rufus and station

So here's Rufus now. He's pretty big. I love that he's pretty much afraid of the hens. I was hoping he was a gay rooster, but no such luck, as it turns out. Hopefully he'll just be a gentle creature who isn't needing to attack the hens every minute. The other rooster who hid during butchering days is quite aggressive, and he'll be in the oven soon. I'm so much less inclined to put up with roosters sneaking up behind me to attack me then previously. That gets a bit tiring. Like I can't even be comfortable in my own yard because this bird that weighs 8 lbs can freak me out? Seriously.

And the little chicks are finally starting to lay! They are all in the big barn now, which is really so much easier for us. The turkey hens will get moved this weekend after I have cleaned their coop out. That will make it even easier, I think. We'll put Lizzy in there with them, and perhaps one male as well. She tends to chase the chickens around and is a bit rough on them. That's no good for laying purposes. We'll see how the mr. turkeys get along with the young boys, which will give them more room to roam. If they don't, I'm not sure what I'll do about them. Wouldn't another barn be great?

Oh, so I counted like 67 hens the other day and I have only been getting 6-8 eggs a day. I'm thinking this doesn't make sense, but then again, what do I know? Maybe it's the heat. Maybe they are eating the eggs, maybe they are still hiding them. I can't find new nests anywhere, so I've no clue. I'm starting to go out there to collect eggs every few hours. Yesterday I got a dozen eggs, and at least half of them were from the new chicks. Pretty small and cute. Hopefully they'll all start laying soon.

(Looks like I'll have to upload pix later. For whatever reason, they are refusing to load.)