| The new chick brooder made from a kiddie pool left under our deck when we bought the house! |
The chicks are still a little skittish, but it seems like they like having a roof over their brooder so they can hide. They are going through 2 gallons of water and about 1 lb. of food per day! They are growing machines!
| The chicks are getting bigger |
Some of them are a little more friendly than others; curious almost. They are starting to get ugly now, and they're starting to fly a little. You may not know, but the chicken you're used to eating is actually a very ugly bird when it's full grown. I just happen to be growing the same breed of chicken, but a heck of a lot differently! No hormones, no antibiotics, and completely natural food. That's the Lavasseur Family Farm way. Oh, and happy chickens too!
| They are curious about the camera |
And without further ado, our 16 baby heritage turkeys! This would be the reason that the chicks had to find a new home! We are pretty limited on the brooders around this farm. We got our birds from Porter's Rare Heritage Turkeys, and just like our chicken hatchery, they included an extra bird on the house! So we have 5 Narragansett, 6 Bronze, and 5 Black heritage turkeys. They will be ready for Thanksgiving this year, and so far 4 have been claimed (no one has specified which breed), leaving 12 for anyone who wants to purchase pasture raised heritage turkey. Disclaimer: these birds aren't cheap. I will still be selling at cost, but you should know that they were each $12 before they even got here! Turkey feed is about $25/100 lbs., but I have no idea how much they eat because I've never raised them before. I will average the free bird out over the rest of the birds, and I will be selling by the pound since the males are significantly larger than the females. Just let us know if you're interested.
| Our 16 new heritage turkeys! Just one day old. |
| They're very small, but will be very huge! |
| Somebody is in love... |
Thanks for reading,
-Jay
Jay, I love reading your blog. Can't wait to meet the newest family members. You have been a big inspiration to the Roneys on starting our own little farm. Maybe one of these days we will be able to show you pictures of our adventures in raising our own natural food. You may have a few questions coming your way as we start out as well. All of you will be missed greatly. Liz
ReplyDeleteThanks Liz. It means a lot to hear that. I often find myself wondering what the heck I'm doing, but to know that I could inspire someone is reason enough to dig in deeper. Any question you guys have I will gladly answer. I look forward to watching your farm grow and sharing stories when we all get back together. After all, Chris still needs to teach me how to hunt! You guys are great people and great friends, and we will miss you too.
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