February 2012, Updated April 2012, Updated July 2012
We try to keep 1 dozen in reserve to age to appropriate boiling vintage (1+ week) for deviled eggs, but everything else gets consumed within days (sometimes hours) after the girls lay them.
Well, here we are in April 2012 and our flock has experienced a few changes. We lost a few of our girls during the winter and be added a few new girls and a boy. We now have a total of 20 consisting of 19 hens and 1 rooster.
From the pictures above we still have 3 of our Rhode Island Red Hens, 4 of our Barred Plymouth Rock Hens and 1 of our Black Sussex Hens. To those we added the group below:
July 2012:
We took in a little foster chick that was successfully hatched as part of a school project. Well actually we took in two ... but one fell prey ... our little survivor was alone ... I felt sad for her ... she was too small to join our established flock ... we found her seven "friends" that beat up on her ... I felt sad for her ... we built a new coop and chicken yard for our little foster and her friends ... it looked empty ... we added 20 more pullets ... our little foster chick is now a happy little pullet!
We now have two flocks: Our Big Girls (pictures and descriptions below in the April 2012 post) and Our Little Girls. The Littles run too fast to get good pictures. When they get older (and fatter) they will slow down and I will post pictures of them. All 28 of them ... what were we thinking when we took in that little chick ...
Among our new flock we have (we think ...)
Ameraucana Pullets (Blue, Rust and White)
Barred Plymouth Rock Pullets
Black Star Pullet
Blue Wyandotte Pullets (one of these was our foster)
Buff Orpington Pullets
Leghorn (non-white) Pullet (she snuck into the box)
Welsummers
Several of the "breeds" are difficult to distinguish at this point (i.e. the rust ameraucanas and welsummers look a lot alike), but their egg color will tell the tale
This flock will replace the Big Girls next year when we cull that flock and try our hand at hatching our own chicks. We have an Ameraucana roo and plan to hatch our Blue and Green eggs as well as purchasing some fertile Welsummer eggs to hatch
We took in a little foster chick that was successfully hatched as part of a school project. Well actually we took in two ... but one fell prey ... our little survivor was alone ... I felt sad for her ... she was too small to join our established flock ... we found her seven "friends" that beat up on her ... I felt sad for her ... we built a new coop and chicken yard for our little foster and her friends ... it looked empty ... we added 20 more pullets ... our little foster chick is now a happy little pullet!
We now have two flocks: Our Big Girls (pictures and descriptions below in the April 2012 post) and Our Little Girls. The Littles run too fast to get good pictures. When they get older (and fatter) they will slow down and I will post pictures of them. All 28 of them ... what were we thinking when we took in that little chick ...
Among our new flock we have (we think ...)
Ameraucana Pullets (Blue, Rust and White)
Barred Plymouth Rock Pullets
Black Star Pullet
Blue Wyandotte Pullets (one of these was our foster)
Buff Orpington Pullets
Leghorn (non-white) Pullet (she snuck into the box)
Welsummers
Several of the "breeds" are difficult to distinguish at this point (i.e. the rust ameraucanas and welsummers look a lot alike), but their egg color will tell the tale
This flock will replace the Big Girls next year when we cull that flock and try our hand at hatching our own chicks. We have an Ameraucana roo and plan to hatch our Blue and Green eggs as well as purchasing some fertile Welsummer eggs to hatch
April 2012:
During the winter months our hens lay an average of 6 eggs a day. Production will pick up again when the weather warms, but for now it is sufficient. In the spring we will probably add a few new girls to the flock.
During the winter months our hens lay an average of 6 eggs a day. Production will pick up again when the weather warms, but for now it is sufficient. In the spring we will probably add a few new girls to the flock.
We try to keep 1 dozen in reserve to age to appropriate boiling vintage (1+ week) for deviled eggs, but everything else gets consumed within days (sometimes hours) after the girls lay them.
We started out with our little flock of laying hens on July 29, 2011. In our flock of all hens we have 5 Rhode Island Reds, 4 Barred Plymouth Rocks and 2 Rock Sussex.
Rhode Island Red Hen: 6
As of 4/2012 we have 3 of these girls remaining
(lays tan eggs)
Barred Plymouth Rock Hen: 4
As of 4/2012 we have all 4 of these girls remaining
(lays tan eggs)
Black Sussex Hen: 2
As of 4/2012 we have 1 of these girls remaining
(lays tan eggs)
Well, here we are in April 2012 and our flock has experienced a few changes. We lost a few of our girls during the winter and be added a few new girls and a boy. We now have a total of 20 consisting of 19 hens and 1 rooster.
From the pictures above we still have 3 of our Rhode Island Red Hens, 4 of our Barred Plymouth Rock Hens and 1 of our Black Sussex Hens. To those we added the group below:
Ameraucana Rooster: 1
(very considerate crower usually waiting until around 9 a.m. to get started)
Ameraucana Hens: 5
(lays light blue eggs)
Olive Egger: 2
(cross between an Ameraucana and Welsummer lays olive green eggs)
Silver Laced Wyandotte Hens: 2
(lays tan eggs)
Black Copper Maran Hen: 2
(usually has feathered legs, but ours scratched in the meadow and rubs off her leg feathers - lays chocolate brown eggs)
