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!

Scraps for Chicks

Our chickens really enjoy escaping from the chicken castle every chance they get. They love spending as much time as possible foraging in the yard, overturning rocks, looking for bugs, and picking at leaves and other left over garden veggies. The really interesting thing that we noticed is that when they "escape" they do it in the same order every time. This must have to do with the pecking order in the flock but it's kind of cute.

Today they got a real treat, apple scraps left from an apple crisp. Our apples have been dropping from the tree and I have to keep them picked up before the chickens get them, so when I put a big bowl of peels and cores they all began consuming them with zest! Between the chickens that the compost our garbage can is pretty empty these days, unfortunately the garbage bill does not go down just because the can has only one or two bags in it. I does go up though if it's too heavy. Oh well, we're certainly doing our part for the planet and our family...

Two Eggs Per Day

Two of our hens are earning their keep now and we are getting two eggs almost every day now. I finally figured out which of the other hens started laying last weekend. It turned out to be our barred rock hen Phoebe! So now both of our dark colored hens is laying and it looks like our golden sex-link hen "Goldie" should be next. She is the second oldest of the five hens and her comb is starting to get a little redder.

Our Dominique hen Sadie is laying pretty brown eggs, and today's egg was the biggest yet. Phoebe's eggs are still pretty small and a lighter color brown with some mottling. Yesterday we gave our son a dozen eggs and we have a dozen in the refrigerator after todays collection. We used up the last of the store bought white eggs this week so not it's self sufficiency time for us. At least as far as eggs go.

Harvest Time

This time of year when the season changes from summer to autumn, there are many things to do around the house and yard. This morning for example I got a semi early start and headed out to pick huckleberries from the other variety we have in the garden. These berries are more oval in shape compared to the other bush we have which resemble a small blueberry. I like this variety because the berries are a little bigger and they taste great! I picked for about two hours and got almost all the ripe berries from one of the two bushes. I will have to get out again tomorrow and pick the other one.

The thing about huckleberries is that they don't all ripen at the same time, so you have to keep going out to pick the ripe ones about once a week until they are all picked. This makes for many hours of tedious picking; it's no wonder that they are so expensive in the stores.

After I finished with the berries I decided to check on the chickens to see if they had laid any eggs, and I was happy to see that there was one egg waiting to be plucked from the box. I also noticed that a pear had fallen so I picked it up and added it to my collection. We are going to have a bunch of apples and some more pears to pick soon. I might have to make an apple pie or a pear crisp soon. The rhubarb is also about ready to pick again. I didn't get to the first picking in time, so I don't want to miss this one.


After lunch I packed up our rooster Junior so I could take him to a person that wanted a rooster. He has been increasingly noisy and it was time for him to go. So we are down to five hens now. After I got home I headed out to work in the yard some more and noticed all the girls clucking more than usual. I think they miss their man chicken.

Later on I decided to pick the squash since the vines are all covered with mildew. The squash was grown from some seeds I saved a couple of years ago, and I had no idea they would even grow. To my surprise, every seed sprouted and we have enough squash for several meals. I like the cooked with butter and salt and pepper, Terri prefers butter and brown sugar on hers.

Well that's my Saturday for now. Happy Autumn everyone.

Egg Update

Eleven days ago one of the hens started laying. The eggs started out really small and got a little bigger each day. We got an egg Sunday and Monday, then she took a break for two days before starting again. The next two days the eggs were bigger and one even had two yolks! Saturday morning Terri scrambled up the first four eggs for breakfast, so good.

After laying late on Saturday, Sadie took Sunday off and then has given us an egg the past three days in a row. The last two days the eggs are about the same size as the last store bought eggs.

So eight eggs in the first eleven days of laying is pretty good. It's time for some of the others to get with the program. Last week I started to mix the starter feed fifty-fifty with Purina layer pellets and I also put some oyster shells in a dish in the run.

Our First Egg

Today, when I went to feed and water the chicks I peeked into the coop and noticed that the nesting boxes both had big depressions indicating that they had gotten some use, so I decided it was time to put a wooden egg into each box so they really got the idea that both boxes should be used.  When I went in the house one of our hens was making some louder then usual clucking sounds and when I went to put the eggs in the boxes, Sadie our Dominique hen was in one of the boxes so put an egg in the unused box and a few minutes later when she got out Terri noticed that she had laid her first egg.

That's me below holding the cute little brown egg that was still warm, I went right inside an put it in the refrigerator. To the left is a picture of our first egg before we plucked it from the box and replaced it with the wooden version.

Sadie is the oldest of the hens, I think she was about 3 weeks old when I picked her from the brooder full of chicks. Goldie was about two weeks old when I brought her home so maybe she will be next. We are so excited right now, and happy that these hens are finally "earning their keep."