Chickens, Yet Again

I ordered my Cornish cross meat chickens last week. They'll arrive May 21st, I'll have them 8 weeks max and then off to the Amish for processing and then into my freezer. I only bought 10. Actually, I bought the 50 pound bag of feed and got the chicks free. At the same time I ordered 3 guinea fowl. I found a tick trying to eat my leg and wanted no part of that. I've never found a tick on me in the 8 years I've lived here and only on Rocket once. Winters up here seem to do a very good job of killing them off. I have read that guineas like to eat ticks. They are supposedly noisy, flighty, and prone to escape. If I have any by the end of summer, it will be quite an accomplishment. If I don't like them, we can always eat them.

That was my whole plan, the 10 meat chicks and guineas, but I went back to the feed store yesterday and ordered 6 straight run (not sexed) Barred Rock chickens. Since I wanted chickens all winter, just because Hal became allergic to egg whites doesn't mean I should completely nix my plans. If I end up with 6 roosters, well, those will get eaten, too. But if I get a couple hens out of it and keep one rooster that ought to be enough for my chicken "fix". And now Hal won't have to build a large chicken coop this year. I just need something small to keep them safe at night and through the winter. And as I said before, if it's too much work, we can eat them. I guess this means they won't be getting any names.