No, the sky isn't falling, but 'round here it seems the chickens are beginning to lay! Yes, lay eggs! It started the other day, when Monkey1 found a lovely brown egg in one of the nesting boxes. She came running into the house, shouting in excitement. It was funny, but the egg was lovely. Unfortunately, we did not see which chicken had given us her gift.
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| Our first egg! Brown, but the flash makes it look white. |
Then there was a second egg the next afternoon. More excitement ensued. Then we finally spotted a hen in the box, and got egg #3 from under her. It was Octavia (she's either a black australorp, or a black sexlink)! Then Octavia gifted us with a 4th egg yesterday, which Monkeyboy promptly ate. Today, Octavia is back in a nesting box, and we eagerly await her delicious gift!
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| Miss Octavia |
It seems to have helped that I bought a pair of ceramic brown eggs, to stash in the nesting boxes. Apparently it encourages nesting behaviour, and stimulates egg production. And if you get a broody hen, you can slip a couple underneath her, while you shanghai the real eggs for consumption.
Yesterday, she gave us a softshell (shell-less) egg. The dogs got to eat that one, as the membrane got dirty, having landed under one of the roosting bars. And as of today, we collected another small brown egg from the nesting boxes, another Octavia offering I am sure. If she's an Australorp, she is starting out quite prolific! Sex links are typically heavy layers for the first three years, and then they sort of burn out.
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| Octavia, out with the guineas. |
Hopefully, more hens will start laying soon, so I can quit buying eggs at the store! But I am just grateful for whatever they give us. They are fun little creatures, all with distinct personalities. If you are in a position to have a few hens of your own, I highly recommend getting some!
Cool! I would like to raise chickens too but have hesitated because I thought it would be too much trouble. Now I feel encouraged to think about it again. It would be nice to eat food that's not laced with hormones and one can avoid paying any more taxes. Anytime we can 'shrug' it's a good thing.
ReplyDeleteMay the LORD bless and keep you. ~:)
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I love that tip about using ceramic eggs under the brood hens. Never heard that one before! Unfortunately, it's illegal in our town to have chickens unless we're a 500 animal farm. I'm sure it was one of the multi-million dollar homes that put that law into effect some years ago, although there's been a grass-roots movement recently to get the ban rescinded for local home owners who only want to keep a few birds.
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