To Set The Record Straight

It’s sad really, that this needs to be explained, alas.

Silly me, thinking people were brighter than the commenter in the above pic…

Rise And Shine!

Get up lazy bones!

Rise and shine!

I sure do miss having chickens, especially roosters.

It's that time of the year, locally grown, farm fresh corn on the cob season, so I went to the local farm and picked up a half dozen, which I will have with diner tonight and I can't wait!

This young man was in the parking lot crowing and strutting his stuff.  I was tempted to take him home but my town doesn't allow roosters, alas.

A rooster crowing is one of my favorite sounds, it's right up there with the evening springtime songs of the spring-peepers or the early morning howling of a pack of coyotes.

New Egg Game

I've stepped up my egg game!

New egg cartons and new egg stamps!

I've started stamping the eggs with the date laid - not on these eggs pictured as they were older and predated this idea and the stamps arrival but moving forward all eggs will receive 2 stampings.

Charlie's Place -

Eggs Galore!

I can honestly tell you this is a good problem to have!

We've been getting about 4 eggs a day now for the last couple of weeks.  Of course, with 7 pullets, this could be better but under the circumstances of less daylight and much colder temps I'm pleased.

We're out of egg cartons, so have been storing them in saucers, the ones we're not eating.

I've adopted a new OCD tactic when it comes to our eggs, stamping them with the date laid.  I'm hoping this will help in identifying and using the older eggs first.

Good news is I have new egg cartons coming and a new special stamp I designed, which I'll be stamping the eggs with.  Stay tuned...

And They're Off...

Our first egg, HOORAY!

A little on the small side but to be expected for new, first timers.  They'll get bigger as the chicken ages.  We have 4-different breeds, this was laid by an Amberlink!

The yolks are deep yellow, firm white and SO frick'n tasty!

русский орлов (Google convert)

Emilie's Russian Orloff chicken at about 17 weeks.

The Orloff is a breed of chicken named after Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov (1737-1808), a Russian Count, so seems we have a bit of royalty in our backyard coop!

She's unusual with tufts and a beard that sways when she moves, and a tad nervous in general, but adds some nice color and variation to our flock.  We'll see how well she does when it comes to laying and her consistency.

H2O Self Watering Bucket

I've seen these chicken self waterers for some time now and always wondered if they really worked and if so how good were they.  Well, now that we have chickens again I thought I'd give these a try, so ordered a couple from Amazon.  

Installed and ready for use!  I will add water and leave under the deck for a little while to see if they leak.  If not, I'll move it to the coop and hope the chickens get the hang of it and take to it.  This will help keep their water clean and I won't need to fill up nearly as much as the waterer I use today.

Chicken Room...

I decided that since we're now in the chicken business and we have a brooder setup in the basement, I'd air on the side of caution, and of past mistakes, to essentially make a walled off room where the brooder is kept.  I used plastic from floor to ceiling on two sides and a green tarp for the front.  My hope is to contain as much of the dust that these chicks are going to start making.  The dust gets into EVERYTHING!

I think back on what I put my mother through, i.e. chicks raised in the kitchen, UGH!

Chicken Identity Crisis

In our flock of five chickens we have this Brown Sex-link hen who's about 3 years old now. She has always been the friendliest (to me, definitely NOT Emilie) but yet the most aggressive of the bunch.  She also behaves and acts much like a rooster.

When food is made available to the group, she'll always cluck-cluck like a rooster does essentially calling over the other hens and even goes so far as to offer up whatever it is she's fawning over at the time.  Something you typically see a rooster doing.  She's also on the ready to come to the aide of the other hens when\if they're threatened.  Just ask Emilie

She doesn't crow like a rooster and I've never seen her even try.

However, she posses a single spur on her right leg.  Spurs are a rooster trait, not a hen.  Yet, as you can see below she has one and it's BIG!  Perhaps, you can understand Emile's apprehension when needing to go in the coop to collect eggs.

She still lays eggs.

So, I'll name her Caitlyn!

Calcium Supplement

We continue to save our egg shells, and once dried, smash them up to be added to the chickens diet.  What a great way to re-purpose and reuse, not to mention the calcium benefit the ladies will get from them too.  It's a win win for everyone!

Chicken Fingers?!

With warmer weather comes melting snow.  With melting snow muddy ground.  With muddy ground comes many a foot, paw and claw prints.

Fresh Coop Nesting Hay

The girls, as curious as cats sometimes, couldn't wait to checkout the new hay in their nest boxes.

They approve!!

1st Blue Egg of 2017

First blue Americana chicken egg of 2017!

Egg Shell Bumpiness

As expected the shorter days and cold weather has triggered a shutdown for the ladies of the coop.

This time of year they usually go through a molt.  As a part of that process they also stop laying eggs. Out of 8 chickens one is still laying, so we're getting an egg each day.

The eggs are coming out with a fancy end or tail, see pics below.  These are calcium deposits.  There are many reasons this can occur, from the chickens age, lack of day light (shorter days), temperature, etc.

No cause for alarm.  The eggs are still good and edible, in fact they're delicious!  We'll keep an eye an watch this but suspect it'll correct itself over time.  Certainly makes for interesting egg shells.

Re-purpose Egg Shells

Calcium!

This is the first time in all the years that we've raised chicken that we saved the egg shells.

We dried them out, then crushed them by hand, as seen in the above photo.  The shells were then added to the chickens feed for added calcium, which aides in strengthening their egg shells.  A nice way to save a couple bucks versus buying calcium supplements but also nice to re-purpose.

The Coop

The weather hasn't been too cold here in New England, so I left the coop plastic off their door.  I don't want it to get too hot in there.  Also, it allows the girls to see out.  However, that's changing, so I'll need to close this off soon.  It's always nice when I get this completed and the coop completely winterized and I know they're all tucked in for the cold weather to come.

Already Scrambled??

I would think ouch!

Had a weird wrinkled egg waiting for us in the coop today, weird.

Can't Get Any Fresher!

Waiting on breakfast...

Storing Eggs

Why Should Eggs Be Stored Pointy End Down?

The Fresh Eggs Daily blog has a pretty informative article on why eggs should be stored pointy end down.

Click here is you're interested in learning more - 

Storing eggs

Finally!

Well, you have it...