Hi, I’m Gage, I am in 5th grade, homeschooled, and 11 years old. I am the owner of six chickens, about to be 36. I am going to be blogging about my chicken business on Live and Learn Farm.  My business name is going to be Deluxe Clucks and the business will be to sell eggs for eating, eggs for incubating, and sell chicks.

I am counting down the days till our chicks we bought are shipped out. It is a very nerve racking thing to order live animals through the mail, especially for the first time. We have ordered 30 chicks from Welp Hatchery.  The chicks should be alright coming in the mail. They will be shipped Priority Mail which will only take two days. They will not be hungry during their shipment because when a chick hatches it has a sack of food on its belly called the yolk and it will sustain them for a few days.  The chicks we ordered are five Barred Cochin Bantams, five Blue Cochin Bantams, 10 Red Frizzle Cochin Bantams and 10 White Frizzle Cochin Bantams.  The white and red frizzles have a mutation.  It does not cause them any trouble or dysfunction it’s just that their feathers curl out, not in.

Chicks are not hard to keep.  All they require is a brooder (a small area to keep them in until they are mature enough to be outside in the chicken pen), a heat source, food and water and, just recently, I found out chicks need a shady place to stay if they get hot.  And protection… we have had a problem with predators in the past. We once had about 25 Rhode Island Reds, now we are down to six, (5 hens and 1 rooster). The reason we only have 6 hens now is a coyote problem.

Right now we are preparing for their arrival. We are going to use a large box as their brooder, and as they grow we shall add more boxes. Chicks and chickens are very fun to keep and I enjoy being able to care for them. The other thing we will be using are… a heat lamp, food and waterers and puppy training pads (for flooring) I am looking forward to blogging about my experiences with my chicks and chickens.

And just today we got a surprise blessing! A friend went to Tractor Supply and was going to buy two chicks but the minimum was six. So she asked us if we want three or four chicks and we said yes! I have been so impatient that it was still a week till the chicks would even be mailed, so this is an answer to my prayer.  I’ll post pictures soon! 

See ya’ soon!

Isn’t this just the cutest picture?  That baby looks like she is saying “peek-a-boo”!  It’s not one of our chickens, I just saw it on Facebook and had to share it!  We are all getting so excited about our baby chicks arriving in a couple of weeks!  My middle son, Gage will be opening the business centered around the chickens.  He will sell chicken eggs to eat and to hatch and sell baby chicks to raise.  If you haven’t read Pickin’ Chickens, that article explained in more detail why the boys each will have businesses in middle school.  For my Montessori friends, think practical life on steroids!  He will be responsible for cleaning out the coop and gathering the eggs, as well as feeding and watering them.  We all share chores in our house so he will have help, but it is his responsibility to ensure that all of this is taken care of daily.  This is another Montessori concept that is taking on a more mature dynamic.  He will also be creating and keeping the books for his business, so Gage will be learning all about accounting and economics, via running his own business instead of some esoteric, ambiguous case studies in a textbook that he cannot relate to.  

Gage will be the author for all the chicken posts on our blog once the chicks arrive (I will change the comments to be moderated once he starts posting). He will be photographing the chicks to document their growth and progress.  (Photography is one of those creative outlets that he is exploring so he won’t end up being an art vacuum like me! Thanks to his photography teacher Lori Lee, he will probably end up taking far better pictures than I do!)  So, he is learning how to market his business and write articles that will be not only informative, but also entertaining.

Gage is in the process of developing a name for his business now but he could use some help!  If you think of a great name for his business, he would love to hear it!  To give you some insight into Gage in order to help with the name suggestions:  He has a huge heart and an intense love for animals (this is why he has the animal biz).  He is our middle-son, so he is the peace-maker.  He is calm, loving and genuine.  He loves to kid around and is a bit of a prankster.  He loves legos, star-wars and the beach.  If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment below. We look forward to reading your suggestions!  

Until next time…