Friday, August 17, 2012

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.

 

 

Friday, July 6, 2012

Friday, May 18, 2012

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.


Thursday, May 10, 2012

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.


Wednesday, May 2, 2012

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.

Friday, April 20, 2012

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.

Monday, April 16, 2012

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.