Two New Egg Layers in One Day!

(Left to Right: Buffy, Hazel and Franchesca)

 

So today we noticed all kinds of commotion going on in the chicken yard. Buffy was pacing back and forth making all kinds of noise. Our little Bella-Boo was in the nesting box for the first time! Her mouth was open, almost panting, and I knew she was going to lay her first egg! I ran up to the house to get the kids. Before they could even get run back down to the coop Bella had pushed it out. She pushed and pulled the egg around the bottom of the box before deciding to lay down NEXT to her egg...instead of on it. LOL Silly girl.

 

An hour or so had passed and I heard another set of clucking from watchdog Buffy. Low and behold! HAZEL was sitting in the nesting box, mouth open and trying to lay her first egg also! Two new layers in one day...and these two are best-buddies so it was cute to see both of their first eggs on the same day. It took Hazel over an hour to lay it. WTH??? IT wasn't greenish blue! It was light brown with white specks. Why did she lay that color? She is an Americauna mix. Should lay "Easter" eggs. Interesting. It was teeny tiny and perfect. Now we have 5/6 of our girls laying eggs. One freeloader left. Little Miss Lucy-Lou our Silver Laced Wyandotte.

 

 

 

Buffy laid us a double yolker!

 

Buffy, one of our Buff Orpingtons, laid a huge egg two morning ago. The kids love making fresh scrambled eggs and the first large egg she has laid was up for cracking...as it hit the bowl I heard the kids yell, "Wow!" " Oh my gosh! Two yolks!" I jumped up from the front porch and ran into the kitchen (yes we all get excited over chicken news) and sure enough. A DOUBLE YOLKED EGG laid right in our back yard. It is so cool. Just look at the dark color. IT shows that we have some spoiled girls. They eat all kinds of bugs, grass, flowers and plants, their layer feed Nutrena's brand, and cool treats like fruit, veggies and mealworms-Delish!

 

Look at that!

 

Size Comparison

So the egg on the right side is an egg from our Barred Rock Franchesca that was laid yesterday. The egg on the left is also from Frankie but laid just this morning. Holy Smokes Batman look at the size of that egg today! Since my girls are new layers, the eggs always start off small. Teeny tiny in some cases. But perfect nonetheless. Frankie's first egg was so small but perfectly shaped and colored. As you can see, the size of her eggs has jumped tremendously. It's so neat to be able to say that you raised this hen from a baby day old chick. I felt so proud when she laid her first one. I could watch them in their boxes for hours! I actually have once. It's so fascinating.

Grow-your-own Pumpkins!

Throw some pumpkin seeds down in early Spring and what do you get? Awesome pumpkins growing in your own backyard! I swear...on one plant alone I have counted over 20 flowering buds that should produce some kind of pumpkin.  Organically grown and so fun to keep an eye on. The vine is a bit spiney but other than that they are sweet! In the sun the flower blooms open up, then they close overnight. Leave a good 6 feet of room for these things to spread for maximum harvest. These are "Spirit Pumpkins" Great for carving at Halloween, pies, bread and other recipes. Or just decorating the outside with paint. Cheap to grow and so much fun to pick! Invite the neighbor kids to come over if you have pumpkins in abundance! You'll be the talk of the block for sure...the "Cool Parents" ;)

The girls new curtains

 

I knew I saved those ugly bed sheets for something! AHA, curtains for the chicken coop nest boxes. Genius! I whipped these bad boys up in under 30 minutes. Since it was coop cleaning time anyway and half of our girls are already laying...I figured Why the heck not! It's cute and girly and perfect. Thor (yes my fiancé's name is amazing) had actually given me the brilliant idea, except he was talking about curtains for the actual windows in the coop LOL. He thought I was the unusual one after he saw these. I think they need a little valance running across the top of them all. Whadda you think??

Our first egg!

July 1st. The girls are 18 weeks now. I had noticed some nesting patterns in the boxes so I knew they were getting ready! I was outside in the garden and noticed Frankie making noises I'd never heard before...excited, I ran over to find her inside the box! I got excited and ran like hell to get the kids and hubby. We looked, starred and told Frankie "Good Job" and continued my gardening. About an hour later I heard a 'Thunk' noise. I ran over and Voila...a teeny light brown perfect egg. Hot and ready. It was amazing!!!