I'm Back!!

Sorry, it has been so long since I have posted. However, I am back, lots to tell you and I will give you the details soon!

Good News

The egg production is finally picking up! We are up to 4 dozen a day. My apologies to my self serve fridge customers for the lack of product for the last month. Today I put 5 dozen in the fridge! So please, if you have been checking the fridge and have had no luck, check it out! The best time for eggs in the fridge is Thursday through Saturday. Also, please call me in advance and no matter what the egg situation is, I will reserve what I have for you. I hope that those of you that have been frustrated with the lack of eggs, will come back for some more. Thank you again for you business.

The young hens are doing well and growing fast! Their eggs will be available in the fall.

Low Egg Production

To all of my valued customers, just wanted to let you know for the past couple of weeks and I anticipate in the near future (as long as temps stay over 100 degrees consistently) our egg production is very low. Over 90 laying hens and I am getting only 2 dozen eggs. I have read a couple of studies from Ag colleges and it confirmed my suspision that heat is extremely stressful to the hens and greatly impacts their laying abilities. They are hot so they eat less and these two factors cause them to lack the energy needed to lay eggs. While I have fans in all of my chicken coops, it is still not quite enough. Better because I have not lost any birds, but still, I mean I know it is harder for me to daily chores when it is hot so I can just imagine how they feel. The bottom line is I will keep you posted about egg availability and I am sorry for the inconveinence!

Chicken Independence Day

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. We decided that weekend that our nearly 3 month old chicks had grown enough to safely leave the chicken tractor during the day and venture out into their grassy yard surrounded by electric chicken netting. As you can see from the picture they love it! A side benefit of the chicken tractor has been that my rescued Anatolian Shepard/Great Pyrenees dog Murphy has bonded with the chicks and takes his job of guarding them very seriously. Both breeds that are in Murphy's lineage are livestock guardian dogs. You often see these breeds out in the fields guarding sheep, goats and other small livestock from predators. What is really interesting is that Murphy has never been trained to protect livestock. In fact when Murphy was rescued by the Anatolian Shepard Rescue group, he was starving and weighed only 50 pounds. When we adopted him a couple of years ago he was 80 pounds. To tell you how extreme that is, Murphy now weighs over 165 pounds. It is truly amazing to me that with dogs, their breed instincts are born in them. When you come by to purchase your eggs from the self serve fridge you can see the girls in their tractor and yard, Murphy, and his brothers and sisters too. Nearly all of my dogs are rescues and Murphy's brothers and sisters are different breeds including a Lab and Great Dane.

Well for now due to the demand for eggs from my customers and Windmill Farm of Gridley's CSA customers, I have suspended my participation at the Glenn County farmers market. While I am happy for the business, I will miss the market and meeting all of the wonderful folks who support it. However, I may be receiving more adult hens in August to increase the flock and egg production, but at the very least my 100 new chicks should be laying this fall to total nearly 200 birds laying. Again, I would like to thank all of my customers for your continuing support. Stay cool!

The Weather is Hot and So is the Egg Biz

Well, summer is finally here and with the temperatures to match! Not my favorite time of year. Speaking of hot, eggs are selling like hot cakes and I am having difficulty keeping up with the demand. I have increased my regular customer base, continue to sell eggs to Windmill Farm of Gridley for their CSA boxes, and sell out at the farmers market. No complaints here about doing such good business, but I just wish I had more eggs to provide to my customers. I have nearly 200 birds now, but more than half will not lay until the fall because they are so young.

Even with the addition of 11 new adult birds last week, production remains low as the heat is really stressful for the girls. I have added fans to their coops so when they are laying and roosting, they are more comfortable. I will add misters to their yards this weekend.

Besides the heat, things are great at Happy Chick Farm. My husband and I are enjoying retirement and I really enjoy introducing and making folks happy by providing them farm fresh eggs. I really appreciate my old and new customers for supporting my business, especially being so understanding during this lean egg production period.

The bad news is that I have experience several thefts from my self serve, honor system egg fridge. Oh occasionally, I dozen would disappear but it is becoming habitual. If it does not cease, I may have to discontinue this service which would be a shame, as so many honest folks use it. But if that becomes necessary, I do deliver and I would be happy to deliver your egg order to your home or office.

Well my friends stay cool and I hope to see you at the farmers market this Saturday. It will be in Willows at Memorial Park during the month of July. Enjoy your day!

Farmers Markets, Chicken Tractors, and Low Egg Production, oh my!

Well our first day at the Glenn farmer's market was a success. I sold all 18 dozen eggs within the first hour and a half. But after I sold out, I met a lot of really nice people and was able to give them my card and tell them about Happy Chick Farm. The public did a great job and it was a wonderful turnout! I did not attend the market this week as I was out of eggs!!! I had a lot of special orders last week and the self serve fridge continues to do well. My old dependable one that I had for 12 years finally died, so I purchased a new one this weekend.

Well a few posts ago I told you I would chat about chicken tractors. Chicken tractors are a way to free range your birds with minimal risk of attacks by predators. The tractors are designed to me moved to ensure that the chickens have a fresh supply of grass, bugs, etc. Once the chickens are no longer small enough to be raptor bait, we have an electrified (by solar power) chicken wire mesh fence so they can leave the tractor itself. This further increases their "range". While the tractors come in many designs, we chose an open one as the chickens are too young to lay and as a result do not need nesting boxes. The tarp on top and the sides can be used for shade or rain protection. By the way, these are the same baby chickens shown in one of our previous posts....they grow fast!!

The one downside right now is that egg production is pretty low. I believe the weather change from moderate tempreatures to hot has a lot to do with it. I hope the girls acclimate soon so we can get our production levels back up. I missed seeing everyone at the market this last weekend! I also would like to thank you all for your continuing support during the "lean" periods like now. Enjoy the beautiful weather!

Glenn County Farmers Market

I have not been able to attend the Gridley farmers market in the last two weeks due to rain and a family member's graduation celebrations. However, tomorrow morning is the first day of the Glenn county farmers market. It will be held at Library park in Orland on 4th street from 8am until 1pm. I hope to see you there!

In other news, my husband is building my "chicken tractor" so my month plus old chicks can free range in a safe environment. As soon as it is finished, I will post a picture. The tractor can be moved around on grass very easily, but it is enclosed to keep predators out. As the chicks grow, we will put up electric poultry fencing around the house to give the chickens additional range to graze on. I am really excited to try it.

As always, have a great weekend!!