The other night my Husband and I were talking about the clucks and adding more to the flock. My Husband was remembering back to when we had chickens when we were first married. He loved collecting the bunches of eggs the clucks left in the nesting boxes and being able to share the wealth. (We had 20 or so clucks then.) Last year I did my math carefully and purchased only pullets, as well as paying close attention to the number of eggs each cluck was projected to lay in a week. Our original number was 12 clucks. This would give us close to 3 dozen eggs a week. Enough for the 2 dozen eggs we typically go through in a week and some to share. Things didn't go as planned. We ended up with 2 roos, who obviously do not lay eggs, making us short 8 eggs from the start. Then our lab got a hold of one the clucks that had managed to escape the confines of the outer run and that put us down another 4 eggs. So naturally I have always planned to add more clucks. Being careful again to do the math and research. Making sure to look at breeds that will meld well with breeds we currently have and not upset our calm, docile and sweet clan of clucks. 
It's always hard adding more, isn't it? I feel so bad initially when everyone's in an uproar but by morning they seem to have worked out their issues. :) I don't think we'll add more this year. Maybe next year....
ReplyDeleteI had hoped when we were out the 3 that by the time the eggs came into the picture it wouldn't make a difference but boy did it. So I thought about only replacing the 3 but then figured I'd be up for getting at least 1 roo in the bunch, then we would still be down on eggs. So figure if we add 6 then all should be well even if we do end up with a roo or 2. (I promised my son last year that we would get a few Cochins. He has been in love with this breed since he saw their pictures.) They aren't prolific egg layers but a promise is a promise and I am lady of my word. Looking forward to more clucks. Hugs to you.
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