Ladies hard at work

Well, winter is coming soon, and the girls are still hard at work.

With the decrease in daylight hours we installed some lights in the coop on a timer, so that even in the winter the hens will still lay a decent amount of eggs. Their egg laying instincts are triggered by daylight cycles.

Here is Fluffy, somewhat irritated I am coming in with a camera.

Barney didn't care however, and was intreagued by the camera.

They both settle in to do their thing....

 

 

 

 

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Happiness is.... Chickens.

So true, so true. We are absolutely adoring our chickens and the notion of backyard farming! The hens delight us with their ever interesting antics, and provide us with the most delicious and healthy eggs we could ask for. My one regret is not getting a bigger coop! With the interest in grass fed free range eggs, we wish we had more to share with others.

 

And I thought I was getting a large coop in this first place. I should have heeded the many blogs and books I have read on the subject that claimed no matter how many chickens you start with, you will want more, so plan accordingly with a larger coop! They were right....

 

This is what we look forward to on a daily basis. Mmmmm. I have read that grass fed chickens lay eggs with higher omega-3's, lower cholesterol than any non pastured egg on the market. I'm convinced its true. They taste great too!

 

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Our first wee pullet eggs! Blue, from an Easter egger

The moment has finally arrived! After rearranging each nest box to her liking, and a triumphant amount of squawking around, one of the Easter egger's laid her first blue egg. It's smaller than your typical egg. This is because she is still a "pullet" or adolescent chicken. Her eggs should get bigger as she grows up a bit more. And then, a few days later, she laid another one. We are officially on egg watch. The eggs are so pretty, I don't want to crack them just yet. Maybe we will blow the insides out of the first egg and save it for posterity. Kind of like how business owners frame the first dollar bill the make.Truly amazing how these lovely animals were created! God is a masterful designer indeed!

Three days went by with no egg and then we were blessed with this HUGE egg... Turned out to have double yolks!

Look how healthy and bright our little "pastured" grass-eating, organic egg compares with the Costco organic eggs. Hmmm, I'm thinking those birds don't get outside all that much....

We are learning something new every day with these wonderful little hens.

 

 

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Homestead Revival: Sizzling Summer Round Up: Born-Again Dirt

Homestead Revival: Sizzling Summer Round Up: Born-Again Dirt: Today we're checking out Noah Sander's new book, Born-Again Dirt , Farming for the Glory of God! You may not have heard of him... yet, ...

The Flock, Now Outside

The girls have spent a few nights in the new house now. It got a little chilly, so I found them all cramming into one nesting box to sleep.

The are adjusting quite well to the new setup outside, and DH is glad to have the garage back in working order. When it starts to get dark, they all pile up somewhere in the coop. So far they haven't chosen the right spots, so we end up putting them into the roost area and closing them in. Sammy seems to always want her people to put her in and take her out. She'll stand at the opening in the morning making noise until we come get her and place her at the bottom of the ladder. Guess she doesn't care for the ladder.

Out for a backyard fieldtrip

Its almost time to move the chicks outside... so we've taken to small little trips to the backyard so they can get familiar, but still be able to return to the nice warm garage housing. At least until the weather is more consistently warm, and they have a few more feathers. I'm thinking one week from now, they'll be good to go live in the big coop. I still might put the heat lamp out there for them, because I worry about them getting too cold!

They had so much fun, it was hard to gather them back up when it was time to go in.

Gettin' Bigger

Its been 3 1/2 weeks now and the chicks are getting so big now.

They are extremely social and love to be out of the tiny box and sitting on their 'people'. We've had to make a new living arrangement for them in the garage temporarily, until they are big enough to go out into the real coop.

2 Weeks Old and Trying to Fly the Coop

Its been 2 weeks now and I am just amazed at how quickly these little chickies are growing! Their big girl feathers are coming in fast. Today one of the Easter Eggers flew onto the edge of the brooder box - and she made it! The mesh lid we made will be essential at this point.

We let them out to explore a little and stretch their wings. They really are sweet little creatures.

Fun in the Kleenex Box

We created a makeshift "nesting box" out of a Kleenex box, and filled it with bedding. All day today the chickies have been taking turns sitting in it, fluffing the bedding up, and piling into the box.

Its been one full week of life for most of these ladies, and they already have bigger wing feathers coming in. They seem to have all figured out how to perch on the roosting bars as well. One of the buff orpingtons has developed a naughty habit of emptying the feeder onto the floor. She's such a pig.

When they fall asleep, which is frequently, they all pile up on each other or crowd into the box to snuggle. Then one will pop up and step on them all to wake them up. Silly birdies.

The New Little Flock

They have arrived! We had gotten word that the hatchery was short on Marans (the dark brown egg layers) so they swapped out a salmon faverolle for it. Even better - they are beautiful and shy with feathery legs in a salmon/white color. Faverolles are classified as a heavy breed and have a beard, muffs, feathered feet, and five toes per foot, rather than the usual four. Faverolles are considered to be very good layers, a well-cared for Faverolles hen will lay approximately four eggs per week.

So far, the Buff Orps, Easter Eggers, Faverole and one of the Wyandottes are doing very well. The other Wyandotte seemed to be weak and didn't make it through the first 48 hours. This gave us a reason to take a peek at the selection of birds at Farm and Fleet. We added two new ones to the flock: a Barred Rock and another Maran (the Maran however, has been picked on a lot so far and seems to be fading out).

Barred Rock chickens are known as "the kind of chickens Grandma used to raise" in the industry. They lay brown eggs and are friendly as well. Its been fascinating watching their behavior. At first the EE's were the most dominant, and have been the first to learn how to perch for short periods of time. Once the Barred Rock entered the scene tho, the pecking order had to be revised. She is a tough little bird it seems, so much so we've wondered if she might be a roo. There was much eyeball pecking for the first few days - especially with the fluffy yellow chicks - since their eye is so noticeable! They peck at every little thing. Unfortunately for the Maran, she got pecked to the point of injury on her back. So far she is still hanging in there, but she looks like she is headed the way of the other one we lost. We'll keep giving TLC and see if she can spring back.

There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of manners or social graces with these ladies. They walk all over each other if one is sleeping. As they tend to fall asleep frequently wherever they are, the others just plow on thru and wake them up. There are times when they all settle down and cuddle together in various chick piles. Cute.