Need To Read...

Since the Big Girls are beginning to lay I need to read to see who to teach them to lay in the nesting boxes.

 

But it looks like Susie already knows what to do.

Mark and I rushed to Michael's to get some wooden eggs.  You are supposed to put them in the nest and the chickens are then suppose to realize that this is the sweet spot in the coop.  So I got six eggs, two for each nesting box.

Well someone didn't want it that way.  Somehow one of the chickens moved one egg to another box.  I think I might just have the smartest chickens that ever laid eggs!

And look what happened next.  Esthelle decided she might try sitting on the wooden eggs.  We checked several time but no luck.

But lucky Emmy again...found another egg.  So grand total in tow days...3 eggs and 1/2 an egg shell.  I think I will probably be wearing a path to the coop.

Sunday Evening With All The Girls

Tonights treat not so good...just some of Pappy's birdseed.  But they like sunflowers.

Some of the girls weren't too thrilled with sunflower seeds.

Some didn't even care.

A few even flapped their wings in distress.

Others said hey, it's a free meal guys.

The little girls sometimes need to hide to keep all their feather.

Between the dog and the chickens it is hard to believe that we have any tomatoes at all.

 RayJeana

 

Dory

Another tomato thief.

Sunny never causes any trouble.

 

Dory, RayJeana, and Judy picking for bugs.  Looking forward to those pretty 'Easter eggs".

Mark and I built a little ladder for the girls.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!!! (Say it like Goober from The Andy Griffith Show)

We have been having this a heated discussion about when the 'girls' should start laying.  I first said at the end of this month...have had my heart set on it.  Mark insisted that it would be the end of October, around my birthday.  Which would be nice.  Me, being the big reader/researcher got out my Chicken Notebook that contains important notes from everything I have read...

 

(6 month old laying schedule)

Big girls in October  (hatched 4/7/14)

The Three Stooges in November (hatched 4/30/14)

The Little Girls in December (hatched 5/8/14)

Emmy and I go out to show off the chickens.  We always just check the nesting boxes, well, just because.  Emmy looked up with her eyes as big as saucers and yells that there is an egg.  Well it once was a whole egg but sometime this morning someone laid an egg and someone cracked it open and ate it and half the shell.  I know that it sounds gross but that happens.  We are so excited and send pics to everyone in the family.  Then get busy doing other things.  Don't think too much about it.  It had to have been a fluke.  A few hours later I go out to dump the compost bowl and I see TWO more eggs (whole ones this time) under the coop in two dusting holes the chickens have made.  I literally run as fast as I can on these old legs and yell for Emmy.  Se comes tearing down the stairs and tries to beat me back to the coop.  I had her the camera to take pics.  Above is what she got.  For some reason she didn't want to step foot in the run (chicken poop I guess).  They are so far back that I can't reach them so I have her get the extension rake that I use to clean out the run with.  Perfect.  We finally get them out and we are just beaming like we did something special!

 They are just a little dirty.  But they are EGGS!  From my girls!  Do we have to call them ladies now?

 

Here they are in my eggs basket!

I'm not going to be able to sleep a wink tonight wondering who is laying what eggs.  The only one of the Big Girls I know for sure will be Ethel, the Marans, because she lays dark chocolate eggs.

 

Pondering two questions:

How many eggs will I find in the morning?

Who will be eating scrambled eggs for breakfast?

 (I know it won't be me because I am not an egg fan unless it is deviled or in egg salad.)

The New Addition

My Chicken Coop Man aka Bill and his dad showed up tonight to assemble the Little Girls run and 'basement' to their coop.  A few days early.  I'm telling you if you ever need a coop built SouthernBuckeyeCoops llc is the place to call.  They are the best, down to earth guys ever! EVER!  And come to find out Bill's dad, Don, grew up in Huntington when he was a kid.  Small world.

As they were unloading the pieces I was praying that my measurements were right.  He trusted me to get good measurements.  Boy was I just a little bit nervous.

The 'basement' had to be places under the coop.  I had no clue how in the world the three of us were going to do it.  I should have guessed they were fully capable of doing it themselves.  But I felt bad.  It was the hottest part of the day, it stinks like chicken pop when it gets this hot, those things were heavy, they had to work in the sunniest part of the yard...and I was no help.  Just taking pictures of all their hard work.

the had to scoot the coop out of the way so they could place the frame for the 'basement' where I had the coop setting.  It went in like butter on a biscuit.

They made extra sure that it was secure.

The run!!!!  The girls are going to be so excited!  It will be easier for me to feed and water them.  And it gives them more room to move around.  And he added two new roosts.

Some minor tweaking to the roof so it fits sung on the coop.

All done and I am more than thrilled.  I love it!

 Tucked in between the plants makes it look like it has been there for ages.

 

And the Little Girls love it too!  Of course Dixie was the first to check things out.  Hanging feed and waterer.  You have no idea what a difference that makes.

So much room they just don't know what to do.

I think the Big Girls might be a little jealous.

 

Seriously, if you are looking for some great guys that do awesome work, give SouthernBuckeyeCoops llc a message of FB.

Playmates For The Girls

I think Dewey is seriously considering raising his own little chicken farm.

The girls put on a show for him.  We fed them three bowls of blueberries.

Betsy is a farm girl from way back.  Her dad had chickens.

The girls showed them almost all their tricks.  Dust Bowl in the big girls run and little girls were in the flower bed.  Dirt was flying everywhere.

More Fun Visitors

Ronda and Lynley dropped Skyler off and stayed for the nightly chicken show.  I have to say that the girls loved them.

Lynley was a chick magnet!  They loved her.  Couldn't be because she had a big bowl of blueberries.  And by the looks of her blue lips, I think she just might have shared them with the chickens.  Esthelle just at them right out of the bowl.

Dixie made I to the sitting spot a few time.

The chickens love Chickie Pa's perch...AKA his leg.  He too had a bowl of blueberries.  I think watermelon and blueberries are their favorite treats so far.  They like his toes pretty well too.

 

Not only did the chickens get treats, but Ronda surprised me with a few bags of treats as well, chocolate ones...the kind I LOVE!

We love having visitors on the farm to watch and laugh with us at the chickens and all of their shenanigans.  So come on by sometime about an hour before dark...that is when the show begins.