Chickens, light work, interviews

When I got home yesterday evening I got Mama and we went back to Bowie to get feed. It is amazing how much the chickens consume based on their body size. I realize we feed the cows mostly hay so I do not have to purchase feed too often for them. Mama uses it as a treat for them, but the chickens eat about six bags of feed per month. It would be cheaper to buy eggs – but that would be no fun at all.

While we were in the feed store Mama got with the store manager who has become a friend and they talked about the chickens Mama wants to order. Mama has been looking at a catalogue from a hatchery but the feed store can order the same chicks for us at about the same price any time we are ready. That would facilitate the delivery of the chicks to us so I am guessing that is the way the two of them worked it out. It is becoming a spring time tradition on the farm to get a new brood of chickens.

Buying the chicks is cheaper than buying an incubator but I think hatching our own would be fun. The problem with hatching your own is that you have no choice in the sex of the birds. When they are purchased from a hatchery you can be fairly certain that the birds have been sexed so that the males and females can be sold separately. In the batch we bought last year only one of the 18 we bought as pullets turned out to be a rooster. He is now top cock in the coop.

It is perfect timing to get the little ones now since the brunt of the cold is passed. If we do get the chicks – or rather, when – it will delay my timing of removing the windows I have on the coop for winter. Those windows keep the coop very warm in the late mornings through the afternoon; maybe too warm for the adult birds but perfect for the baby ones.

I did not do much of anything when I got home after our stop at the feed store. It was pretty late – daylight wise – to start anything outside so I sat down and worked the song list for next week’s services. I like to get it to the instrumentalists by Tuesday so they can look it over and catch any problems with the selections. There are some songs I have chosen that they have not known and there are several I have picked that the congregation has not known, but we work it out. I am enjoying leading the singing.

At the office yesterday I interviewed another candidate for the open position I have within my group. She was definitely the top candidate for the position. I have one more interview to conduct – next Monday and after that interview we will make a selection. But as far as a good fit for the position and a good fit within my group this last one was the best fit by far. It is always a good thing to have to choose between better and best, but that has not usually been the case in the interviews I have done while in this position.

One particular candidate last week, although she was a very strong candidate and interviewed well, left me feeling uneasy should she be the one that turned out to be the best choice when all the interviews were concluded. I could not quite put my finger on the problem but having another strong candidate was a relief.

One of the joys of being a supervisor.