Woohoo! Our first egg has been discovered. I checked the nesting box this morning while out refilling the waterer, and, next to our two wooden eggs, there was a slightly smaller but perfect brown egg. I am completely tickled and a little disbelieving! (Is it really a REAL egg? Did a child plant this egg here, because she is so looking forward to them actually laying eggs?) I so want to crack the egg for verification of its authenticity, but I absolutely have to save it for my sweeties to see this evening!
Yes, my grandmother kept chickens, and I did gather eggs a few times as a child, but that was so long ago and infrequent enough that it seems a bit surreal.
So...you might be wondering 'why?' on those wooden eggs. Well, our chickens have always seemed incredibly disinterested in the nesting box, much to my dismay. I even tried to introduce them to it, and they were quite adamantly NOT interested. I had read that placing wooden eggs in the nesting box could 'clue them in' as to where those eggs go. It's very possible that they've laid a few beginner eggs in random places and have just now figured out 'OH! That's what these are!' Fiona and I have lightly scouted the yard with no obvious eggs anywhere, though there are many possible hiding spots, and chickens generally tend to like dark, safe places to lay the eggs.
We'll see if the egg-laying continues, as chickens normally start laying eggs in the spring. The poor chickens have a rather erratic coop heater, which has been overheating the coop a bit at night. We just turned it off, thinking it's better to leave it off so long as temperatures stay above freezing at this point, so it's possible that the egg-laying may go dormant for a time with cooler weather again.
I believe this brown egg would be from one of the Black Australorps, Rachel or Bach, whereas Chloe's eggs should have a creamy white color. These are the light brown eggs, much like grocery store brown eggs. I did pick the traditional egg colors, despite the popularity of the 'Easter egg' colors, as I look at this as a long-time venture and figured I'd get annoyed with the other colors on a regular basis. Everyone else seems to think I'm silly, though, as they'd love blue and green eggs! Just think of me is as the main character in Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham". That Sam-I-Am would have his work cut out with me!
Our chickens are and have been free to wander the yard during the day, within the confines of the back yard privacy fence, which they have fortunately respected as their barrier. I suppose the insulting term "chicken" refers to the fact that they are not particularly exploratory and prefer to stay 'close home', which is nice. They voluntarily go into their coop at dusk and roost. We then lock up the coop for the night, to protect them from predators. When they were smaller, I did observe a large gray cat prowling and stalking their coop run, and we had a couple of nights during which an opossum stole into the coop but thankfully did not kill a chicken. Michael secured the coop, which seems to have worked thus far.
We did lose our prettiest Faverolle chicken, Giselle, which we believe was probably to a hawk. Another Faverolle, Perinelle, did not develop properly, and she sadly drowned while trying to work her way under a garden fence over which her pals flew. Losing Peri and Giselle played into my lost chicken enthusiasm, I believe, but the other three girls have been growing steadily and look great out there.
The kids were talking about the 'pet value' of the chickens yesterday, which I was disparaging, as they aren't exactly cuddly or sweet. Fiona pointed out, "but they eat all the bugs!", and I did laugh with that reminder because she's right! Crawly bugs are at a minimum in our back yard now! The kids are still quite happy about the chickens and would love to get more. Perhaps my enthusiasm will pick back up when all three--Chloe, Rachel, and Bach--are laying eggs regularly!
Yes, my grandmother kept chickens, and I did gather eggs a few times as a child, but that was so long ago and infrequent enough that it seems a bit surreal.
So...you might be wondering 'why?' on those wooden eggs. Well, our chickens have always seemed incredibly disinterested in the nesting box, much to my dismay. I even tried to introduce them to it, and they were quite adamantly NOT interested. I had read that placing wooden eggs in the nesting box could 'clue them in' as to where those eggs go. It's very possible that they've laid a few beginner eggs in random places and have just now figured out 'OH! That's what these are!' Fiona and I have lightly scouted the yard with no obvious eggs anywhere, though there are many possible hiding spots, and chickens generally tend to like dark, safe places to lay the eggs.
We'll see if the egg-laying continues, as chickens normally start laying eggs in the spring. The poor chickens have a rather erratic coop heater, which has been overheating the coop a bit at night. We just turned it off, thinking it's better to leave it off so long as temperatures stay above freezing at this point, so it's possible that the egg-laying may go dormant for a time with cooler weather again.
I believe this brown egg would be from one of the Black Australorps, Rachel or Bach, whereas Chloe's eggs should have a creamy white color. These are the light brown eggs, much like grocery store brown eggs. I did pick the traditional egg colors, despite the popularity of the 'Easter egg' colors, as I look at this as a long-time venture and figured I'd get annoyed with the other colors on a regular basis. Everyone else seems to think I'm silly, though, as they'd love blue and green eggs! Just think of me is as the main character in Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham". That Sam-I-Am would have his work cut out with me!
Our chickens are and have been free to wander the yard during the day, within the confines of the back yard privacy fence, which they have fortunately respected as their barrier. I suppose the insulting term "chicken" refers to the fact that they are not particularly exploratory and prefer to stay 'close home', which is nice. They voluntarily go into their coop at dusk and roost. We then lock up the coop for the night, to protect them from predators. When they were smaller, I did observe a large gray cat prowling and stalking their coop run, and we had a couple of nights during which an opossum stole into the coop but thankfully did not kill a chicken. Michael secured the coop, which seems to have worked thus far.
We did lose our prettiest Faverolle chicken, Giselle, which we believe was probably to a hawk. Another Faverolle, Perinelle, did not develop properly, and she sadly drowned while trying to work her way under a garden fence over which her pals flew. Losing Peri and Giselle played into my lost chicken enthusiasm, I believe, but the other three girls have been growing steadily and look great out there.
The kids were talking about the 'pet value' of the chickens yesterday, which I was disparaging, as they aren't exactly cuddly or sweet. Fiona pointed out, "but they eat all the bugs!", and I did laugh with that reminder because she's right! Crawly bugs are at a minimum in our back yard now! The kids are still quite happy about the chickens and would love to get more. Perhaps my enthusiasm will pick back up when all three--Chloe, Rachel, and Bach--are laying eggs regularly!
1 comment:
Oh my goodness! That is a tiny one! I can't wait to get home and see it!
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