A Record Day

Today before work I heard some loud clucks and went out to see if we had any eggs. To my surprise there were two before 8:00 a.m. Usually we collect eggs in the afternoon so I was surprised to see two that early.

When my wife got home she checked for eggs as usual and found two more. Four in one day is pretty awesome. One of the afternoon eggs was a pale green so one of our Ameraucana's must have started laying. So we either have three or four of the flock producing now. I will have to pay attention this weekend to find out which chickens are the good girls.

I'm sure that our family is looking forward to getting some of these soon, so keep going girls, we have people to feed.

We're Back in Business

After two of our hens started to lay last year, things came to an abrupt halt in early November as the daylight became much shorter in the Pacific Northwest. I let them go for a couple of weeks until my wife encourged me to install some lighting to extend the day. I had been researching the idea for a while and originally thought I should just let them use their energy to stay warm this winter, but after two weeks of no eggs and a trip to the store to buy some white eggs, I decided to put them back to work.

I set up a timer on a grow light I had in my shop and the girls now wake up at 4 a.m. After a few weeks of this routine we have one of the hens, Sadie I think to start laying again. Today was the third day in a row we got an egg and I can't wait until they all get to work.

I think this has been the most interesting project for me in quite a while. I really have enjoyed watching them forage for food and come running for a treat every time I go outside. None of them are super friendly and won't let me easily pick them up, but I'm okay with that as long as they keep on laying!