January 11, 2011

Chicken catalogue...

The Murray McMurray Hatchery catalog came in the mail today. When my chicken catalogs come, I read them like a seed catalog. I love looking at the different breeds and day dream about buying two of this and three of that. However since I live in a neighborhood in town and know you have to order a minimum of 25 chicks – (because that's how many little chick bodies they need to keep warm in the mail) I know it isn’t possible for me.


I got my three "girls" at a chicken swap almost two years ago. They were six week old pullets and had already feathered out. It was amazing to see how different their personalities developed.








Olga is a Brahma and is the smallest but we feel she is the smartest and, by far, the friendliest. She isn’t the best in egg production but she more than makes up for it with her personality.
Oogna is an Americana. She is the least friendly of our hens but is the best egg producer. She lays two big blue eggs a day.
Orla is a White Chanticleer and is moderately friendly and moderate in egg production.


































Aside from the beautiful fresh eggs we receive from “the girls” they are so very entertaining to watch.  Sometimes I sit outside and watch them for hours. Another bonus is the manure they provide for our gardens.  Chicken manure is great for the garden and its nutrients break down faster than in cow manure.
The nutrient rundown for poultry manure: four times the nitrogen content of cow manure, six times the phosphate, three times the potash, five times the calcium and three times the magnesium.
There are a lot of gardeners in my neighborhood. Last summer our postal carrier often remarked that our gardens were ahead of the neighbors due to the chicken manure.

7 comments:

small farm girl said...

Thank you for visiting my blog. I find yours very interesting! Love the chicken pictures!

Ruta said...

Thank you...I loved looking at your goat pics...I always dreamed of having a five acre homestead with goats...it never happened...but who knows...

Lady Jane said...

My husband had a garden growing up in Indiana and they had chickens. They used to put the manure in a rain barrel and water the garden from it. He said they had the best vegetables and flowers in the neighborhood. Welcome to blogging Ruta.

Ruta said...

Thank you! :)

~mel said...

Thank you for visiting my blog ~ and I'm sure glad to visit yours! Chickens!!! My Mom and Dad were like you when it came to getting the chicken catalog in the mail ... they would read over it and oooohhh and ahhhhh over what kind to order next. I never raised chickens myself; but I sure do love getting the fresh eggs from my farmer friends.

The Apple Pie Gal said...

Hi Ruta, just found your blog and thought you might find a link in my neck of the woods for your chicken ordering dilemma. It says you can order as few as 2 peeps! We are starting chickens for the first time this year and planning to get ours here since we want to try a few different breeds. Hope it helps:


http://www.natureshatchery.com/CHICKEN_list.html

Ruta said...

Great...I really appreciate it!