They are really cute. The kids love holding them, its a bit worrying though because Jack is always lurking around when the kids are holding them - presumably just on the off chance that Cassia will drop one! As they have no mummy they need the heat lamp on to survive. I did hold my breath going into the garage this morning in case the bulb had blown in the night and I'd find 6 cold little chicks. They were fine :-) When they are older, at around 5 weeks, I will move them to the field where they have a fabulous hen house (bought second hand from Marie Martin) and a lovely large area to roam about in. I just need to get the electric fence put up to keep Mr Fox away.
It seems so cruel, but the plan is to eat these chickens, although I'll keep a boy and 2 girls so that we can breed from them . I won't do the deed myself of course, I'll have to take them down to Hare Street where a farmer will do it for me and then get them oven ready. I am at a cross roads with eating meat, and have decided that if I can I will be happier eating meat that I have raised myself, so that I know it has had a good life.
Chickens that are sold commercially are white Cornish or Cob breeds and they have been bred to pile on weight as quickly as possible. A supermarket bought chicken will have been slaughtered at around 6 weeks, and often the breeding is so bad that the birds legs give way before 6 weeks as the bird has got too heavy too quickly. Supermarket free range birds are better, but we can produce our own for around the same sort of price and can guarantee how free range they are.
I don't mean to knock commercial producers in anyway, the animals are kept in very clean conditions and we need affordable meat, but we have the space and time to raise our own. Plus I love having baby animals - lets hope I can actually take them off to the farm to be "you know what" when the time comes!
xx
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