Then and Now - Barred Rock Chick Edition

Back on August 7 in the "A Surprise in the Loft" Post we talked about how a sneaky hen who didn't have a wing clipped flew up into the loft in the barn, laid eggs, sat on them and then hatched out three little chicks.  On August 30, in the "Chicks are Growing Up" post we reported that actually four chicks hatched out.  It wasn't much longer before we learned that two of the four chicks met an inauspicious end described HERE!

Fast forward about five months and we let's take a look at how the survivors are doing.  The chicks are no longer chicks, they are almost full grown pullets.

Heartbreak Hotel

There is one problem.  I hate to see animals in a cage, but there is a reason... or two. They live in the barn and they get in all sorts of trouble during the day.  First, while they are growing and are quite large, they can squeeze through the 4 x 4 holes in the garden fence and have fun scratching up newly planted seeds and eat vegetables. As a result, and until they grow larger, we keep them in jail all day with feed and water. At night we let them out and they roam around eating bugs and spiders in the barn.

We've learned to wait until after we milk the cows to let them out of the cage, though.  As soon as we let them out, they ran and jumped into the trough that Daisy and Rosie eat in.  The large head of a cow can prove to be a dangerous weapon to a hungry pullet.  Even when they escaped a 'head-on' collision, they would then hop out of the trough and run all around the cows' feet, pecking around to find bits of feed that cows dropped.  A two pound bird is not going to win the battle if they find themselves underfoot of an 850 pound cow.

As a result, we now keep them in the cage until after the cows have eaten and exited the barn!

By my estimation, the two pullets should start laying eggs toward the middle of February.  At that point, we'll no longer cage them during the day to keep them out of the garden and they'll be moved out of the barn.  It is hard to imagine, but those girls you see above will lay 400 eggs a year (200 each) if healthy.  Pretty soon, they will be out on their own - living wild and free like any self respecting chicken should be.