Egg-citing news!

Flock #2

So, now our second flock are all named accurately according to their gender!! And there is at least one official "HEN" among them! (as opposed to "pullets")

I was anticipating the first egg from this flock, particularly from one of the Things, some time in August ... however, we were surprised to discover the first egg in the new nesting box on Friday! It was a perfect, albeit small, light brown egg. I am guessing Lucy may have laid it ... why Lucy?? Well, she has the most developed and red comb of the 3 brown egg layers (Lucy, Edith & Agnes) and that is one of the signals of readiness to lay. Hence why I thought the Things might lay first. But they are supposed to lay cream colored eggs. And then, egg number two was found on Sunday (also small, light brown) ... not in a nesting box this time, but in the sawdust. Hmmm. Might put some fake eggs in the nesting boxes so they can see where the laying should be done!

First egg from second flock! Lucy the prime suspect!

Needless to say all the girls are showing great interest in the nesting boxes, trying them out for size and such.

In hopes that the first egg is actually fertile, I put it under our first-flock-hen Gandie, who has decided to brood instead of lay, so we thought we'd give it a go. Poor girl is most perturbed every day when I steal the eggs she has gathered to lay on (she rolls the other girls eggs under her!) So maybe it will hatch. Unlikely I know, but worth a try :)

Gandie, our broody hen

I am so hooked on this chicken keeping, that I am already building coop #3!! There are so many hens out there looking for a loving home, and they can be difficult to integrate into an established flock, so I am building another coop before I get some more of them! I have always bought the chickens before the coop, but with the experience of two flocks, now I am doing it the right way!! I am using old fence panels, pallets, and as many scraps of wood as I can muster! This coop is gonna be FREE!!

I sent a message out some time ago asking who might be interested in organic, pastured eggs ... we need over 50 laying hens to meet the demand!! So far we have 10 layers (flocks 1 & 2), with 4 roosters added to the mix so hopefully they'll produce some offspring sometime!!

I'll be a homesteadin' chicken farmer yet!!

The Flock #1 girls enjoy some weedy treats from the garden!!

PS. It must be hereditary ... Miss T built this chicken tractor out of LEGO today! Awesome :)