Chickens!

It's that time of year when my thoughts to turn to CHICKENS!  Next month I will be placing my chicken order to Murray McMurray Hatchery.  This is who we ordered from last year, and I was very happy with them.  My current layers are coming up on a year old.  They should lay decently through the summer, but by next year they won't be giving much, so I will probably be butchering them in fall.  No sense wasting money feeding them through winter!  Except, of course, for Bessie, the little Buff Orpington, who's become a pet.  Right now I'm planning on trying out New Hampshire Reds.  I think they're very pretty, and they're supposed to be big, hearty birds and good layers.

I was also able to find a farm that processes chickens an hour away from my house, so I won't have to deal with the mess.  Although it's certainly rewarding to do it ourselves, we just aren't set up to do more than a few comfortably!  So I will also be ordering around 25 meat birds, to raise and then send off for butchering.

And since our sweet Polish roo died, I think I will let my oldest get a new one (Golden Polish this time, they're so pretty!)