I Can't Get Anything Done...

...because I am wearing a path to the chickens on an hurly basis.  Good thing Wammyville was closed today.  Working out in the yard I heard all kinds of ruckus in the coops.  I am getting to know the different clucks.  Today I heard a really fast, strong one.  Then a breather and then back to clucking.  I checked where the noise was coming from and found that one of the Little Girls was on the nest.  I was keeping my fingers crossed.  I figured out it was one of the Easter Eggers, Rayjeana.  Now I had to wait to see what color the egg was going to be.  Well, here is our first colored egg!

 

Now we can have green eggs and ham!

Check out that egg in the middle...long and skinny.  Have no idea who laid that one!  Guess I will be stalking the birds again tomorrow.  I'll put the yahoos on chicken alert.

 

I Have The Best...

...friends and neighbors.  They are always thinking about me.  Whether it is cobalt blue bottles, crafty things to do, good food to prepare or even chicken food...I'm feelin' the love!

I got a text asking if I wanted 50 pounds of food for my girls.  Are you kidding!  50 pounds of FREE food.  YES!!!!  She even picked it up on the other side of town (as in Cincinnati) and delivered it, FREE of charge!

The girls think I am the best thing ever because I have a new treat, and there is lots of it!

 

Thanks Ronda...eggs your way soon!

Chicken Feathers

 Susie looks like a zebra.

 

Dory has tan and gray.

RayJeana has several different colors.

 

If I can ever catch the others standing still I'll get shots of them.  Each of the girls look so different.  Good thing, that way I an tell them apart.

EffieGrace

Not too many pictures of EffieGrace.  She is a very shy chicken.  I was hoping she would be the chicken that ran to me for hugs like the chicken and the little boy in the video that is on YouTube.  Nope she runs the other way!

 

And I was hoping that she would be the prettiest.  The Silver Laced Wyandottes in the pictures have the most beautiful feathers.  And carry themselves with authority. 

 She is authority!  Pecks with the best of them.  She rules!

Chocolate Eggs On The Way

I'm checking everyday to see who had a bigger and brighter comb.  Looks like Ethel is on her way to being the newest layer.

Then yesterday morning she was trying out the nesting box.  I must have checked a thousand times to see if she laid an egg.  I think I made her a little nervous.  So last night I gave her a little extra bit of treats.  Cleaned everything up and added rose petals and lemon balm to the boxes.   Gotta keep the girls happy!

Herding Chickens

Sometimes I feel like when I need the yahoos to gather for something I am herding chickens.  If you have ever had to actually herd chickens you know what I mean.  They are everywhere!  They don't want to cooperate.  And they are fast!  So we had two small bamboo poles which helped some.  They still were making us work.  I am so glad that we have the fence.  For two reasons...so no one could see us trying to herd the chickens and so they had some kind of boundaries.

When my dad was here he got to see us in action.  Cracked him up.  He suggested that we tie flags to the ends of the poles.  Great idea.  Just getting the flags was  problem.  I wanted the triangular kind that are plastic.  Looked forever.  No flags to be found.  So Mark talked me into this plastic tape kind of stuff.  Bright pink!

 

Here are my two old bamboo sticks with pink ribbon

When my dad was here last time we went junkin'.  He found me some old ski poles that would be perfect for another pair of chicken herding sticks.

Usually we left them out to free range about an hour before dark.  They put themselves to bed when it starts getting dark.  The only time I really need to use the sticks is when they are out in the day.  They work perfectly!

   

So I was on a roll with the pink tape.

The Little Girls loves to hide under the burning bushes...which makes for a challenge when trying to get them back in during the day.  At night it is bot a problem because they put themselves to bed at dark.

Assistant Egg Farmer Runs The Show

We headed for Indiana for a weekend  of soccer.  So the Assistant chicken farmer was on duty.  I made sure that all the animals on the farm were cleaned, fed, and watered for the weekend.  Everything else...egg gathering ...was us to the Assistant.  I asked him to let me know if we got any eggs.

 

Three from the Big Girls...

And one from the Little girls on Saturday.  If I remember right, Sunday was the same.

 

Ellis and Alaire, Coming Your Way

Dixie is into a rhythm now.  Between 7;30 and 8AM she produces one egg just about everyday.

This is our haul for this week minus one that got cracked when someone ran it from the top of the egg sketler.  Not mentioning any names.

Ellis and Alaire will have eggs for breakfast tomorrow morning.

I've had these stickers seems like forever.  Forever meaning I put them in a safe place and now I can't remember where that place is.

The Sassy One Of The Flock

Does she look like she run the show?  Well, yes she does!

Seethe feathers on her legs and feet?  She is the only one that looks like that so she is easy to pick out and remember.

You should see her run across the yard.  She always has to have her nose in everyone else's business.

And when she puffs up, she is something else.  And chases all the Little Girls around like it is her calling in life.  You might consider her the bully of the bunch.

But she is a pretty one.

She's A Wide Load

Esthelle is another one of the Big Girls that we think might be an egg layer already.

She is a wide one!  So silky soft.  And very personable.  She and Susie are big buddies, just like it was in real life.

Se loves to eat out of your hand and perch on the chair beside you.  Never one not to be noticed.

Emmy's Eagle Eye

A few nights ago Emmy noticed something wrong with Susie's beak.  It is split right down the center.

Never even heard of anything like that.

 

I quickly went to the Internet to research it.  What I found was good and bad.  Somesay trim it off.  Some say put used tea leaves in it and glue it back together.  Some saw just glue it with super glue.  Some say she will be fine.  And then other say she will die.  I was in a mess.  She is one of our favorite chickens,  if you can have a favorite.

Then I reached out to all my chicken people on FB. Carneys Feed Mill Inc, where we buy all our chicken needs, said not to worry about it too much.  As long as she is eating and drinking she should be fine.  William Holden, my chicken coop maker, sent out a plea for help.  Got lots of suggestions.  Got a note from one friend saying I should give her some India ink and have her write calligraphy.  Got lots of suggestions from Little Miami Farmers Market. Backyard Chickens and My Pet Chicken say to watch her and if she is doing all the normal chicken things she should be okay. Lester Peyton, my go to birdman, also said to watch her.  If it should get worse or bleed then I should worry.  So just in case, I check to see how close the nearest chicken vet is.  Low and behold, we have one in our little town!

 

So now we all are on Susie Watch.  .

 

This morning when I checked her she was fine.  Happy as ever.  Eating and drinking and doing all those things that chickens do.  I think she will be okay.  But just in case I am going to get some super glue.  Then to figure out how to glue it together...hmmmm?

She Came With A Name

Unless we have the Golden Comet and the Dixie Rainbow mixed up, this is our Dixie.  I have never heard of a Dixie Rainbow chicken.  And I really can't find too much about the breed.  All I know for sure is that this chicken is the queen in the Little Girls coop.  Because she is our consistent egg layer.

 

She is really friendly and will eat anything that is not nailed down!

 She loves Luke.  Or maybe I should say that Luke loves her because she is so easy to catch.

 

I caught her on the nesting box yesterday morning.

 

Supplying What I Need

Mark finally got to gather eggs.  It is always a race to see who can get to the nesting boxes first.  I can't figure out how he got to the boxes first this morning.  Emmy must have been gone really early and  I must have been really busy weeding doing fall clean-up in the yard.

And just in time.  My egg skelter came.  I love it.  The idea is that the freshest egg is in the front of the line.  Take it off and the rest just move on down so we are getting the freshest eggs each time we want one.  I dream one day have it filled with all sorts of shades and colors of eggs.

Alaire's Little Girl, Sunny

We ran out of Mark's Dad's sisters names so Alaire got to name this little beauty.  She chose Sunny because she is yellow.  She is actually a Buff Orpington.

She's a plump little bird and a little stand-offish.  She's never really in the crowd.  Sort of wanders around checking things out for herself.

By the looks and color of her comb, I'd say she might be laying soon.  Yea.

Well, Didn't Know That

Mark finally got his wish!  You should have seen the race to the chickens.  Lots of pushing and shoving.  thank heavens both sets of girls laid

Look at all the different shades of brown.

Emmy's breakfast

 

When she cracked one of the eggs open there was blood spot on it.  So we did a little research...

QUESTION:
What causes blood in eggs that are freshly laid?
ANSWER:
BLOOD SPOTS:
Blood spots occur when blood or a bit of tissue is released along with a yolk.  Each developing yolk in a hen's ovary is enclosed in a sack containing blood vessels that supply yolk building substances. When the yolk is mature, it is normally released from the only area of the yolk sac, called the "stigma" or "suture line", that is free of blood vessels.  Occasionally, the yolk sac ruptures at some other point, causing blood vessels to break and blood to appear on the yolk or in the white. As an egg ages, the blood spot becomes paler, so a bright blood spot is a sign that the egg is fresh.

Blood spots occur in less than one percent of all eggs laid.  They may appear in a pullet's first few eggs, but are more likely to occur as hens get older, indicating that it's time to cull.  Blood spots may be triggered by too little vitamin A in a hen's diet, or they may be hereditary - if you hatch replacement pullets from a hen that characteristically lays spotted eggs, your new flock will likely do the same.

Answer to our question is from Backyard Chickens.

Early Emmy Gets The Egg

I was still sleeping when Emmy comes in the bedroom this morning teasing because she found the egg this morning.  It wasn't even light out yet!  Guess I am just going to have to sleep in the hammock to beat her out there!

 

They are getting prettier and bigger.  I think one of the girls is getting the hang of this egg producing thing.  I check the growth on their combs and the brightness of them.  Looks like we might have more layers soon.

 

Michael comparing the sizes.  I ask him if he wanted eggs for breakfast and he said no.  "You know Mom that I don't eat things that I know where they come from.  And I don't like chicken on the bone.  Just cook with them and don't tell me."  Crack me up.

Just Another Exciting Friday Night

Susie is the fearless one.  She just jumped right up on their new ladder roost.  She eventually walked to the top. Tomorrow I almost expect to see her walking along the clothesline.

A little mixed veggies for tonight's snack.

First they picked out all the corn.

Carrots were the next to go.

Not liking peas at all.  But not to worry Ells...AKA...the hoover...at them.