The Chickens Come Home to Roost

Friday, April 5, 2013

I left work early and picked my boys up from school.  From there we drove straight to Blue Star Ranch (with a quick stop at the feed store to get some tasty crumbles for our new chickens).

We arrived at Blue Star Ranch shortly after 4:30, and we met with Mary Ann and her very large German Shepard, Rudy.  An interesting side note about Rudy is that he run over by a train.  Yes, a real, full-size train.  Apparently, his leash got tangled in the wheels and pulled him under.  Obviously, he survived, but less an ear.

Mary Ann was very nice.  She showed us around her large coop, where we saw many breeds of chickens ranging in age from four days old on up.  Mary Ann explained how to select a good chicken.  For example, chickens should have clear eyes, heavy for there size, clean feet and bottoms.  Also, when you hold a chicken on its back, it should be feisty.  

Many of her chickens in the age range for which we were looking were already sold.  However, there were several still available.  We decided that we wanted two Barred Rocks, one Leghorn and one Americana. 

Mary Ann used a net to wrangle in several chickens for for our inspection.  She examined them based on the criteria for good chickens, and she passed on a few chickens that were not quite up to par at that time.  She really wants her customers to get healthy chickens.

Unfornately, we were not able to get good pictures of the chickens and the light was very contrasty and it was getting dark when we got them home, but many pictures and videos will follow soon.