Baby chicks and turkeys!

We finally have some!

I use to have alot of chickens.....I have had turkeys,ducks,pheasants etc. too but then we moved out of state, built a house....etc. and haven't had time to build any chicken pens or get more chicks.(We also now have an organic chicken farmer for a neighbor that we got FREE eggs from so that made the egg issue not as important.)Figuring out how I would keep the chickens enclosed was another hindrance.I have gardens and flower beds that I do not want my chickens in.(They can do some real damage quick!) Yet I didn't want the traditional kind of pen that I had in the past. I want them free ranged! hmmmm Well,my husband is building me a HUGE chicken pen for my birthday! I really mean HUGE :) It is aprox 50 ft by 150 ft! My chickens,turkeys and whatever else I get will be able to free range yet still be caged! The pen is going to be built in part of our yard (we live in the boonies :) ) under a beautiful stand of poplar trees.....The area is big enough that they won't be able to scratch it all down to dirt but should have an abundance of greens and bugs.....I am very excited!

I am going to have a variety of breeds of chickens....

Black australorps
Silver Laced Wyandottes
Black Giants
Buff Orpingtons
New Hampshire Reds
Araucanas

My turkeys are.....

Blue Slate

I don't have the Black australorps yet.....They were OUT and that is the #1 breed I wanted! The feed store that I orered from say that they should be able to order me some yet this year....Oh and the Araucanas too.....All of the breeds that I have are heirloom breeds.I do not trust any of the hybrid/cross animals.....Or anything for that matter! From cows to seeds give me heirloom! They hybrid stuff is suppose to me "improved" but how can they really be? Almost all of them have reproduction problems....Some CAN"T even reproduce naturally! The white broadbreasted turkeys that are commonly grown for meat are prone to an abundance of health problems! They can be very hard to keep alive and they can't even mate.....No thank you....I don't even need to read a "study" (although their are many) to prove to me that meat/milk/eggs etc. from hybrid animals are inferior....Who knows what nutrients are missing....?

I am thrilled to have chickens again.....I am thankful to have had the opportunity to have the organic eggs from our neighbor while it lasted (he charges now....$2.00 a dozen...very reasonable still...) but unfortunately, "organic" doesn't always = healthy .I want eggs from birds who are living in fresh air and eating the diet they were intended to have.The organic chickens are hybrid and although they are not caged,they might as well be.....There are thousands in a barn and even though they have access to the outdoors,they won't GO out(they are mentally OFF)....You can't even breath in the barn....It makes your eyes water from the ammonia.So they are fed organic grain? They are not healthy birds.....Makes you think twice about what you are actually getting when you spend the high price on ORGANIC food.....Most of the time it is a joke....Just a money making scam.I am all for TRUE organic food.....Your best bet is to grow it/raise it yourself or buy from a local farmer/source you know and trust!

I would post pictures of the birds but blogger will not let me right now for some reason....