A "few" good chickens

One of the white broiler meat chickens!

We are officially in the chicken business at Uptown Farms! It's funny I am excited about it, because I have an irrational fear of poultry. It's something about the way the run aimlessly around pecking at things I think.

I had mentioned to Matt that it would be fun for the boys to get a few chickens to gather eggs from once we got moved in to the new house.

Around the same time we found out a family in a nearby Amish community will process meat birds at a very reasonable price, so we decided it might be fun (and tasty) to raise some of our own meat birds as well.  

So we ended to conversation in agreement we would get a few chickens. A "few".

Two weeks ago, I was in Denver for work and my phone beeped. I looked down to an email confirmation and shipping notification of the above mentioned chickens.

Is what I had failed to do with Matt was clearly define what a "few" meant. I arrived home to the chickens (who were delivered to us courtesy of the USPS just a few days after hatching in Ohio).

Matt's definition of a "few": 120 meat birds and 40 laying hens!! Say what?!

Yes you read that right. We now have have over 150 chickens and one lonely (and soon to be busy) rooster.

Our laying hens are a mixture of Rhode Island Reds and New Hampshire Reds.

Our rooster is a New Hampshire Red, although we won't even know which one he is until they are quite a bit bigger!

A group of the white broiler meat birds!

For now they are living in large water tanks inside our shop, so we can regulate their temperature better. Soon they will move outside!

I will keep you posted on their progress and what we learn along the way! If you are looking for chicken or eggs you now know who to call!

The laying hens are separate from the broilers because they are growing quite a bit slower and not able to get into the feed when they were all together.