. I placed the order for 30 Heirloom
Light Brahama chickens. This was great I figured they would start laying eggs in August.
The shipment was to arrive 2 weeks later. We waited got everything ready. Heat lamps, feed a place
in the mudroom that would be prefect. The shipment came in. But it came in late almost 4 days in shipping.
We were losing the chicks quickly. We ended up with 15 live chicks. I called the company I purchased them from
they were happy to ship out more. But of course it would have to be the 30 chicks again. This time they were shipped
during a snow storm in Texas (thats were they were shipped out of) I called the company again. They called the hatchery. They
confirmed they thought they had stopped that shipment because of the snow storm. They were ready to ship out another shipment
to me. GREAT! So we thought!
In three days we had a total of 75 chicks!
Both shipments were sent out. All of them lived! It was incredable! Now what? Do we have enough space?
Do we have enough food?
We made due and ended up using our cargo trailer as a temporary home when they out grew the mudroom.
Of course with that many chicks growing and then laying, we ended up have a lot of roosters but we also ended up with
a lot of eggs!
What do we do with all them? I started talking to Larry and Debbie Demarre about selling eggs
to them at the Gardiner Food Farm. They were all for it! That is were we started... But it hasnt ended...
