Nearly Time to Order Chicks!

"SwampWoman", you may say, "what in the world is wrong with you?" "You've been warning us about the dangers of H5N1 for months now, and you put in a link to order newly hatched chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery?"

Yep. I'm concerned about H5N1 but not yet concerned enough to get rid of my poultry. I like to hear the roosters crowing, chickens quietly clucking in content, the hens calling to their chicks as they are on a bug search-and-destroy mission. What I do NOT like is when they are on a flower garden search-and-destroy mission and they eat my newly-rooted hydrangea cuttings or the new petunias. (I need to get them under better control.) Until such time as I get them under better control, I'd better not order any new ones!

Years ago, daughter showed some fancy bantams at the fair. Afterwards, they were turned in with my flock of Araucanas and cross-bred like crazy. Now I've got various-sized vigorous chickens running around that are self-supporting, hide their nests so I don't get any eggs, and raise their young with no help from me (unless I find some peeps that ducks accidentally hatched or whose momma got snatched by a fox or hawk). I can't just let them be eaten by possums, poor babies! These chickens may have a feathery crest, feathered legs, and some still have the feathered ears and lay the colored eggs of the Araucanas. The roosters will fight each other to the death but are timid around small humans, always a plus.

I actually have 3 separate flocks in 3 different areas--there are the horse barn chickens whose territory is around the stables and pasture. They roost in the stable, and tend to be plain-legged bantams and Araucana crosses. The sheep barn roosting chickens are some descendants, apparently, of the old Australorp rooster (also a show chicken). Those chickens are black. Then I have some that like to roost in the trees around the house and crow loudly at 3 a.m. Those are the Cochin, Polish, and Buff Orpington descendants. These now just have some minor feathering of the legs and a small feathery crest, not the exaggerated feathering of the purebreds. There used to be quite a few white/light-colored chickens in this group, but white chickens are easier to see at night even in the trees by an irate person with a shotgun that has been awakened by said crowing roosters.

Murray McMurray isn't a source for people that dream of showing champion chickens. It's a source for folks that, like me, like to have the poultry around and aren't so concerned about whether the coloring of the feathers and/or conformation is outstanding enough to be of championship quality.