Golf Ball Eggs?

 

So are we laying golf balls now?  I think I've seen it all, LOL.  These hens this year.  I have a lot of older girls and they just aren't laying like they used to.  We have a lot of "free loaders" right now, thus the purchase and hatching of new little ones this past spring/summer.  We should be back in business by next spring.

When I saw this egg I just had to laugh.  When you have chickens, you inevitably get the odd shaped one every now and then, but I must say I have never had one quite this round and large before.  Generally a hen will lay the same shaped egg her whole life, with just a few anomalies here and there.  I'm pretty sure this is from my easter egger hatchling, Matilda, from last year.  What odd shaped or odd eggs have you seen in your flock?

A Little Help From My Friend

Not a very becoming picture, but a daily reality in my world.  I scoop the poop in my chicken coops daily.  This helps keep this fresh, clean, and hopefully disease free.  Lately, I have had a little helper.  One of my new hatches from last summer. Her name is Matilda (Tildy for short) and she is a mutt easter egger.  Pretty sure her dad was one of my mixed barred rock roosters and her mom was most likely one of my easter egger hens.  She is a sweetie and very curious about everything.

She has now decided that my "poop" bucket is a fun place to investigate in the mornings.  It makes for a challenging task of trying to clean the coop.  I get so tickled with her.  She wasn't always so curious and generally didn't want anything to do with me until she got a jealous streak with her "sister" Dolly.  Dolly is my personal "parrot."  Dolly is another mixed breed hatch from last year, the same hatch as Matilda. Completely different parents as Dolly came from a different coop than Matilda (different parents).  Dolly has been my personal buddy since she was a chick.  She is the one that loves to fly up or over to my shoulder and just perch and hang out.

My perch buddy, Dolly

Matilda decided one day that the extra attention might be kinda nice.  She started coming over every time that I would pay attention to Dolly.  Before you knew it we were friends too and now she will actually come over when I call her by name.  If you have chickens and want them to be "pet" friendly, aside from certain breeds that tend to be pet friendly, you just need to spend LOTS of time with them when they are chicks.  When I touch and pet my chicks on a daily basis, I tend to get more pet-friendly results.  If I miss a day or two, they seem to quickly revert back to wildness.  Chickens are funny, curious creatures and I doubt you would ever regret trying them out should you ever feel the urge to get some.  They provide wonderful eggs, meat if you choose to slaughter them, and endless entertainment.  Laughter is good for the soul.  Bless you today!

Longer Days Are Here

We had been so spoiled with a mild winter and then it hit.  January is here and so is the wicked cold.  We have had some very cold weather.  I have been out in the coop several mornings where the high temp in the morning was zero degrees!  So far everyone is doing ok.  I have a few of my roosters who did get a touch of frostbite on their waddles.  I hate that it happened, but it does sometimes.

We have battled sickness here in the household throughout December and it really put me behind on my posts.  My dad also came for a wonderful surprise visit for almost 2 weeks and we really enjoyed it!

On the upside, I was glad to see the days getting longer again.  That is one of the fascinating things I have noticed since keeping chickens.  I tend to really notice the changes in the weather and days. I could tell immediately when the days just suddenly got longer.  The chickens, of course, notice it too because egg production, which had slowed to almost nil, has begun to increase.  I was so excited to actually get a dozen eggs the other day!  Of course the very next day I only got 4, but I know it will slowly increase.

I'm also excited that some of my new layers are now laying.  The two buffs and 5 easter eggers have started laying.  The buffs have been laying for about a month now and just this past week a couple of the easter eggers added their green eggs to our egg basket.  I so missed the green eggs.  I would LOVE to get a blue egg layer too.  Maybe someday.  I think I might like to get a Legbar or two (they lay blue eggs).  Auracaunas do too, but pretty unlikely I would get one of those without special ordering.

What's in your egg basket these days?  Any new and exciting layers in your flock?  Drop me a note in the comments about any fun happenings on your homestead.  Our Schoolhouse Review Crew is starting up again so be watching for some new fun reviews coming up!