Getting Ready

 The winter in the North is long.  We still have daytime windchills around -20 and there are still snowdrifts well past my knee.  Another snow storm of 15-30cm is coming tomorrow. I think the long winter is hard on a few of the chickens so my next addition to the flock will be a breed that is more cold hardy.  My brown egg layers haven't layed an egg for almost three weeks now.  Peaches was sick for a bit but bounced back except for the egg laying.  I think she had eaten something she shouldn't have.

I finished sectioning off a part in the henhouse for the purpose of introducing the new chickens slowly.  The area can in addition be used for keeping sick chickens separated from the rest.  I also plan on getting a rooster who will help keep the peace in the flock as each chicken figures out where they belong in the pecking order. Although I can have the chickens shipped to pick up at a dealer (Peaveymart) in the north, I will drive to pick them up in St Jacobs. ... stay tuned for an introduction to the new additions!

In my research on new breeds I learned about chick sexing.

A funny story about my last rooster Oscar - he was actually an imposter who was supposed to be a hen.  For our first flock in 2016 we had decided on getting five chickens - three different breeds.  After a week or so one of the chickens seemed different.  I called the hatchery and asked about the possibility of getting a rooster by mistake and they responded not likely, but requested that I send a photo anyway.  Sure enough, it ends up that we had gotten a rooster by mistake. The hatchery said that they would give me a replacement chicken but could not take the rooster back.  Since adding a single chicken to an existing flock is not a good idea, I ended up getting another chicken as well as the replacement. That is how Dolly became Oscar and (the real) Dolly and Pearl were added to the flock.

Back in 1967 [Lisa S - this was before I was born] my parents travelled to Lansdale Pennsylvania to get certified in Chick Sexing in hopes of it leading to a well paid career. The photo is of them in practical learning. Their class of 13 students included people from California, Texas, Korea, Japan and Spain. The chick sexing process was started in Japan after the First World War. This link from a hatchery in Alberta explains a bit more about the chick sexing process and why it is rarely used today. https://heritagechickens.ualberta.ca/2019/10/17/why-are-we-unable-to-sex-our-heritage-chicks/

Henhouse separate area: