Happy Chickens

 It occurred to me that it's been a while since I've featured the chickens...they're doing well. I'm planning some major coop upgrades next spring, and I also plan on working with the dogs so that I can start free ranging the chickens at least some of the time. This chicken breed, the Icelandic, is known for being especially happy when allowed to range. In theory, free ranging them will also cut down some on feed bills.

So, here are a few of my birds! 

This one is a cockerel (young rooster) from this year:

And a pullet (young hen) from this year...one of only 2 girls from a large batch of chicks, lol,

Another cockerel. I love the dark "barring" on his chest!

The same pullet from above. She doesn't have a name yet.

This is the other girl from this year's batch of chicks....I call her Rusty. Lol, I'm more creative with dog names than chicken names. ;P 

One of the roosters from a small batch I got early this spring. This batch was also weighted heavily toward boys - 3 out of 4 ended up being roosters. At least they're handsome ones!

Another spring rooster. I call this one Mr. Speckles, lol. He might end up being a keeper - he's a pretty chill dude.

And the final early spring boy. I like the colors on this one a lot, but he's a bit more skittish than Mr. Speckles.

I'll have to get more pictures of the various hens next time. Off the top of my head, I think I have 10 or 11 at the moment. They molted a few weeks ago, and still haven't started laying again yet...but come spring, I should be getting several eggs a day! Maybe I can even get my girls to hatch some of their own eggs this year...they tried a few times last year, but were unsuccessful (though they accepted and happily raised day-old chicks twice). 

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend so far!! :)