Thursday, January 17

*chickens here, chickens there, chickens every where!

One of our beautiful Australorps, this is one of the first chickens we added to our farm just a few years ago.  They have produced nicely and are a beautiful addition to our flock with their gorgeous
blue greenish black feathers.


 We started out with three Barred Rocks, but have been reduced down to two.  They are two years old as well and have just feathered back fully after months of having gone through a molt.  She looks like she has a major attitude, but she is pretty friendly.


Another one of our beginners, Lucy one of the three Delewares.  She is a talker, with a distinctive voice which will be heard.
 

To the left is one of our Buff Brahmas whose feathers are totally different since she has gotten feathers back since her molt.  She looks totally different now.  Strange.  To the right is one of our Welsummers, such a pretty read head.  So.. apparently we don't have enough nesting boxes for our flock.  With 20 boxes to choose from they fight over about 3, silly chickens.


Oh, how I love our Americaunas!  They not only are gorgeous to the look at, but they also lay beautiful blue green eggs.  They can be a bit flighty though.


And this little charm, Fritter. She is our Buff Laced Polish hen that is spoiled.  She might occasionally be found on some one's shoulder while they walk around the barnyard.  She too, has a distinctive voice that is captivating.


Our flock is doing well, we currently have about 40 hens and will likely have to do some culling later this year because some of our girls are going on their third year. We just want to make sure we keep a flock that is productive which will continue to be a benefit to our farm.  Since the days are still short, our egg count is not at its max.  Daily we are bringing in about 20 eggs from the coop, which is good, but 35 would be better!   Patience! As the days start to lengthen, we will have that increase I am looking for.  Last year we used a timer on the lights above the coop in order to artificially stimulate the endocrine system to produce more eggs, but this year we have decided to let the hens take that natural rest that their bodies need in order to produce the rest of they laying season.   It only makes sense since we are trying to do all other things in their natural habitat.. why wouldn't we do the same with the chickens.   Live and learn...

9 comments:

  1. Love Looking At Your Hens. Have You Thought About Doing A video/Recording Of Them And Sharing It Here?

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    1. I should, I will give that some serious thought! Keep a look out for a cackling good video. Haha. Hope you are having a great start to the new year.

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  2. Fritter looks so proud of herself....giggle...I woud love to see a video of them in action as well.

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  3. Your chickens are beautiful! Lucy and Fritter really caught my eye, but they are all very pretty. What do you do with all of your eggs, even at just 20 a day? Do you sell them, freeze them? Knowing your generous heart, I'm guessing some are given away. I appreciate that you are allowing the chickens bodies to follow their normal cycle. The friends that share their eggs with us (just had some for breakfast, yummy!) are doing that also. One last question...do you use the chicken litter somewhere else there on the farm? Just curious.

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    1. Lucy and Fritter are two of my favs too! Chickens are so interesting, they each have such personalities! We currently have committed customers for 8 dozen a week and yes we do give several dozen a week away as well. My oldest is out of the country so we take a dozen a week over to his neighbor who keeps his eye out on the house from week to week on our visit over. I love giving my neighbors across the street a dozen as well when they are producing more than we have committed to sales. It is always sweet to see peoples reactions to having been given a dozen farm fresh eggs. The chicken litter is first put into the compost area and then after a turn or two it goes into the garden. So our fertilizer is al naturale! Glad you are getting to enjoy some delicious farm fresh eggs too!

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  4. Such pretty girls and a nice variety! I miss my chickens.

    We used to leave a light on in the coop all night but then cut back to leaving it on for only two hours. Like you though, I think we'll go back to the way God and nature intended with our next flock.

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    1. Yeh, we had a timer that came on in the morning for a few hours, which was sort of like a wake up alarm of sorts.

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  5. I'm in love with Fritter! She's so glamorous!

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I enjoy your comments. Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts!