Our introduction to keeping chickens, the high's, the lows and pics of our journey.

[Fancychooklady]

Lol, how do you divide an egg 3 ways ? Leave them there a little while longer but usually the others will lay in the same nest .

 

[vehve]

Lol, how do you divide an egg 3 ways ? Leave them there a little while longer but usually the others will lay in the same nest .

That would be about 11g per person, counting in the shell with our eggs

We might be getting slightly larger eggs soon though, I just heard Wilma the Marans practicing her egg song and her comb and wattles are developing like crazy. She's only 17 weeks, so I honestly wasn't expecting anything for two months still. I tried starting a thread in the egg laying section about comb and wattle development in Marans around POL, but no one seems to want to share their pictures, so I'm just going to turn in into a study in one Marans'es comb and wattle development. This is Wilma today.

 

[Fancychooklady]

My what a big beak you have Wilma.

 

[vehve]

My what a big beak you have Wilma.

Wilma is a good girl. She's a bit stupid, in a lovable way. She also thinks she can fly, which she can't. She just runs around with her wings spread.

She's completely outside any pecking order. She doesn't boss others around, and everyone let's her be. She's friends with our youngest ones, the Sussexes, and often goes to bed early together with them. If no one is in the coop when she thinks it's bedtime, she'll keep walking between the roosts and out to the run, making unsatisfied sounds until someone joins her on the roosts. She's our favorite pullet, even though the Alho's are a lot prettier.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Haha, she looks like she is in flight training.

 

[vehve]

Haha, she looks like she is in flight training.

She is. So far she's managed to get a whopping two feet of air under her wings, although then she started from higher ground and sort of jumped into the air from a rock. And I've only seen this happen once.

 

[Bens-Hens]

How much tax is added to car prices in kangarooland?

For cars it varies on where it came from, but our national GST is 10%

We just had breakfast with Karin and decided to have a little egg tasting again, since it's been a while since the last time, and the taste has really developed. The yolk was an incredibly intense orange, and you could really taste all the foraging work the girls have put into making them.

Ben, took a look at Mondeo prices here, the seven first 2011 2 litre diesels had about 200-250 thousand km on them, and cost between 12-14 k€. The one's with ~120000km go for about 16k. Multiply with about 1.45 for AUD.

Fresh eggs, there are few better ways to start the day IMO

Our Mondeo is a 2011 TDi, has all the cool voice control stuff which is neat. 68,000km and we got it for 16kAU I am surprised we got the amount off we wanted. Has 21 on the window before they 'big markdown sale' to 18, then they accepted 16. Most important thing is Alicia loves it.





I promise, I have a chicken update!

I keep flooding this thread, but I need some input on something again. Veera has been laying her egg in the morning, after having a bit of breakfast, but now it seems she's started to stay in the nest, sitting on 2 golf balls and her freshly laid egg for an hour or two after she's laid it. Is this the first sign of her going broody? Can a chicken go broody 3 weeks after starting to lay? Should I chase her off the nest, or is there some other way to break this? Should the golf balls be removed? Any other tips? She hasn't pulled out her bottom feathers yet, and leaves the nest with a little protest when I shoo her away, but nothing major.

As Fancy suggests, I would take the golf balls away. Sal was a new layer when she one day decided to just stay there. She did not however get a run up. I think Rosie may have lingered on the nest for a few days though.

What about the one's that are about to start laying, will they just follow suit, or should I still keep the balls in for them? And she doesn't sit the balls alone, only after she's laid her own egg.

*Edit* And between me, Karin and the neigbor's kids the eggs are checked about ten times a day

We would be up around 10 times a day too lol. Almost always seems to be a face in the window.

I would take the golf balls away now that she seems to know where to lay. Just be sure to collect the eggs everyday and yes they can go broody just after they start laying.

I would too.

That would be about 11g per person, counting in the shell with our eggs

We might be getting slightly larger eggs soon though, I just heard Wilma the Marans practicing her egg song and her comb and wattles are developing like crazy. She's only 17 weeks, so I honestly wasn't expecting anything for two months still. I tried starting a thread in the egg laying section about comb and wattle development in Marans around POL, but no one seems to want to share their pictures, so I'm just going to turn in into a study in one Marans'es comb and wattle development. This is Wilma today.

That is a pretty red comb, will really deepen just before she lays. Not long to go for her I think. Our FW Maran was a pretty early layer, in the low 20's I think from memory.

Wilma is a good girl. She's a bit stupid, in a lovable way. She also thinks she can fly, which she can't. She just runs around with her wings spread.

She's completely outside any pecking order. She doesn't boss others around, and everyone let's her be. She's friends with our youngest ones, the Sussexes, and often goes to bed early together with them. If no one is in the coop when she thinks it's bedtime, she'll keep walking between the roosts and out to the run, making unsatisfied sounds until someone joins her on the roosts. She's our favorite pullet, even though the Alho's are a lot prettier.

Sounds like one of those characters of the flock. How can you not love 'em. We have a couple of girls that turn in early, one stressor that always fusses about to make sure everyone else get's in and two of the younger birds that always run back out to greet me. "I'm closing the door ladies, not bringing treats!"

Haha, she looks like she is in flight training.

Lol, has the run up, wing spread...just lacking the required lift!

OK, so for some flock update pics. The chicks are 4 weeks old tomorrow. The boy's are pretty standout but I am still holding out for the Wylkie and Silkie to be girls. Just going to have to wait for them I think.

Sorry the chick pics are mostly hand helds, not the best day to take them out and lay on wet grass!

SIlkie is starting to look blue/grey. Don't think it's going to be paint (pfft, like I would know anyway ha!) but still very cool looking. Nice manners too


Wylkie is still very quiet, hope thats a sign of being a girl! Just starting to get some feathers on it's head.


Cochin, still 50/50, no actually more 60/40 leaning towards a girl. Probably the most feathered of the 5.


Cochin head shot, while comb is there, it's far more subtle than the next two.


Palomino New Hampshire. I didn't think it was frizzled, but it does have a few wayward feathers, not sure if they are just awkward new feathers or if it will be frizzled when it gets more feathers. I have never had one so I don't know what they look like when they feather out. I do know what a little cockerels comb looks like though....


Mr 'Blue' Australorp. If he is a blue is will be a pretty dang dark shade of blue! He's pretty tough around the other chicks but is scared of big hands. Another stand out comb.


It's inside light, but still not very blue.

So moving outside for a quick whip around since most of the girls have their new dresses on.


'Baby' Looks like she has finished her moult, but still not back on the lay. A small but bold little Lavender, does not like pats.


'Sunny', one of our two LS. Both pretty much finished their mults, getting some great colour back in their faces, expect to be back laying in the next couple of weeks.


'Sal' The SF. A bit kooky, not scared of people even tolerates being picked up by the kids. First to come if she thinks there is a treat involved. She has also already returned to laying, a lovely large cream coloured egg most days.


'Curly' The BV, Just back into laying and picked straight up where she left off. Lovely large brown eggs, darker than our other layers, but not as dark as the Maran's, about equal with our Wellie.


'Marrie' The Maran. Another good layer, missed her mini moult. Producing great sized pullet eggs, rich brown colour but is not as frequent as the rest of the flock, perhaps 3/5 days, sometimes a bit less if the weather is average.


This is a glamorous pic of the back half of 'Rosie' the RIR. AKA, 'mumma hen'. Foster mum to the Evil Rock sisters. I promise she has a head. She has finished her moult, but we suspect she is not yet laying again. In fact, we doubt she has laid since she went broody, before we gave her the Rock sisters. It is possible she is coming around though, we have some unidentified eggs the past couple of days and not caught who laid them.


The home grown yet sketchy 'Olive' Much anticipated large olive coloured egg layer, our first cross breed project. SHe is now a great reliable layer, producing most days of the week, but she lays a smaller (Araucana sized) egg, of light cream colour. Oh well, she lays well! I wish I could even say that she was well natured, but she is rather flighty. Curly the BV is her mum, and 'Smudge' the lavender Araucana now sold is her Dad.


'Summer' the Welsummer. A beautiful yet often picked on bird. Our most frequent layer, 5/6 days right through winter. Didn't take her mini moult either. Will let us pat her, but not keen to be picked up. A great natured bird but we have found her comb bleeding after the Evil Rock sisters went all pre-pubescent on her while she was in the nest box. I will admit, the best layers seem to get first dibs when the treat tray comes out!


'Luna' the Black Australorp. Lead hen and such a trooper. She held off her moult until the bitter end. Still not back to laying, but she certainly earned a break anyway. A great producer of a purple tinted long and thin torpedo egg. I don't miss her moaning style egg song though.


One (and the other in the background) of the Evil Rock sisters. Not even named, and very hard to tell apart these flock giants have given us some grief. Teenagers that we could not evict, yet could not leave unwatched. Now they are maturing and producing excellent sized pullet eggs we have turned a blind eye to their earlier behaviour. Since maturing they have greatly mellowed out. I have not seen any nest issues since they have found out what nests are actually for eggs, and not MMA style cage fights.


Finally, our 'well over a year, I have lost count of weeks' Silver pencilled wyandotte, 'Amy' Also quite flighty, often teasing us by visiting the nest boxes only to leave a minute later without producing a single egg......ever. I can't get rid of her, yet am so frustrated to have raised a non laying chicken!

 

[ozexpat]

Don't get rid of her. Eat her.

 

[vehve]

Luckily I wasn't drinking anything when I read the MMA cage fight comment. Would have needed to clean my keyboard in that case.

Olive has a beautiful color, seems like she's showing through a bit of green, purple and blue, just like our Wilma.

I just bought a precooked broiler to make Caesar salad with. It was the same size as Taneli was dressed. I mentioned this to the guy at the meat counter, he said that their producer butchers them at 30 days. Crazy what breeding can do to an animal, as Taneli took 90 days longer to get to the same size. I would not want to be that chickens cardiologist.

 

[vehve]

Don't get rid of her. Eat her.

But she's so pretty...