Breakfast

Our total egg collection count is now up to 3. Yesterday evening I went out to the herb garden to grab some things for dinner and Tara was in the process of laying an egg. Willow and Tara are ahead of the curve in our mini flock. I gave Tara some sage and basil as a reward for her yummy present. She loves sage and pecked at my hand trying to get more.

Our first egg breakfast. A lightly buttered slice of bread, one egg cooked over medium with the yolk cracked (oozey goodness!), and a cup of coffee. The yolk was very orange and it tasted wonderful! It wasn't much food once it was shared between 2 people but it was still very tasty.

So far we have only eaten one of the eggs. The very first egg was shared as part of a teeny tiny breakfast on Sunday morning. For scale reasons I included the fork in the photo.

A witness for egg #2

In the mornings, as we give the hens their food and water, they hint rather strongly that they want to go out into the yard. Willow literally pushes up against us to go outside. Nudging her back into the coop is a morning ritual. We let them out in the afternoons/evenings but never in the morning. The chickens disagree with our executive decision and every day they stage a mini-protest and ask to go out. Sorry ladies, but you have to wait until we get home from work and can watch over as you forage. Rules are important (though they can and do get broken on weekends when we are home). Also, if they seriously want to protest I need to see some better signs or at least an awesome drum circle. Have they not learned anything from living in Wisconsin?

This morning I was greeted by 3 out of our 4 hens as I gave them food. When I poured a new pile of grit it was still only 3 hens. After I had taken the water dish out, cleaned it, added fresh water, walked back to the coop, AND put it into the run there were still only 3 hens. Then I heard it: a squawking, a clucking, a flapping of wings, and one loud final squawk. After the ruckus Willow came wandering down the ramp into the run. I opened up the nest box and found a freshly laid still warm egg waiting for me. At least now I know why she wasn't pushing to get outside this morning... she is the first of our hens to start laying eggs!

A first....

I was finishing the coop cleaning tonight and when I opened the nest box lid I got a wonderful surprise: our first egg!!!

Our very first egg from our backyard hens. It is small, fits neatly into my palm, and is a very pale brown. (pre-rinse)

A close up of the egg once it was washed/rinsed. It is a gorgeous brown color with small brown spots all over the shell.

Hug a chicken

We were cleaning out the chicken coop today and let the chickens out to wander the backyard. Willow was being especially friendly so she got picked up and hugged. Have you hugged a chicken today?

Willow is now friendly enough that she can be easily handled. Here she is being held up at chest height with no resistance or complaint.

Tara (black and white) and Henrietta (black and orange) wandering around the backyard.

Weed eaters

This weekend we had some gorgeous weather so we let the chickens out of their coop while we sat outside reading. They very kindly went after the creeping charlie (weeds) in the backyard for me.

Come out, come out, wherever you are! The door is wide open. A photo of the chickens coming out of their coop.

Merrill hanging out on the grass and weeds enjoying the beautiful weather.

Henrietta and Merrill (the two golden laced wyandottes) out on the lawn.

All 4 hens hanging out together searching for worms and bugs.

Snack time!

An orange daylily from the daylily bed behind the chicken coop.

It is a 3 day weekend here for us due to the 4th of July. We had intended to spend part of today building a portable 10 foot by 10 foot enclosure for the hens so that they could wander around more of the yard. Sadly, we found out today that we had bought the wrong kind of 3 way PVC connectors and after looking around town we can't find the correct version. So, the portable coop will have to wait until the online order gets shipped unless we find them in a specialty store in town. *shakes fist in the air* Darn you different types of 3 way connectors, darn you!

So instead of building a coop we ended up relaxed with the chickens for awhile this morning. They got to snack on some tasty weeds and they will get their own salad at dinner time tonight. The chickens have recently been getting mini salads when we have our own larger versions of salads at meals. They are spoiled!

Willow and Tara in the hen house, with the door open, being hand fed some weeds. Yes, these gals are in training to become my personal organic weed control.

The gals have been growing up quickly. I no longer have peeping baby chicks and instead have 4 hungry pullets (a chicken less than ~1 year old is called a pullet).

One of the golden laced wyandottes (left) and a barred plymouth rock (right). The gold feather with black edging coloration is finally emerging on the chests of the golden laced wyandottes.

All 4 of the chickens scrambling to get into the hen house. They are standing on the ramp with Willow half blocking the doorway as the other 3 chickens attempt to scurry inside. I suppose they decided their photo shoot was over for the morning.

Long time no post

It has been a long time since I posted. I apologize for the lack of chicken photos and stories. Real life got in the way of internet fun for me recently. I got sick (the flu and pneumonia) so I have not had the energy to update. But I am finally starting to feel better again so there will be more posts soon.