Winter chicks & chickens

The local feed store purchased some late season chicks, and got tired of feeding them after 6 weeks; they were originally $2.99, but they marked them down to $0.50/each.  So I bought dozens and dozens. 

Such a deal!  I didn't have to feed them for 6 weeks, no shipping mortality, and they were common breeds that I like:  barred rock, white leghorn and rhode island red hens.  So I set up the brooder and I'm raising them for sale next spring as laying hens. 

The brooder is the one that I wrote about building a few years ago, and it is still going strong.  It can easily brood out a couple of hundred small chicks, maybe 150 or so as they get larger.  It's no big deal to keep chickens in the winter; once they're feathered out they keep themselves pretty warm.  A draft free roosting area, water and food, and they're good to go.  this brooding area has a door to an outside chicken run, and when they get big enough they'll have access. 

Love bargain chickens!