Adding to the brood

A woman who buys eggs from us let us know that her friend was moving and needed to re-home her 39 chickens. So of course we had to hep out. No, we did NOT bring home 39! I’m pretty chicken-crazy, but even I have my limits. We took 17 and brought 6 to our friend on the Bluff who lost his chickens to a raccoon a few months ago.

Our 11 new ladies blend right in with our other 43. We moved them at night because it is easiest to pluck them off the perch than chasing them around the yard (very undignified.) We used the metal dog crates in the back of the truck.

One of the new hens is a grayish fluffy girl, but she is quite old. I felt so bad because she went right up to the top perch and one of my other hens really started squawking at her to move. She held her own though! Another little reddish hen hen is so molted (all chickens lose a certain amount of feather at the time, but she has lost a LOT) she really looks so pathetic. I named her Messy Bessy. Another one (one of the lady’s favorite) is brownish red and black, and I saw her fighting with a little white and red hen the next morning. They eventually worked it out without much more drama.

Hopefully they will all settle in just fine over the next few weeks as the weather turns. But yes, now I am the proud owner of a ridiculously high number of chickens, 54! Sarge the Rooster approves.

Chickens are actually pretty chill about being loaded in a dog crate and driven around in the back of a truck for an hour. 

I left the little lantern on that night just in case the new girls were disoriented.

The next day most of the new hens were still sitting inside the coop, afraid to go outside. By later that afternoon, they were all pretty much acclimated.

These are all new hens.

The new hens have yet to venture outside the fence. 

Bit of a mixture here. I really won’t be able to tell most of them apart!