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Now There Are 25!

How did we go from wanting 6 hens to having 25 chickens?  It’s because they’re so darned cute!  Really, here’s how it happened.

We couldn’t wait for “Chicken Days” to begin at Tractor Supply.  Here, they began having chickens on March 6.  Vince went down there as soon as the chicks arrived and he bought 8.  Even though we only wanted 6, folks who know about chickens say to get a couple more than you want because you usually lose one or two.  So, we bought 8.  All he knew was that they were “assorted pullets”.   When we went back on the following Saturday, the guy told us that he thought we had gotten Cornish Cross chickens, which are meat birds.  Not good . . so we talked about what we should do and we bought 8 more so we’d have some egg chickens.  We lost two of those so we were down to 14 . . way more than we needed.

Then we went back to Tractor Supply for something, promising ourselves we would not get chickens.  But they had the cutest little bantams, and we bought 5.  That brought us up to having 19 chickens!  The bantams were straight run so, no doubt, several of them are probably roosters.  They’re still just as cute as they can be.

Can you see their cute little black feet?  The ones with black feet have black beaks and black skin and I think I read that they have real dark meat too . . not that we’ll ever eat one!

Late yesterday afternoon Vince called me and said “Come and get me!  Tractor Supply has more chickens and this might be the last ones they get in for the year!”  NO!  He said “Let’s just go see them . . we don’t need to buy any!”  Yep, I know that routine.  It’s the same thing that happens to me when I go to The Loopy Ewe . . just to look.  Not to change the subject but we have water heater issues (that didn’t surprise you, did it?) so Vince had to come home this morning to show me how to turn off the gas to the water heater and he said “I’ll have to take off this afternoon and deal with it.”  I’m thinking . . the mail lady might bring a box from The Loopy Ewe so I said “Oh, Vince . . it’s plenty hot enough outside that taking a cold shower won’t be a big deal!  Don’t waste your vacation time dealing with the water heater!”  He just looked at me kinda funny . . didn’t guess that I didn’t want him here when Rhonda, the mail lady, calls to tell me to meet her at the gate for a package . . but he didn’t buy that I don’t mind taking a cold shower!

So, we got to Tractor Supply and they had this:

Buff Orpingtons and Dominiques!  I don’t mind having Buff Orpingtons but I really, really wanted Dominiques!  They only had 6 of the Dominiques left so Vince said “We’ll take them!”  I said “Our coop is full!”  He said “I’ll build another coop!”  That means, he’ll build two more coops because he has to build a separate coop for the bantams.  Good grief . . maybe we need more than 45 acres!

Our Tractor Supply folks are so nice.  Payton was catching the chickens for us and one of the guys walked out of the back and said DON’T LET THOSE FOLKS BUY MORE CHICKENS!  When we bought the bantams, we told him . . if you see us in here again, do NOT let us buy more chickens.  When the chicken handlers at Tractor Supply know us . . we’ve been there too much!

These were straight runs and I’m hoping at least a couple of the ones we got are hens.

We were so happy to get these.  Vince’s middle name is Dominique so he thinks these chickens are going to be his favorites!   They are so cute!

That’s how the Yellow Jacket Ranch ended up with 25 chickens when the intent was to get 6 hens!

Reader Interactions

Comments

    • lol me…. tooo, so funny thats why I have 4 mini schnauzers cause you just can’t have one 🙂

  2. judy, seriously, 25 chickens?! i’m thinking you may need an intervention here… lol. what are you going to do with all the roosters? they do make good soup…

  3. This is too funny. Did you know how much bantams want to nest and make more bantams? We had them everywhere once upon a time. You had to watch those mamas like a hawk to pull the eggs off their nest before it was too far along. Enjoy!!!

  5. Judy, you will end up being known as “The Chicken Ranch”, lol. Ask a longtime resident or a “native” Texas about the Chicken Ranch, lol. Seriously, you and Vince are having way too much fun.

  7. This is cool!!!!!!!!! Ours had buff orps but I resisted, it was really hard because I love buff colored chickens. As long as Vince agreed to make more coops this is good. BUT tell him this next coop needs to be BIGGER so you will have a spare small coop in a couple years for new babies. Just saying!!!!!!!!!
    Hugs!!!!

  8. OMG, this gave me the giggles this morning! But those babies are soooo cute!! Enjoy your chickies and your eggs (once they start).
    Eve

  9. I’m very happy that you have so much room that you can just build two more chicken coops and get more chickens. I’m wondering what you are going to do if most of them turn out to be hens and you’re gathering a couple dozen eggs a day! Hmmmmmm….might have to start marketing them to people who really appreciate fresh eggs. Too bad I live so far away.
    And, for what it’s worth, I was told recently that hens go from being an expense to being a break-even-or-better endeavor when you have four dozen layers. Hmmmmm.

  11. Judy – they are precious – absolutely darling! Can you tell I’m jealous? So far I’ve only casually mentioned chickens twice to my son – who would be the one building the chicken coop(s) and he was definitely NOT in favor! However I’ll keep working on him – and I figure maybe next year some chicks (if I can get it cleared with the city zoning laws!)

    I DO have a question though – what are you planning to do with all those eggs? You do realize that even the meat birds will lay eggs, don’t you? Not always for as many days throughout the year – but they do and will lay eggs! I suspect that you can probably put an ad in the tractor supply place for egg customers – and will get regulars who you will either deliver to – or who will come and get a couple dozen eggs at a time.

    Or you can freeze, or waterglass the eggs – or store them in any of a variety of other ways for short term – for use later when the hens stop laying. Still though – that will be a LOT of eggs (around 2 dozen a DAY!!!)

  12. Oh, Judy, I love the chicken posts. And Judy’s Chicken Ranch would add a whole new spin on things! (That’s pretty funny, Perry.) It will be fun watching all these chicks grow up. Some of your first chicks are already looking kinda like teenagers. Thanks for the entertainment!

  13. I live vicariously through the chicken saga 🙂 At our ranch we have dogs and trucks and more trucks….I would love a quilting room so large and beautiful as yours….but the trucks need a coop!!! LOL My sewing room is terrific and just big enough to allow a little spilover 🙂 My husband wants to know why I put fabric in our behind the sofa console table….duhhh It was empty and the colors look so pretty there 🙂 Works for me. Love the chickadees, keep up the great stories!!

  15. oh, Dominique’s are lovely! I’ve only seen barred rocks here, never a true Dominique 🙂 I know you hope for all hens, but if you get a rooster in there, they are just BEAUTIFUL (and then you can hatch your own chicks later down the road!)

  16. I thought a chicken was just a chicken until I started reading Judy’s blog. 😉

  17. HA! I was at Tractor Supply today to see the chickens and they were selling the last shipment for $1 ea!!!!! It took everything in me not to buy all 30 +/- that they had… however, since we are moving at the end of the month (3 weeks and counting) I figured my husband might divorce me if I showed up with 30 chicks… especially since we aren’t allowed to have them in city limits (that’s changing but we’re leaving anyway!) I am TOTALLY relate to buying the chicks even though you don’t “need” them. The good news is that you can usually sell or give away the extras on craigslist. good luck!

  20. Maybe you can get them into the gardens later this summer and let them pick bugs and worms off the plants. Free fertilizer is in your future for sure! Chicken droppings are very strong and can burn plants so a little will go a long ways. Now, you are becoming a chicken and gardening expert. More books by Judy could be coming up!

  21. Omg Judy, those dark baby chicks are so cute! I wouldn’t have been able to resist them either! That is why we have so many miniature horses ~ we just can’t resist them ~ too cute! But my daughter has thinned the herd down to 50 minis & we have just 4 lrg or normal sized horses at this time! Your garden is amazing! Thanks for sharing all the wonderful pics of your farm! Penny in S CA

  22. I think we need to see some chicken quilts here too. Hope you have a farmers market in the area where you can market eggs in the spring. But for the most part you won’t get a lot of eggs from the banties and maybe not from the dominicks either. But they will be fun to have around!!!!!
    Hugs!!!!

  23. More chickens!! You may have to change your mind about eating some of them….or stand out by the highway hawking eggs when the hens all start laying.

  26. Hi Judy–

    This has nothing to do with chickens–well, unless you count the fact that I was “chicken” to place my order for a whole hour until Dan encouraged me to press the “place order now” button. I just made my first yard order with the Loopy Ewe!!! Yikes!!!

  28. Well, I guess we now need to call you the Chicken Lady for sure! I just don’t know how you find time to do all you !

  29. Judy, Just to make you feel better, I just discovered a lady near by on a family farm and she has 300 chickens.! They are all not producing eggs yet and I could only see about 100 in one fenced in area. The the others must have been wandering around the farm. I bought 2 dozen “free range eggs” to see if I could tell the difference from store bought. Taste wise, there was no noticeable difference; appearance wise they were as different as night and day. The going rate here is $4/doz. is that about the norm? Just curious. Your’s are so cute. Wish I had some to play with. I may have to become good friends with the lady that has so many so I can help collect eggs! I remember doing that as a youngster with my grandma.

  30. I have always loved chickens. Just not the real ones! Until I started following your blog. I know nothing about chickens. Nothing! And having always been a city girl, I dont think I could eat the eggs. Just me, but I can’t even eat the radishes and carrots I have grown. Cause no matter how much I clean them, I still know that they came from”‘dirt”!
    Gosh, now I’m sounding a tad bit OCD!
    Judy, we too have moved to the country. Much like your Yellowjacket
    Ranch. I wonder how I can convince Hubby that we need to got to Tractor Supply? And what in the world will I do with the half-dozen chicks that are gonna “follow me home”?
    You’re having so much fun!

  31. I so know the feeling! If our TSC would get in something that I KNOW I want, I would get more, too. I already have 32 chickens!!!! OMG!!! I hadn’t counted until now! Eight of them were free “packing peanuts” in with my Barred American Holland shipment. I am 90% sure they are Buff Orpingtions. The packing peanuts are always supposed to be males, but so far, of the 8, I think they made a boo-boo and sent 6 males and 2 females…at least that is what we are hoping is right.

  32. I was in our TSC the other day, and they had one poor little duck. He couldn’t sit up and just kept flopping. A nice couple were right behind me and he attempted to help the little fella out. I went and found one of the people I know that works there (we have horses, can you guess why they know me?LOL). I told her about the poor duck. She said that they had gotten in a box of 50 from the hatchery, and 49 were dead and he/she was the lone survivor. They said that the box had been held at some point along the way over the weekend instead of moving on, and the ducks had gotten dehydrated and too cold. I told them to sic the ASPCA on the PO. Someone needs to learn to send live animals on as a priority. It was heart breaking to look at the little duck trying to sit up. The couple offered to take it and try to nurse it. The lady I know there gave them the duck and we all wished them success.

  33. Oh Judy you are so fun. I love living the chicken thing thru you. Our farm store got better chickens in than Tractor Supply did, I was soooo
    tempted. Your garden looks great too, I forgot to tell you in the other
    response-lol.

    Vince better get those big boy boots soon! LOL you are bcoming a farmer/rancher really fast!

  34. LOVE the Dominiques! That is why we went to all the trouble with the hatchery was to get Dominique hens. We have 30….I know what you are talking about….and we added two goats to the farm this week! Ai Yi Yi…glad to know there is someone else out there that can’t resist the critters!

  35. Oh my gosh, I love this post! I haven’t been able to keep up since starting my new job, so this is a great way to get updated! 🙂

    Your chickens are so sweet!

    🙂

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