What a Difference Two Weeks Makes!

Here are updated pics of the chicks - they have most of their feathers already! It is incredible how fast these things have grown!





And here's what I put in the incubator tonight:



I realized I had no white egg layers, so I ordered some brown leghorn and blue andalusian eggs - both white egg layers!

We have decided to eat the males and any females I get that are extras I am finding LOTS of people want them, so they are easy to get rid of!

I have been *amazed* at how hard Monkey2, 3, and 4 have worked to care for their chickens. They are VERY responsible about feeding their hens each day - every day, without fail - rain or shine! And they've really been involved in the hatching process and watching the chicks grow.

We are going to start a little "egg" business for the kids - more as a homeschool project and a way to sell our extra eggs. When the fall rolls around we will have about 14-16 hens laying and that will definitely produce an excess of eggs....

The kids are learning a lot about business through this - keeping up with the costs we've sunk into the hens and the hen house and now adding up the profit of each dozen eggs. [We are saving having to buy the eggs - we are getting about 2 dozen a week and good organic eggs are going for $3.99/doz at our grocery store these days, so we are racking up the savings!]. We may actually break even some time soon, even with all the expense we put into the hen house!