The flock is complete! We now have a grand and final total of 9 girls. No more due to room and the fact that I think I have exhausted every female name used in the Andy Griffith sitcom.
Skippy, Daphne (Spotted Sussex) and little Miss Ellie (Salmon Faverolle) joined us this evening. I sure hope they all get along well. Thelma Lou was chattering non stop but Skippy (Spotted Sussex) was holding her own. Marvin had tamed the Sussex so much that I can pet her while she eats. It is my intent on sitting in the coop with them until they are all a little tamer. You have not felt such softness till you have petted a chicken. I hope no one takes my picture.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Screamers, Double Yoks and Water Balloons
I know, I know..what a title! The Fun girls were supposed to be the next topic but since they have not arrived yet (and this is entirely my fault) I thought I would cover a new topic..weird eggs.
My hens as you know began laying in mid August and so for the first month I was getting a steady supply of eggs both medium and small, brown and beige and maybe a little pink one, a gift from the Aracana's. But..late last week I was gathering the eggs when I saw an egg in the middle of the coop, not in the nest box. When I reached in to retrieve it, it POPPED! Just like a little egg water balloon! So, off I went to google EGG WITH NO SHELL. Turns out this is a normal occurrence with a hens reproductive cycle and it just missed the shell part. A few days later I found TWO of the largest and longest eggs to date. Who laid these? Well who knows but after mentioning this to my friend Marvin he said in his famous drawl..."Them's called Screamers!"
I saved these two large eggs for a few days and showed them to anyone who came within 5 feet of the house (UPS Lady, Fed Ex Man, friend who walks her dog by the house) and I even took them to work in a cooled lunch box to show off.
Sunday I finally boiled them to make my Sunday egg salad and low and behold I had a double yolk!
Since my girls are special I think I will request one that is like those Russian stack dolls! An egg within an egg!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Pick a Little?
About 12 days ago or so when I titled my next post I knew right were I was going with this title...now I don't have a clue. One word to describe this phenomenon is MENOPAUSE. I would forget I had chickens if they were not clucking to me right outside my window. But I digress..
But while we are on the subject of clucking.... last week I awoke to more than the usual come feed me clucks that I am greeted with each morning. These were more like..GET OUT HERE WE HAVE INTRUDERS! Sure enough, hanging on the side of the coop was the newest drop off cat, FANG! She is still a kitten and is fascinated with the movement of these giant birds and was just curious. They were not amused. A quick shooing of Fang and they were ok. Its strange what unique sounds they have. Most days its just the normal soft clucks and other days they seem to be more agitated. Saturday night my good helper David dropped by to help us in the greenhouse and asked if he could feed the girls their nightly lettuce scraps. When he entered the coop, just as I do, you have never seen such a fracas! They flew up and around and made such a horrible racket. I went in, David went out and I assured them that all was well. They immediately settled down. I guess they do LOVE me!
Up next...The Fun Girls!
But while we are on the subject of clucking.... last week I awoke to more than the usual come feed me clucks that I am greeted with each morning. These were more like..GET OUT HERE WE HAVE INTRUDERS! Sure enough, hanging on the side of the coop was the newest drop off cat, FANG! She is still a kitten and is fascinated with the movement of these giant birds and was just curious. They were not amused. A quick shooing of Fang and they were ok. Its strange what unique sounds they have. Most days its just the normal soft clucks and other days they seem to be more agitated. Saturday night my good helper David dropped by to help us in the greenhouse and asked if he could feed the girls their nightly lettuce scraps. When he entered the coop, just as I do, you have never seen such a fracas! They flew up and around and made such a horrible racket. I went in, David went out and I assured them that all was well. They immediately settled down. I guess they do LOVE me!
Up next...The Fun Girls!
Monday, September 5, 2011
Rainy Night in Georgia!
We interrupt the previous post in progress to report that the girls had their first experience with being handled rather roughly and being moved several times today.
Bad weather from Hurricane Lee has sent us loads of much needed rain but not all in the space of a few hours. Some flooding has already occurred and will continue through out today and into Tuesday.
At about 8:00 am this morning we noticed that the area we had moved them to was more than likely going to flood.
With a pry bar and a furniture dolly and two strong men (Gib and Bob) we started the move...but wait...the girls were out in the run and needed to be moved into the coop. Simply saying "Girls go inside" did no good. So Bob...6'3" stooped over, entered the run and backed all the girls into a corner and proceed to catch each one and place her in the coop. You have never heard such indignant sounds! Finally all were inside, the door was shut and the move began.
Warning....do not attempt to move a VERY large structure such as this wearing Crocs! I so wish someone had filmed this. Bob was the only smart one with boots on!
The coop was moved with a few engineering modifications and they are now just outside our bedroom window where we can monitor the water issue. It took them about 1 hour to come back out of the coop but they are now happily pecking at fresh grass!
Bad weather from Hurricane Lee has sent us loads of much needed rain but not all in the space of a few hours. Some flooding has already occurred and will continue through out today and into Tuesday.
At about 8:00 am this morning we noticed that the area we had moved them to was more than likely going to flood.
With a pry bar and a furniture dolly and two strong men (Gib and Bob) we started the move...but wait...the girls were out in the run and needed to be moved into the coop. Simply saying "Girls go inside" did no good. So Bob...6'3" stooped over, entered the run and backed all the girls into a corner and proceed to catch each one and place her in the coop. You have never heard such indignant sounds! Finally all were inside, the door was shut and the move began.
Warning....do not attempt to move a VERY large structure such as this wearing Crocs! I so wish someone had filmed this. Bob was the only smart one with boots on!
The coop was moved with a few engineering modifications and they are now just outside our bedroom window where we can monitor the water issue. It took them about 1 hour to come back out of the coop but they are now happily pecking at fresh grass!
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Decoy Eggs
My girls were born in Feb/March and so I expected them to start laying about August. And true to that they laid the first egg on August 18th. They steadily produced one to two a day then 3 and are now up to 4 sometimes 5 in one day. This means that not every hen is laying an egg a day but hey, I am thrilled to go egg hunting each day just to see what is there.
We built 3 nest boxes as we were told that up to two or three chickens might occupy the same nest box at one time so 3 it was. But...after about a week or two of only getting eggs in the left hand nest and none in the other two it made me wonder what was up.
After talking to some folks who were raised on a farm, they advised me to put a fake egg or golf ball or ping pong ball in each nest and that would encourage them to lay there. I had some nice wooden eggs that I had picked up in Germany some many years ago and so I placed one in each of the other two nest boxes. The next day..an egg was laid in one of them. Maybe this worked or maybe the nest was occupied and so one of the girls finally went "next door" When you gotta lay, you gotta lay I guess!
Next...Pick a little, talk a little, cheep, cheep, cheep, talk and lot, pick a little more!
We built 3 nest boxes as we were told that up to two or three chickens might occupy the same nest box at one time so 3 it was. But...after about a week or two of only getting eggs in the left hand nest and none in the other two it made me wonder what was up.
After talking to some folks who were raised on a farm, they advised me to put a fake egg or golf ball or ping pong ball in each nest and that would encourage them to lay there. I had some nice wooden eggs that I had picked up in Germany some many years ago and so I placed one in each of the other two nest boxes. The next day..an egg was laid in one of them. Maybe this worked or maybe the nest was occupied and so one of the girls finally went "next door" When you gotta lay, you gotta lay I guess!
Next...Pick a little, talk a little, cheep, cheep, cheep, talk and lot, pick a little more!
Friday, September 2, 2011
Swimming Pools..Movie Stars
Ok, so I am a child of the sixties and my mind just plugs in some sort of sitcom flashback, ie in this case The Beverly Hillbillies.
But truly the girls have made their very own...dirty water pool!
I had no idea that chickens drank as much as they do, and in this hot dry weather they have consumed a gallon a day. Except when they very cleverly tilt the hanging water feeder ever so slightly until the water tips over into the hole that THEY dug. Then they take turns sitting in it or drinking it. Its very frustrating to take the time to clean that water feeder and fill it full of not tepid, but COLD water and then find that later in the day it is all in a hole.
On the other hand I had no idea that chickens were so inventive!
Up next...Decoy Eggs!
But truly the girls have made their very own...dirty water pool!
I had no idea that chickens drank as much as they do, and in this hot dry weather they have consumed a gallon a day. Except when they very cleverly tilt the hanging water feeder ever so slightly until the water tips over into the hole that THEY dug. Then they take turns sitting in it or drinking it. Its very frustrating to take the time to clean that water feeder and fill it full of not tepid, but COLD water and then find that later in the day it is all in a hole.
On the other hand I had no idea that chickens were so inventive!
Up next...Decoy Eggs!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Green Eggs?
Call me crazy but if my chickens eat lots and lots and lots of green things would we end up proving Dr Seuss right? Not so I am afraid, but our girls do eat lots and lots of lettuce and basil and watercress and pretty much any bug they can catch. ( and they are GREAT bug catchers)
But...all green things aside they do need more than all the green stuff we provide. Even our super mineral rich lettuce and herbs is not enough. We feed them some sort of minerals that friend Marvin mixed up for us as well as some Layena crumbles or pellets. Cracked corn and scratch makes up their daily feed as well as about one gallon a day of water. Each morning as I approach I am greeted with a chorus of sounds that everyone should be privy enough to hear. It just makes my day to know that I am a part of such a beneficial arrangement with them. I take care of them and they in turn reward me with some of the most delicious eggs I have ever eaten!
Next... Swimming Pools, Movie Stars!
But...all green things aside they do need more than all the green stuff we provide. Even our super mineral rich lettuce and herbs is not enough. We feed them some sort of minerals that friend Marvin mixed up for us as well as some Layena crumbles or pellets. Cracked corn and scratch makes up their daily feed as well as about one gallon a day of water. Each morning as I approach I am greeted with a chorus of sounds that everyone should be privy enough to hear. It just makes my day to know that I am a part of such a beneficial arrangement with them. I take care of them and they in turn reward me with some of the most delicious eggs I have ever eaten!
Next... Swimming Pools, Movie Stars!
Pecking Order
Did you know that chickens will find the highest thing to perch on and then all fight over who gets it. Well not really fight but they dang sure stress out over getting that one spot. This happened soon after we got the girls into their new home. They did not go into the coop that first night but all 6 tried to get up on the 2 X 4 that supported their food and water feeders. Was suprised that they found it! We watched in awe as 4 girls were seated comfortably while the other 2 tried to get there and ended up shoving one or two off. 6 would simply not fit. So...we removed the board, mounted the feeder and waterer another way and this solved the issue. Now all 6 girls march into the coop around dark and happily occupy the 4 perches! Pecking order solved!
Next...Green Eggs?
Next...Green Eggs?
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