Every good chicken adventures begins with Chicken Math or in this case the timeline of chickens. We purchased 6 week old chickens from Tractor Supply the beginning of August 2022. Unfortunately, we lost one within a week or two so that leave 5 chickens.
These 5 chickens have never been good layers. We have never had an abundance of eggs. After doing some internet research this is a common problem with chicks from Tractor Supply.
April 2023 we added three new chicks from a friend. Unfortunately, one of these turned out to be a rooster and after he was a little too rough with the girls he was re-homed in June 2024. This left our chicken count at 7. At this point we were averaging 3 eggs a day which was not a lot but still not horrible for “pets that produce”
Things started going down hill from here as well, first we lost a chicken to a racoon in October 2024. Then another died from natural causes in November. We lost a third from the original 5 in February. In March we were down to 4 total hens. Our egg production was so low that an egg a day was exciting.
At the end of March 2025, Zach brought home two four week old hens that had been hatched and raised at his school. Unfortunately we are still at an average of 1 egg a day with a total of 6 chickens. I have stated before the introduction of these two to the flock was quick and simple.
Neither Zach nor I really liked the idea of raising small chicks again as they require a lot of work. I have been on the hunt for some additional hens since then. So now begins our current chicken adventure.
Last Saturday, we purchased 4 “golden comet” pullets from a local feed store. I was very hopefully that would be easy to integrate. Well they may be easy but not as quick as I had hoped. These new chickens are in a dog cage in the run. I am going out at least once a day and sometimes twice a day to let them out of the cage. We currently are dealing with chickens pulling feathers and I am managing with a stick. They do have a water dish in the cage and we allow to eat to they stop when we open the door. I am hoping that by next Saturday they can at least stay out for a whole day without constant supervision. The next step will be moving to the coop at night and teaching to go up in the coop as well.
But I do have good news, the chicks we got in April are starting to produce. Since Sunday we have been averaging 3 to 4 eggs a day! That is exciting and would mean we should be getting 7-9 eggs per day. I will be happy with 7 a day! Stay tuned for more chicken adventures!