What's Cooking In the Hen House?

Earlier this summer we ordered 50 chickens. Half are broilers (aka "burglars", according to Brianna) which we intend to butcher in 6 weeks. So our projected slaughter date is October 4th. We are taking names down for any head-pulling volunteers!The other 25 chickens are White Pearl Leghorn layers.
Some have said that they will start laying when they are 7 months old. The kid's have thoroughly enjoyed the chicken chores. Ethan is the water boy. Brianna and Alana are the feed girls. We kept the chicks in our basement for the first 3 weeks. The chicks are now 4 weeks old and are outside in our 'portable' pen/coop.

We didn't build a traditional chicken house but instead built a movable house based on a book called 'Pastured Poultry Profits' by Joel Salatin. The chicken pen is 8' x 8' x 2' tall without a floor. This allows the chickens to pick in the grass and eat bugs and stuff. Each day the pen is moved, giving them fresh grass and bedding. Chicken droppings, by the way, is great fertilizer. If you would like some let us know and we will bottle some up for you. Not! Once the layers are up to maturity they should lay approximately two eggs every three days per bird (that's about 100 eggs per week). Obviously, we will have plenty of eggs to go around if you are in need of any. Ethan, Brianna and Alana will be submitting their egg-selling business plan in a couple of months. Interested investors can contact them by phone or email. Just kidding!!

Brianna is wearing 'chicken' proof gloves.
It protects humans from possibly catchin 'mad chicken' disease.

Distance aids bravery for Alana. The farther away, the braver she gets.

We were thinking about setting a 'no shirt, no shoes, no service' policy, but we were afraid that it would eliminate a third of our business partners.

Take a look at this video.
Justin just wants to pull out the feathers.