They're Here!

                           

Our 50 Freedom Rangers arrived weeks ago and have gotten so big since then! All survived the trip safe and sound. They cheeped all the way home!

This is the newer brooder that I built last year when I raised 50 chicks for the first time. At the bottom of the brooder you can see the opening for the debris trays. This brooder is large, measuring in at 8'L x 30'' D x 18'' H. The first day all they did was sleep...after all, spending two days in a cardboard box is exhausting!

This is a picture of the chickens at two weeks. When the the warmer weather first came, I let them go out for a few hours each day to develop a taste for grass (yes, they really do have to develop a taste while they're young or they won't like it as much).  

This is a current  picture of the chickens, during the 90 degree heat they all congregate around the trees in their pen.

Earlier this year we had an Opossum attack and kill three of our chickens, so I was unable to do but pen the chickens up and wait for the opossum to walk into our Have-A-Heart trap.
Well after a week and no sign of the Opossum, I started letting the chickens go out again when I was satisfied that the opossum was gone. 
So during that waiting period I looked up on the Internet how to combat predators and practically every one  up there said that French Guinea Hens are the best at protecting a flock. I started checking with all the amish in the county and everyone was out of Guinea keets
!(Keet is the word for guinea chicks). Well yesterday we woke up to find three fully grown guineas in our yard, we checked with our neighbors to find out who they belonged to but nobody came up as the owners. So now we have three free guineas and better yet half an hour ago we picked up 6 jumbo pearl keets on freecycle!