We’re still not exactly sure when they’re coming, but they will be here Thursday or Friday.  This set of chickens, fifteen in all, will be the first set grown specifically for meat. We will be keeping a few and selling the rest.  Four are already spoken for, but if you’re interested in an organically fed, home grown chicken ~ let us know and we’ll put your name down. It’s a first come first served type of thing, if not all the chicks make it, the person towards the bottom of the list will be crossed off first. Sounds rather ominous doesn’t it?  Anyway, its the next step in the adventure!

gray rangerSue did a lot of reading about differing chicken breeds; which were good for our area, growth rate, meat quality, etc.  She landed on the Gray Rangers because they seemed the best breed for our area, with great meat quality. Another selling point for her was that they are great foragers and do wonderfully well on pastured land.  We are hoping to be able to do have them out on the pasture for a large portion of the time.  She ordered them from Meyer Hatchery and according to their description, “Gray Ranger Broilers – also known as Kosher Kings – are a great meat bird choice for a pastured or free-range environment. Gray Rangers have a slower growth rate than the White Cornish Cross Broiler Chickens but make up for this with their foraging abilities and tender, flavorful meat. Gray Rangers will grow to 5 to 6 pounds live weight in just 9 to 11 weeks! Gray Rangers have Barred Rock and Sussex in their heritage. Most of these birds will have variations of black and white barred feathers, while some will have red and black. As with any pastured bird vs feed-raised birds, Gray Ranger Broilers will have higher levels of healthy Omega 3’s and lower levels of saturated fat.” So there you have it, a healthy meat!!!  Again, please let us know if you’re interested. We’ll keep you posted on their progress. Until then, as always~
Thanks for reading!

Today’s Weather: The weather today was gorgeous! The high was 76°, with just a slight breeze. Low tonight will be around 48° warming up quite nicely to 83°.

Egg Report: 7 eggs today. However, they have started laying in the walls again. We’re not sure why. We need to put more straw in the walls again, and perhaps replenish the nesting boxes. We’re just not sure what the attraction is to the walls. Chickens are funny little characters!