We ordered 25 of the Ideal 236 chicks (they were all supposed to be females) back in late September of 2016. 26 arrived alive and they did very well for themselves as chicks. We lost 3 to snakes early on, and then discovered two roosters amongst the survivors, which were were happy about to be honest.
Testoterone is a heckuva drug, and both of those young roosters decided to test their kung fu versus hawks in a death match. Hawks 2 - Roosters 0. We lost another 2 young pullets to coyotes before they learned the difference between our friendly Pyranees cross dogs and the jokesters of nature. The flock has stabilized at 19 laying pellets, and we haven't had any more losses since early February 2017.
They are completely free range now, coming and going as they please, making a living for their food each and every day. They all have the ability to fly on top of a 20 foot tall barn to evade coyotes and talk smack once they're up there. We've done our best to plug the holes in the fence around the pasture. That, coupled with the electric paddocks has cut down on visits from both coyotes and feral dogs.
Before several went broody (which isn't a bad thing as it helps us have a self sustaining flock) we were consitently getting 17 of their white eggs each day. With 4 broody now that number has gone down to about 13 per day. They lay medium to large white eggs, with beautiful orange yolks. We couldn't be any happier with the quality of the eggs themselves, though I think our customers would like to see more brown eggs in their packages.
Moving forward we think we have enough demand to merit another 12 hens, and the plan is to get 6 Americaunas and 6 Buff Orpingtons to add variety to the egg colors. We've had the Easter Egg laying Americaunas before and really enjoyed them, and hope the broody reputation of the Buffs, along with their brown eggs will be a good fit for us.
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