We drove down to Elmira to pick up the layers and all the trimmings to make them feel at home. The biggest surprise was that they were raised in a factory setting and when we first saw them they were in wee cages (eight to a cage) with hardly any room to move. These chickens were about 19 weeks old and beginning to lay the occasional brown egg.
So they were stuffed into five plastic cages and loaded into our van with feeders,waterers, egg cartons etc. We also stopped and picked up a pile of Ontario milled Omega 3 layer feed. Our chickens will have access to tonnes of grass, worms and plant material and this special feed that is spiked with flax seed. This makes the eggs extra special...soon we will able to sell free range omega 3 eggs, YUM!
When we got home to the farm we literally pored them into the coop that had been so diligently built for them. It truly was comparable to five star accommodation. They were locked in for the night with lots of feed and water. When the door was opened in the morning they very tentaviely all came out. It took them pretty much the whole day to get used to their freedom. It really was incredible. By dusk we had a really hard time to get them back inside...and we found four small brown eggs!
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