October 11, 2010: 16 Egg Week

October 11, 2010

Monday, 5:30pm

Ended up with three eggs total yesterday, so that makes 16 for the week – not too shabby for three hens!  At that rate, I’m wondering how many we will get when they are all laying...holy cow!

Two eggs today, Raven at 11am and Ellie sometime around 3pm.  Goldie laid late yesterday, the latest any of the hens have ever laid, so I didn’t think she would lay today.

Yesterday all three laid.  Goldie started announcing at 1:45pm but yet again when I walked out there, there was no egg, not until 4pm.  Silly bird.  Each time one of the hens is on the nest, Farrah is up there poking her nose in, so curious.  Hawkeye sometimes goes into a box and sits down, however, other than that, they are not showing any other signs of laying.  The graphs I have made of laying times are helping me to see the “average” time of day that they lay.  Also the quantity laid also helps me see how they are keeping pace with each other.  They are laying more than the books say they should.  It seems the more I feed them, the more they lay.  They prefer grass and weeds above all else. 

Poor Brian, he got mad last night watching Chanel taking a pounding from the others in the coop come roosting time.  Once he got out of the run, Chanel hopped out of the coop as fast as she could and went back up to roost on top of the nest boxes.  So hard watching some of their crueler behaviors.  Brian wanted to “peck” at the ones pecking at Chanel but I was afraid he would hurt or upset them and they wouldn’t want to lay if they were getting ready to.  It is hard not to interfere with some of their harsher traits, but I try to remember that Nature has somehow worked it out this way for a reason.  I’ve seen just about all of them get pecked at one time or another, except for Hawkeye, however, Chanel has taken the brunt of it on a regular basis.  I’ve been in coddling and petting her more at night.  She gets alarmed at first but then lets out a sort of low chirp, almost like she is telling me her woes but also liking the attention.

October 10, 2010: Creating Chicken Tracking/Egg laying Charts

October 10, 2010

Sunday, 11:41 am

Woke up to the sound of Raven chattering and complaining.  She usually does this once she has laid an egg and is warning the others to stay away from it, or right before she is about to lay.  I went out at 10am and it was already cold.  I figured she might be the only one to lay today since Ellie and Goldie both laid yesterday.  Perhaps Goldie too who lays almost every day, but I look out there now and Ellie is on the nest, half her behind sticking out of the small box which she insists on laying in even though it is too small for her.  So we’ll have two, maybe even three eggs today.  Good thing because we sent Brian’s Dad home with a half dozen last night.  He has taken to bringing the empty egg cartons to the house so that lets us know they are in need of more, plus I have asked people to save their old cartons so we won’t have to buy any.

I’ve been taking some Project Management PDU’s (classes) since I have been unemployed and yesterday’s classes were about charts and measuring quality.  Sooooooooo.............this morning I got the bright idea to create some charts on the laying schedules of the hens.  It became easier to do the first chart simply on quantity of eggs laid per hen thus far.  Took some aggravation and a bit of time more to plot lines of the times they lay, an estimate since I could figure out how to put the exact times on the axis and used numbers instead of times to approximate, still, it gives an idea of the schedules they follow.  After plotting them all on one chart, I broke them down into charts for each individual hen and was done for the day with charts....blech!

The nice clean water I put in the run yesterday is already filled with dirt from the dirt bath party they had yesterday after I raked out a lot of the old dried up weeds.  Perhaps I should rake the other side instead and make that their dirt bath area?  Either that or it will be a constant struggle to keep the water clean, which it already is anyway. 

Ellie’s tail feathers are looking very raggedy lately, not sure why.  Could be the way she is sleeping in the coop.  Poor Chanel has decided the heck with the coop even though I’ve snuck in a gozillion times now and put her back in after dark.  Hawkeye mercilously pecks her in the face and neck and Chanel will eventually jump out and go back to her new sleeping spot on top of the nesting boxes.  Poor thing, I don’t know what I will do when it gets cold out.  I’ll have to think of something for her.  She has a ton of feathers, but not much fat on her yet and I feel she’ll need the shared warmth of the others.  They CAN be so cruel to each other at times and I fall back on that is it MY fault for bringing Chanel into the flock.  Had her friends turned out to be hens instead of roosters, at least she would have had her own “posse” to hang out with, but then again, 8 chickens versus 6 would have been too many I think.  That is the thing with keeping chickens, it is evident quickly where you have made a mistake in strategy.  It is a great learning tool and it makes me wonder how much knowledge we have lost as a civilization when so few people farm, grow food or keep animals like this anymore.  All the old tricks and tips that were passed down.    Animals are such fascinating creatures....sometimes we forget that we are animals too.  I’ve always thought that if you adopt an animal, you are responsible for it’s happiness and well-being because it didn’t ask to be adopted by you, you chose to adopt it.   I also think animals are God’s angels in disguise, put her to teach us and befriend us.  Their loyalty and unconditional love through all types of adversity is amazing.   I had a friend once who didn’t particularly care for my dog, but when my dog died suddenly, she later told me, “Your dog taught me to love her.”  I think that says it all....

October 9, 2010: Brian has chicken fever

October 9, 2010

Sat., 3:55pm

I think Brian just may have chicken fever.  Thursday, he hopped out of bed and said, “I’m going to check for eggs.”  I said, “okay”.  In he came announcing he had found two eggs and asking if I wanted sausage, eggs and toast for breakfast.  He has been sneaking out there almost every day bringing them little treats and wants to bring some eggs in for the people at work. 

Thursday, they ended up laying a total of three eggs, Ellie laid late in the day about 3:30pm, whereas Goldie and Raven laid before 11am.  Friday, both Goldie and Raven laid again, Goldie before noon and Raven after 1:30pm.

Today Ellie laid bright and early, there was an egg in the box before 10am, already cold.  Goldie laid at 12:30pm, egg still warm.  Not sure Raven will lay today or not, if so, it will be late in the afternoon.  I have a feeling they do not lay after a certain time in the day.

I cleaned out the coop finally.  I’m sure they will be happy for it not to be so smelly.  Changed the water, gave them some flax and sunflower seeds and grass from weeding the garden.  They were digging mightily through the thick bed of dried weeds in the run, so I decided to rake out half the run and expose it back to dirt and then sprinkled some scratch grain as a treat.  They were delighted and immediately went to dust bathing and digging vigorously in the dirt.  I think I’ll keep at least half always showing in dirt now.

I dumped all the dried weeds and the “coop poop” into the compost pile in the back.  I cut back the okra since it was about 8 feet tall and want to see if it will side sprout.  Some did produce side sprouts even before I cut it back, so this is an experiment to see if “topping” it will also produce side sprouts and more okra.  I pulled out all of the hot pepper and jalapeno plants and laid them out to finish drying up and pulled out all of the support trellises.  Enough to wear me out for the day.

The chickens have laid a total of 13 eggs so far this week (since Monday) and I am wondering how many the total will be by the time we reach Sunday.  Ellie is on her fifth egg now and they seem to just keep getting bigger and bigger, but of course, everything looks big next to the bantam eggs.  We have given some to Bennie, the neighbor and twice now to Brian’s Dad.  I think the next batch will go to Mr. Haithcock.  I suppose the plus of sharing eggs, besides it being a nice thing to do, is that those who receive eggs might not be so upset if our chickens ever get loose and wander into their yard.  I really would like them to free range in the back yard eventually, pulling weeds and grass for them every day gets tiring – but they love the greens above all else.

Today I gave them some old green beans off the vine as well, sat in the run with them and peeled them and held the individual beans while they pecked away at them.  They found them to be a very tasty new treat but then got bored of them.  One of their latest favorite treats are the berries off of my curly leaf privet bushes.  Ah, another day of chickendom....was fun seeing their bliss at taking a dust bath again. 

October 8, 2010: Bugs in the chicken feed

October 8, 2010

Friday

Made a trip to the Tractor Supply store, bought some crushed oyster shells, grit and a new bag of scratch grain.   Also a metal trashcan for the scratch grain with a tight fitting lid.  The guy who worked there said it is difficult to keep bugs out of the grain and that he feeds it to the chickens anyway since they like to eat bugs.  I was afraid to do that since I didn’t know what type of bugs they were and looked like miniature versions of black sword fish and I didn’t relish the thought of them being some type of blood sucker, poking those swords into the chickens. 

When I got home, I put the grain in the new trashcan and then put their bags of crumbles into the old plastic storage bin that the chicks had lived in for awhile.  It was clean since I had kept shavings on the bottom.  I took some duct tape and taped the lid back together where I had cut it to put the heat lamp on, so that the lid would fit tightly again as well and keep the bugs out.  Also swept up the wood shavings from off the garage floor, now all is nice and neat again.  Took out a large mason jar to use as a scoop for each bin. 

October 6, 2010: Brian collects his first egg.

October 6, 2010

Weds., 11:03am

Well my plan of letting Brian collect the eggs didn’t even go into effect, because I slept in late this morning and when I awoke, my husband was nowhere to be found.  I peaked out, and there he was squatting down in the chicken coop in his pajama’s, communing with the chickens and feeding them some scraps he had brought home from work.  (And I thought I was the only one who went to visit the chickens in my pj’s.)

Shortly thereafter, he came inside, a little egg in his hand and asking me whose it was....and advising that Ellie was sitting in a nest box as well.  I doubt he’ll ever admit it, but I think he’s hooked.  He, he, he.....

Ellie laid her egg shortly after, again in the small box and again, close to the edge, but a large egg, well, comparatively speaking...

October 5, 2010: Chicken of the Mountain

October 5, 2010

Tuesday

I weeded the front garden today and dumped it all into the chicken coop in a huge pile.  They loved it and had a blast playing Chicken of the Mountain.  Later when I went out to check on them, they were all filthy dirty from digging in the pile of weeds and dirt.  One egg today from old faithful.... Goldie.

October 4, 2010: Creating Watermelon Fruit Bowls

October 4, 2010

Monday, 12:56pm

Goldie again announced she had laid an egg this morning – PRIOR to laying.  When I walked out and asked her what was the matter, she kept squawking little mini-squawks at me as if she was answering me.  It was the funniest thing. 

I went out a little while ago and Ellie was in the box where Goldie had been, although she doesn’t really fit in it.  I saw her moving the fake egg around and wondered if she was also sitting on Goldie’s egg, so I risked getting a peck to put my hand under her to see and pulled out Goldie’s egg.  Her eggs have changed to a lighter shade of brown now, not sure why. 

I pulled the chair inside the coop and sat there cradling Goldie’s perfectly shaped brown egg in my hand and waited on Ellie.  Farrah, who is sort of a ditz, hopped up and tried to get into the box with Ellie, even though Ellie barely fit into it herself.  I got up and gently guided Farrah into the large box across from Ellie.  She stayed in there for a little while, but then hopped out and proceeded to lay down on the top of the large box next to Ellie’s small box, all the time making a little purring/clucking sound to Ellie as if lending moral support.  Each time Ellie would stand to rearrange herself, Farrah would purr some more and stretch her neck to look at Ellie as if waiting for the egg to drop out.  It was the strangest thing.  Then Ellie stood up on the edge of the nest box and began reaching into the large box across from her and picking out wood shavings and tossing them over her right or left shoulder and even a big pile on her back.  It was hysterical, it was as if she decided there were not enough wood shavings in her own box so she was going to pull them from the other box.  Before it was over, she had moved to the large nest box which is where she had laid her first egg.  They are all too much.  Meanwhile, Hawkeye’s comb and wattles are getting bigger and redder and she has begun showing an interest in the boxes, going in and laying down for short periods of time, so I’m guessing she will lay before Farrah.

I was weeding the other day and noticed one of the watermelons that was not fully developed was on a brown vine, so I picked it and put it in the coop to break open later for the chickens.  Needless to say, they couldn’t wait and the next time I went in the coop, they had pecked two neat holes through the rind and cleaned out the insides and were drinking the juice that was left.  It looked like one of those fruit filled watermelons you see at parties with a handle on top.

Chanel is sleeping outside the coop again.  I guess they peck at her so badly when she tries to go in that sometimes she just opts to sleep on top of the nesting boxes by herself instead.  However, it’s getting cold at night and eventually she is going to need the shared warmth, so last night after dark, I went in and picked her up, amidst some muffled squawking, pushed the hens over on their perch and slid her in with minimum ruckus.  Nobody looks worse for wear today.  I guess we’ll see where she opts to sleep tonight.

2:15pm 

I heard a loud squawking and thought, “Oh no, now what?  Is something in the coop?  A snake maybe?”  I had already gone out and gotten Ellie’s egg which she almost laid out of the box, having switched once again back to the small box.  I ran to the back door and went outside, it sounded like a strangled cat.  Goldie and Ellie had already laid their eggs, Goldie had already announced her egg prior to laying it, so what was going on?  There stood Ellie with Farrah, on top of the coop, squawking for all she was worth, I guess either a delayed announcement, “Hey everybody, I laid an egg too!!!” or she was announcing that Raven was now in the box getting ready to lay...lol  I walked out and sure enough, Raven was huddled up in the lower right small box, her new “usual” place. 

Lately, I have been peeking out the window to find Brian has ventured out to the chicken coop and is offering them some kitchen scraps, or digging up the dead grass on the floor so they can get to any bugs hiding underneath, or he is trying to pet the chickens.  Farrah seems to like him which is a good thing because she’ll barely let me near her.  The cutest thing was watching him lean over and  check out all of the nesting boxes looking for an egg.  He won’t admit it, but secretly, I think he hopes to find an egg.  Each time I talk about finding an egg he makes a comment about how crazy I am over the chickens, but in his heart, I think he wants to find one too.  I think next time when he will be at home during the day, I won’t collect the eggs so he can find them himself.

If Raven lays today as well, it will be our first THREE EGG DAY!.....  That will be 8 eggs in four days.  Brian’s Dad came over last night for chili and football and we sent him home with a half dozen of assorted colors and sizes.  I gave my neighbor Bennie about 9 eggs the other day and he was bragging how many it took to make an omelet and how he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to because the shells were so hard to crack.  It’s nice to see others enjoying the eggs as well.  

2:50pm

Just collected Raven’s egg, still warm.  Our first “three egg day” – a new milestone.  Now, unless someone new lays their first egg today, we are done with gifts and surprises for the day....bummer.  I feel like a kid in a new candy store.  I must be going insane.  Who gets this excited about their chickens laying eggs???