Once cold weather returned to Lilac Hill Farm I culled non-Buckeye chickens, cleaned out and stored moveable pens and moved the flock into the winter coop.I removed the Buckeye X mixed Brown Leghorn birds because of their skittish nature and because I wish to have a purebred flock at this time. The winter coop is a remodelled solar wood drying kiln, roofed and outfitted for chicken comfort. During the Buckeye's round the clock stay in the coop they ate a diet rich in protein to promote healthy feather regrowth after the fall moult. I also started turning on the lights so they had 13 hours of illumination to encourage winter laying.

Yesterday I removed non-Buckeye roosters and selected two cockerels to stay with the flock. Since the Buckeyes are listed as a threatened breed by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, I tried to select the best birds for breeding stock. Acquiring new breeding stock can be difficult so keeping two cockerels as well as last year's rooster improves the odds that I will have breeders for next year. I also hope that these younger birds will immitate the older rooster's gentle yet protective nature. The rooster spent much of his day out clucking near the coop, serving as a beacon for the hens as they map out their ranging territory.As the sun set, I headed out to the barnyard to locate the stragglers that did not return to the coop. Last night there were only two pullets wandering the barnyard to retrieve..

Update

on 2012-12-05 12:19 by Vivianne Lapp

After only three days of day ranging, all the Buckeyes tucked in for the night on their own.