Here Chickie, Chickie

After not raising any meat birds last year, and exhausting the supply I had in the freezer, DH and I decided it was time to raise some more.  I was a little concerned about being able to use the minimum order--25--with just two of us living at this little place here now (not counting DD2 being here this summer, because she will be gone back to college right about the time my broilers get butchered).  So, I polled my offspring, and they all said they would take at least three, leaving roughly a dozen for my own freezer, possibly less if the married offspring took 5+ each.

With that figured out, and having talked to my favorite chicken processor about his vacation schedule--being retired he takes an entire month off for travel every summer, I went ahead and ordered 25 broiler chicks.  While I was at it, I also ordered 6 pullet chicks (3 buff rocks and 3 of a blue egg laying breed) to boost my laying flock.  We've had a fox problem since May, and I'm down from ten hens to just four currently.  :0(

A little over a week ago, my chick order arrived.  Except, when I opened the box, instead of 30+ chicks, there were only 22!  The packing slip showed my entire order, plus the hatchery's typical extra "freebie" chick, and supposedly an extra broiler chick, totaling 33, yet when I took the chicks out one by one to put into the brooder, there were 11 missing. 

I had what I assumed was the freebie chick (see the striped one?) and 21 of my 25 broilers, but none of my laying breed pullet chicks.  No dead ones in the box, the other 11 were just plain missing.

I called the hatchery right away--well, about a half-hour later, had to wait for 9:00 a.m. business hours to start--and reported the odd situation.  In fifteen years of ordering chicks nearly every year from this hatchery, I'd never received a box that was missing chicks.  And only twice received a box containing any dead chicks (which sometimes happens due to shipping stress and/or rough handling of the container).

The hatchery representative was very nice, took my report, looked at my account, and offered to send out replacements for the missing chicks ASAP.  Plus enough extras ("They will have to be extra cockerels, no choice of breeds" she warned me) to make enough little bodies in the box so that the chicks stay warm enough en route this time of year .

The new chicks arrived five days later.  All of the 'missing' ones from the first order, plus more freebies. 

DD2 has taken it upon herself to name the ones she thinks will be roosters, despite the fact that they will more than likely end up in a soup pot this winter.  We currently have a Leonard, a Lionel, a Pierogi and a Stuart.  Leonard and Lionel appear to possibly be Easter Eggers, with puffy cheeks that look like they will turn into muffs and beards.  Pierogi is very obviously a Polish chick due to the pom-pom on his head.  Stuart (as in Stuart Little) is a true mystery so far. He's smaller than the other chicks, and we're not sure if he's a bantam--since we've never had bantams before, we're not sure how much smaller than 'normal' chicks they are--or if he is (more likely) a brown leghorn.  Time will tell.

Now there are 36 active little balls of fluff on skinny legs living in the brooder in our garage.  They will be there for about two more weeks before getting moved to the grow-out pen outside, and then 25 will go to freezer camp (aka the processor) in mid-August.  The rest are not meat breeds, so after they reach their full growth in several more months they will either be laying hens or roosters for the soup pot. 

But that's not the end of this story.  Nope.  Because DH just happened to be on a work trip for 10 days.  During this time, the chicks arrived.  Two days after their arrival, he texted to tell me that one of the guys he works with would like to get 10 of the broilers once they are butchered.  By my calculations, 3 for this offspring and 5 for that one and 5-10 for the one with a family and about 4 for the last offspring, plus 10 for the guy DH works with did not leave any for DH and I's own freezer.  That was a problem.

For every problem, there is a solution.

After many texts between me and DH (because he was, after all, on a work trip and coordinating phone calls across three time zones while working is difficult and spotty cell service makes phone calls nigh on impossible at times), DH and his work friend, and the work friend and some of his friends, a consensus was reached.  Would I be willing to order, and raise, and take to the processor another batch of 25 broilers? The work friend would pay all expenses and all 25 birds would be claimed; I wouldn't end up with way more birds in my freezer than I had room for.

After figuring when my brooder would be ready, when is the last date my favorite processor is willing to do birds in the fall, and what availability is with the hatchery, I went ahead and ordered that additional batch of broilers.  So, I will have chicks in my brooder from June 14 (when the original order arrived) through August 15 or so (when the next group is feathered out enough to live outdoors).  The grow out pen will be in use from early July through the end of September.  

Guess I'm a chicken farmer this summer.  I did manage to get a new poultry transport crate and a chicken catcher (4 foot rod with a narrow hook on one end) out of the deal.