Spring is here in Southeastern Tennessee and the signs are everywhere. We have had a substantial amount of rainfall this spring. Coupled with days consistently in the 70s, everything is blooming early this year.
Over the weekend we put in our summer garden. We usually wait until May, but with the weather being pretty consistent, we went ahead and planted our raised beds.
Last fall we brought home some baby chicks from the local feed store. Fall is not the optimum time for baby chicks as they are extremely delicate and do not handle the cold very well. But, we wanted backyard chickens and we succumbed to the lack of delayed gratification.
Thinking we might loose one or two, we brought home 4 baby chicks. They lived in our bathroom in an old rabbit cage under a heat lamp for most of the winter. When they got big enough, and I got tired of smelling them.... we moved them outside into our rabbit hutch. We set up the heat lamp and filled their house with pine chips. (You cannot use cedar chips with birds because it causes respiratory issues). And they flourished! They are nearly 7 months old now and will start laying at 9-12 months. These are laying hens, NOT meat hens.
During the day, the girls go out to a reinforced dog kennel but at night they still sleep in the rabbit house. I do not feel confident leaving them out, so each night, we go up to the pen, gather up the girls, and carry them back to their house. They have come to expect it now.
Here are some photos of the girls free ranging and enjoying what spring has to offer.
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| Free ranging in the backyard! |
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| Nellie |
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| Donna and Rheba |
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| The girls- Rheba, Rhoda, Donna, and Nellie |
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