Well, egg production has slowed down. Three hens are definitely not laying: the two mother hens still hanging out with their chicks (now about six weeks old), and last year's cheep has gone broody. Cheep is not going to get her chance at motherhood this year--maybe next year, if she goes broody again. Conventional wisdom says to put her in a wire bottomed cage for a few days to break her broodiness (we had to do this to another hen last year), but I'll let her go a bit longer before I take drastic measures: maybe she'll give up on her own.
The other hens are mostly cooped up in their yard; the ducks have also been penned in next to the pond for about two weeks. I'll let the ducks go back to free ranging when we combine the chicks with the chickens, probably in another two or three weeks.
The chicks are pretty well feathered now, and it looks like there are three girls, five boys and one undecided (though I'm tending toward boy). Three new hens is a good number for us, as we have plenty of poultry in the garden for now--12 adult hens with two ducks and two drakes. I told the husband I'm really looking forward to some fried chicken in another six weeks.
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