DW and DD1 ordered some chickens Saturday. The newly hatched, yellow peep-peep kind. We'll raise them for a couple of months, and sell them as fryers.

They will arrive via US mail Mon, Tues, or Wed next week. It's funny, because you usually get a 7:30 AM call from a confused Postmaster telling you that you've got a package of chickens???, and will you please come here as quickly as possible, and pick them up.

The chicks cost $2.29 apiece. We're getting 25. They'll send one or two extra chicks at no charge to account for mortality, but we've never received a dead chick yet.

This is DD1's project. DD2 will help, and the proceeds will be split between the girls according to contributed labor. If all goes well with this project, honestly the proceeds will probably get dumped into the next project.

It'll cost $3.50-$4 each to have them processed. We're not ready to process them on our own yet. Plus, we (of course) have to feed them. Have I mentioned that corn and soybeans are at historically high prices? Mom and dad will spring for the electricity for the heat lamps.

DW's market research has told us that we can sell each bird for $12-$14. I'm sure we'll keep a few for the freezer, plus grandparents.

We're looking to sell them in March. I blogged last year about our open house at our maple syrup woods the third Saturday of March. We hope to sell the bulk of them that weekend.

If we do have another batch in the spring, we can pasture that group, and cut our cost of production a bit.

DW also ordered a half dozen layers. So, by June or July, we'll have three or four fresh eggs every day.

I'm sure I'll be offering updates along the way on how this project progresses. Stay tuned!