Week 20; Day 6... Part 3

This thing is TINY!

And, for the most recent update.... we have eggs!!!

The girls were expected to start laying between 18 and 26 weeks of age, and as of the day we found the first, they were almost 20 weeks old. We still don't know for sure which one is laying, but we think it's Shelley (one of the ISA Browns). It IS a bit perplexing, though. The ISAs are supposed to lay brown eggs, and these are bluish-green, so we assumed at first that they were from Mama. However, after some research, I discovered that Brahmas are supposed to lay brown eggs as well. We still haven't eaten any yet; I'm trying to wait until we have enough for all of us to try them together.

Also according to my research, when pullets first start laying, the first few eggs will be as much as 3 or 4 days apart. But, so far, we've gotten an egg every day for the last 5 days. And I'm sure that at least the first four are all from the same hen; until today, each egg was progressively bigger than the previous day's.

In its 'natural habitat'...

Today, I kept a fairly close eye on the chickens, to see if we could determine who's laying. Mid-afternoon, I heard one of them making odd noises, and sent one of the the kids to check. He found an egg, still very warm, and Shelley standing over it, so we're pretty sure it's hers.

Because of the size differences, I'm turning the eggs into an OCD experiment, as well. For the first few weeks, I'll be keeping track of the eggs -- time of day laid, size and weight of each.

And that's about it for now. Don't worry, I won't be posting charts of the egg sizes, etc.; nor will I be posting photos of every single egg. I was far more excited when my husband found the first one than I expected [and continue to be excited each time we find another one], but not quite that excited. LOL

Compared to a store-bought egg.

Week 20; Day 6... Part 2

Tearing down the old pen

And now, for a change in the chickens' accommodations, and lots of photos that have piled up over the weeks.

My son helping out with the tear-down

The pen we built worked out just fine, but it did create a few small issues; the worst being that the low 'roof' made it impossible for anyone to go into the pen without creeping along, crouched as low as possible. I've also been sketching out the plans for their coop come spring, when we re-make the garage to accommodate them. I was planning on scavenging dog kennel panels to build the pen come spring; this will make it so that we can easily move it if we choose, and even better: regular-sized people will actually be able to enter the pen.

The kennel in place, just waiting for the coop to be moved.

I realized a couple of weeks ago that our neighbor had an unused dog kennel, so we asked to borrow it long-term (and perhaps buy it from them). It took some work to get it across the street, but with the use of the lawn tractor, my gardening wagon, a length of hose, and a half-hour, we got it done. The kids and I cleaned up the area along the garage, moved the coop, and arranged the kennel around it. I gradually added chicken-wire around the bottom half of the kennel, to provide a little added protection against predators (although I acknowledge that it wouldn't stop those that can climb), and so far, the girls love it.

And all set up

The new pen is at least twice as big as the old one, and the girls love having more room to roam around. Being up against the north side of the garage, they can find good shade no matter what time of day it is, and at least for summer, they can get plenty of sun as well. Whenever I go out to the yard, they rush to the door, hoping that I'll open the gate and let them wander.

They seem to have developed a fascination with the area under the deck. For the most part, it's not a problem -- there are plenty of weeds that keep popping up under there, and the chickens love tearing them out. But we also have to watch them a bit closely. The deck used to accommodate a hot-tub, and the 'pad' is still underneath. The chickens have taken to tearing at it, trying to rip it apart, and I don't know if they could hurt themselves on it or not, so better safe than sorry.

The sign came with the kennel, so we just left it.

The nesting box I made & attached to the inside of the coop.

Our friend's dog, intently watching Mama.

Week 20; Day 6... I think

I haven't updated in quiet awhile, mostly because I didn't want to share a whole lot of 'nothing to report' posts. There is now something to report. But first...... [this update will be split up into three different posts, so bear with me!]

My last post was about the meat-birds' demise, so I am now happy to announce: They. Were. DELICIOUS!! Two of them were made into the best fried chicken I've ever eaten (at least, in my opinion). The third bird went on the grill a few weeks later, cooked up with my homemade barbecue sauce. It was amazing. I wouldn't say that the meat tasted different than store-bought; it had the same taste, just a lot more flavor. Definitely worth the time and trouble, thus far. The fried chicken smelled so good that my oldest daughter (the one who vehemently protested the entire venture) wound up trying it. And then serving herself a couple of pieces. :)  Feeding two adults and four children, two entire chickens got almost entirely wiped out in one meal. I managed to hide two pieces in the back of the fridge for my lunch the next day, though.