We have lived on this farm since July 1993. When we bought it, the land was mostly
wooded, and still is. The birds seem to like the shade. We cleared about 2 or 3 of
our 6-1/2 acres (yeah I know, it is a small farm) and built pens for the birds.
That was a gradual process, we started with just one breeder pen and now we have
3 breeder pens, 2 chick runs, a colony pen and a growout pen.
In June of 1994 we bought Bubba and Sophie, our first pair of birds (seen above). They were 3
months old birds at the time. Not long after we bought them, we had some severe
weather and we thought it would be a good idea to try and keep them in a shed during
the storms. Boy did we learn! We got soaking wet and the birds just loved the
rain. That was when we quit worrying about the birds, they can take care of themselves.
The following summer, 1995, we bought two more breeder pair. J.R. and Victoria
were 3 year olds and Leroy and Honey were about 5 months old. At that point Vicki
hadn't laid a single egg, and only laid one as a three year old, but now she is our
best hen.
We built our barn late summer and fall of '96. The barn is 100 ft. by 20 ft. It
is divided into a incubation room and a room for the chicks.
That was the first year we hatched
any eggs, and those were mostly eggs we bought. Out of about 30 eggs we got 11
birds, not real good, but then we didn't know what we were doing. Now we hatch out
about 40 chicks a year. Currently we have about 40 ready for slaughter, 38 of this
years chicks and 8 breeder pair. All in all we have about 95-100 birds on our farm.
Unfortunately, due to not having enough time, we won't be hatching during the 98-99
laying season. However, we will sell eggs to anyone who is interested.
