Another big day here at the Gould farm. 100 baby chicks arrived…all ALIVE at that. That’s impressive. We were expecting the worst to be honest, especially when the Postal worker mentioned they were not doing very well when we received the call. These cuties are just a day old and made their journey in the 90 degree temperatures we’ve been experiencing here in Chicagoland.
We purchased 50 more Freedom Rangers, which did really well growth wise, except for that last day, and of course our first batch’s journey was not quite so successful. Here’s to hoping and praying we don’t lose a single one! Freedom Ranger broilers take 12 weeks to mature, so are a little slower growing than their counterparts, the White Cornish Rock.
The White Cornish Rock are what you would find in the grocery store. These will take about 8 weeks to mature and be ready to be processed. You will never taste a better chicken until you’ve tried free range, pastured chicken. I don’t want our family to go back to store bought chicken after tasting our first batch of Freedom Rangers. We’ve tasted friend’s pastured chicken and that is pretty much what got us turned on to raising our own.
Our children delight in the arrival of new little fur babies.
Here’s to truly all natural, farm fresh poultry! Cannot wait to have a freezer full of these…yummy!
awww looks like u had a fun time love the baby chicks my kids would of loved them too
They do have fun with them. We have to watch the little guys though, especially our almost 3 yo!
They are cute,.
They are so cute. I wouldn’t be able to put them in my freezer, lol.
They are so fluffy and cute! I’m such a city girl though, I don’t know what to do with a chicken (except eat it LOL!)
ok- where do you keep all of them? i want to try it.
tcogbill at live dot com
where can we buy them from?
thanks
tcogbill at live dot com
Tess, right now we keep them in the garage in cardboard boxes lined with newspapers and then hay. When they are about 2 weeks old, we will put them in a moveable hut or coop outside on pasture.
We have tried hatcheries in Iowa and Ohio thinking those would be close enough. However, one of them sent us turkeys from Arizona last year.
So this time we chose Abendroth’s in Wisconsin and are quite happy with them. A farm associate recommended them. I suggest you do a Google search for hatcheries or even small farms in your area selling poultry. Shipping is stressful for the birds and getting them water is crucial to them living. I think these day old chicks have done better than some we have received at 2 and 3 days old.
Tammy, we have never raised poultry before. Last year we started with the laying hens and turkeys. Eating we know how to do too, but caring for poultry is really easy. It is more cumbersome in the winter when the ice has to be broken up or thaw so they can drink. Plus finding the right temperature, light and feed rations so the laying hens will continue laying.
Now we just have to keep reminding the little children these are for eating, not pets!
Those baby chicks are cute. I don’t think I could get my daughter to eat chicken if we were raising them.
I think baby chicks are so cute!
Oh my gosh i had no idea you could purchase baby chicks and have them shipped via the post office LOL Baby chicks are so cute.
Wow, that is a whole lot of baby chicks!
Awww — I miss my baby chicks!
Wow, that must have been an experience!
Very cute! My aunt has a farm and any time she has some new chicks I like to go out and see them. I can almost hear the peeps looking at your pics.
Aww, they are so cute!
They are soo cute!
So cute!
They are SO stinking cute! I just want to pet their fluff.
Baby chicks are super cute!
Man I wish I lived close to you! I would buy chickens from you! If we had more space I would raise birds for meat too.
When my parents raised chicken, those I would eat. The pig… no way. He was like a pet.
Awww, how cute!
Oh my cuteness!! I want a baby chick!
We need new chickens. Ours are too old to lay. Maybe we’ll get chicks when the kids are old enough to appreciate the wonder.
Jenn, we have some older laying hens which we are trying to replace as their production is going down every day it seems. Once we have them replaced we are going butcher them for stewing birds.
Oh my, I love all your little fur babies!
I had no idea you could get chicks in the mail!
They’re just the cutest little things, but I know they’ll grow so quickly!
I’m not sure I could eat something I raised but yay for fresh, hormone free chicken.