Chicken Talk

Big day tomorrow.  Well, first things first.   I received the gift of 2 eggs today!  One was Buffy, not sure which one gave me the other.  Either way, WOW!  Things will change tomorrow. We are getting 3 more girls.  They are called Black Star chickens.  They are blavk in color and supposed to be good egg layers. Wait and see about that. Their names are Delilah,  Maleficent, and Snow Bell.  I am hoping that they will get along with each other.  They were outside almost all day long.   Should be out tomorrow also.  I am getting the new girls about 9 am.  I will try to get some pictures and post them tomorrow night.

Chicken Talk

Received a gift from Buffy today, her first. It is a pretty brown egg. If you look closely,  you can see dark brown specs.   I have been given 1/2 doz from Annabelle and now 1 from Buffy.  Hopefully Charlotte will start also. Wonder if Charlotte will give me an egg tomorrow? Wonder if Annabelle will give me an egg today? So full of questions.  So exciting to wait for the answers.

Chicken Talk

Not much happened yesterday. They did get outside for a little bit, then it turned cold and windy and they went back inside. I got another egg yesterday and today from Annabelle.  That makes six so far. I am out of store bought eggs and have only 4 eggs from Annabelle. Kind of nervous, hope she keeps up the good work. They were very happy with their evening treat tonight. I gave them corn flakes, oats, sunflower bird seed, and some leftover raisins. Thought they might like the fruit and the sweet. They are starting to look forward to me coming in the morning and evening. Very probably just because I supply the food. Oh well, better than nothing.  We are in for another major cold spell and possibly 4 inches of snow tonight. Sooner or later it will be spring.  Then the girls can get out on a regular basis and turn their nice yard into a mud bath.  Here is a picture of 5 eggs. 4 are very pale blue and one is white.  The white egg is from the store and the other eggs are mine. Just added the white so you can see not much difference between the eggs in size.

Chicken Talk

Well, I did it. I ate one of my eggs. The yolk was bigger than a store egg and less white. I made a fried egg sandwich.  I am not sure if it was a different taste or just my imagination.  Either way, it was good. Best $50.00 fried egg sandwich I ever had!

Chicken Talk

Maybe too much straw?

Chicken Talk

Amazing discoveries.  Females are alike no matter if human or chicken!  We are having a heat wave today and tomorrow.  All the way up to 30 and then 40!!  After being closed in the coop for almost a week, figured I'd do some work on the coop. First of all, they did not want to go out. So I left the door open and proceeded to go around the back and do a bit of housework.  Would those girls go out?  No. They jumped up on their perches and complained the whole time.  I proceeded to remove most of the straw and put a BUNCH of it back in.  Figured they would tramp it down.  Then, while they were working on that, I replaced the straw in the laying boxes. Finally, I went back and added more straw in the main area.  Annabelle was up in the top two laying boxes throwing all the straw out!  The other two girls were busy moving around the straw I had so carefully placed. All I could think is makes no difference if it is a coop or a house, a woman is never completely satisified if someone else cleans her place, appreciative but never completely satisfied. I am really enjoying these chickens. They are great!

Chicken Talk

The girls have had a good day today. They are starting to realize I bring nice warm and good food in the morning. This morning they started eating almost before I got my hand out of the way. Annabelle gave me another egg today. I think she is the only one that lays eggs. Her eggs are a real pale blue, lovely to look at.  Now I have another problem. I don't want to eat the eggs because they are too pretty. So I will force myself this week and have an egg and cheese omelet for breakfast. I'll give you more information on that later this week. The girls still have not been outside because of the cold and blustery weather. I leave their door open but they do not want to leave their warm house. Until the temperatures start to go than freezing, I will leave them alone. But once it warms up, I will push them out the door. Until then, they can stay nice and warm and snugly. Have a great evening.

Chicken Talk

You should have seen the girls this morning when I took them their hot breakfast. They really chowed down. There was only 1 egg again this morning.  I would say of the 3 chickens only 1 is laying eggs. Hopefully the other 2 will start soon because that is 1 of the reasons I have then. I left the door open for the coop today but the chickens did not want to come now. Still too cold.  Tomorrow, Saturday, I will have had the girls for 1 week. Talk to you later. Have a great evening.

Chicken Talk

My girls are cold. Poor things. I was reading in my chicken handbook about cold weather care. It mentioned that chickens will probably like a hot meal in their tummies, just as we would. It gave s recipe for some hot food. I didn't have everything so I substituted ehat was available.   I cooked a very small chopped potato. Then I added that to a handful of oats, handful of wheat germ, handful of Grape Nuts, and a tablespoon of oil. Mixed it up and took it out to my girls.  Let me tell you, they attacked it!! Now I have breakfast for the next few days. It also said they need brewers yeast to combat the lack of sunshine.
No egg today. Hope things pick up when it gets a bit warmer.  I scraped part of the pen area today and left the door open for about half an hour today.   Then I added some fresh straw. The whole time they did not even try to get out. Stuck their head out the foor and refused to go any further.   Smart chickens.

Have a great evening and happy clucking.

Chicken & Mole (whack, whack) Talk

Overheard the chickens talking tonight. Apparently there is a devious plan a foot. I thought the chickens were clucking and scratching around the hen house. Nope, not these girls. Actually they were scratching and looking for moles. These are not just any moles they are Rehoboth moles. They are an extremely dangerous group of moles because they will whack whack anything they see. In the past, they were under the control of the evil cat lady, Debbie. the moles have been tunneling under Delmarva looking for a way to get out. They heard about my chickens and knew the Evil Cat Lady, Debbie, would sometimes visit the Nice Mom Lady. The moles and chickens have been in touch with each other and devised an evil plan for escaping the tunnels. The chickens, Annabelle, Buffy, and Charlotte, agreed to scratch the ground to make holes for the moles to escape. Unfortunately the weather has affected the plan and now the ground is frozen. The chickens cannot make any headway with their scratching. To throw The Nice Mom Lady off track, they actually laid an egg. More updates as they come in.

Chicken Talk

The girls came through the storm fine. Lost their light bulb and their source of heat, but they are fine. Christopher replaced the bulb for me and I feel so much better.  To top everything off, got anothdr blue egg yoday. That is 2 Welsummer eggs. So Buffy has not laid a thing yet. I don't know if war Annabelle and Charlotte who laid the egg.

Chicken Talk

Still only have 1 egg.  I am assuming that they are not old chickens.  The girls were happy to get out this morning but quickly went back in the coop.  Wind chill.  They were inside most of the day.  Closed everything up for the night and they were already snuggled for warmth. Tomorrow I get to trudge my way through the snow. It will be interesting to see how they react. I will keep food and water inside for them. That is it for tonight. Oh, they are starting to get used to the dogs.  Sweet dreams.

Chicken Talk

I got my first egg today. It was a gift from Annabelle. I will post a picture of it. It is not as blue as it shows up in the picture.  My granddaughter,  Emily Grace, is staying with me. She asked if she could have the egg since I would be able to have a lot more.  Of course, I said yes.  Her father said that should be the best $200 egg we ever had.  Tried to post a picture but can't figure it out. Took it on my phone.  It is on my facebook page.

Kate's Chicken Talk

Well, here goes.  Not sure if I have this right. This is a blog about my new chicken coop. I have wanted one for a few years  and finally got one. Hopefuly I can figure out how to post pictures. I have 3 hens. Buffy is a Buff Orpington, Annabelle & Charlotte are Welsummers. I got my coop and chickens 2 days ago, thanks to 4 great guys. No eggs yet but  did not expect any this soon.