Some of you may already know that both Chris and I have a shared affection for chickens. Yes, those feathery critters that crow and go peep and scratch around in the yard. We both had a multitude of chickens as pets when we were younger. So once we got set up in our house and on our land it was time to get some chickens! The neighbors, knowing we were looking, brought us 2 barred rock hens and a beautiful rooster who we named Genghis Khan (Genghy for short). The hens are ancient and lay an egg once in a blue moon but they are mellow and sweet. After a bout with a collection of "wild" chickens (yes, there is a feral population of small chickens-most descending from escaped fighting stock) which we could not tame down it was time to hit the Internet. There is a fabulous hatchery,
Murray McMurray Hatchery in Iowa that has been in business since the early 1900's. You can order just about any kind of poultry and have them shipped to your post office. YES-they ship live birds USPS Priority mail. In Hawaii you can only get "day old baby chicks". No adults or eggs. And no ducks, geese, etc. Just "day old baby chicks". How it works is the moment your order is hatched (they have all the eggs incubated and timed to hatch for prime shipping times) your chicks are packaged in an insulated special cardboard box and sent out. A baby chick is hatched with a "yolk sack" which they receive nourishment from so can go a few days without food or water. In 2-3 days they arrive at your local post office and you go pick them up!
We ordered 26 chicks (min. order=25) and received a "free mystery chick" also. We got 6 different breeds-all good layers of big brown eggs (our chicken project will also provide the restaurant with organic eggs hopefully!). One breed, the Araucana, lays blue/green eggs!
So the chicks arrived right on schedule and we raised them in a giant plastic kiddie pool in the bird room for the first 6 weeks. We kicked them outside when they started to escape and run around the bird room pooping everywhere (lovely). Mom and I (and Beck and Mike) had worked hard to prepare a nice pen for the little guys but our skills were no match for the marauding mongooses (little weasels non-native to Hawaii-they are PESTS!) who got in twice and a chicken massacre occurred. We lost a total of 8 chicks to the Mongooses before I could shore up the pen well enough and they got big enough to defend themselves.
Our wonderful neighbors who love animals as much as we do (thank goodness) are going to build us a chicken house.They are both high end finish carpenters, so it may be a chicken palace. And they should start laying in about 2-3 months. Will keep you posted!!!!!
