People who have never had chickens can’t imagine how peaceful they make you feel. A friend gave us our first batch of chickens and every day I enjoy that gift! They are all different colors and breeds. Here are some of the breeds we currently have:
- Rhode Island Red
- Orpington
- Chinese Silky
- Bard Plymouth Rock
- White Plymouth Rock
- Welsummer
Sarah does a fabulous job collecting eggs and sometimes we eat them, but sometimes we hatch them. Normally incubated eggs have about a 60% hatch rate, but she has a near 100% hatch rate. That’s pretty good success!!
Unfortunately, we’ve had more trouble keeping them away from predators once they’re hatched. We’ve lost chicks and pullets to coyotes, raccoons, opossums, hawks, and who knows what else. These are just the animals we’ve actually SEEN killing them. Once Chris got out of the car with the children and a hawk swooped down out of the sky and just grabbed up one of our little chickens and carried it away for dinner. : ( It was so sad – and traumatic for the children who saw it. Of course we just chalked it up to a real-life homeschool experience – the cycle of life in action.
The two photos above are from the batch Sarah incubated a few months ago.
Sonya Haskins
www.thehomeschooladvocate.com
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