Got Eggs?

 

Two on Friday

On Friday morning, I woke up at 6:30 a.m., well before my alarm went off!  Long time blog readers know that I tend to stay up till the wee hours of the morning and sleep in, but, apparently, having chickens is making me want to wake up early!  Anyway, I went out and let the chickens out of the coop into the bigger enclosure.  I checked the coop, but didn't see any eggs.  But, that was fine; we had read that chickens will not always lay an egg a day, sometimes, they might lay every other day.  

However, daughter and I went out to check on them and give them fresh water and food around 10:00 a.m. when daughter had a break, and we found Henny Penny sitting in the nest box!  We were surprised because, earlier, neither hen wanted to go inside the enclosed part of the coop itself and quickly left it even when daughter put them inside.  They seemed to prefer the open area under the coop and the small run area, which is where I found the very first egg on Wednesday.  But, apparently, Henny Penny had found the nest box and was sitting there while Niwatori was walking around making some cackling noises.  

Daughter went to clean the coop during her lunch break and when she came back, she called to me to come and see what she found.  Not one, but TWO eggs in the nest box!  We had read that chickens will usually lay only one egg per day, but not two eggs at a time.  So, we are wondering if Niwatori had also laid an egg in the nest box either before or after Henny Penny did!

We were so excited to find two eggs!  We offered one to gardener friend M who was here in the evening to tend to the garden and to help daughter with some further coop reinforcements, but, he thanked us and declined the offer because he had just purchased a dozen eggs earlier that day.  He did say that he will accept an egg later on.

Once again, I took a picture of the two eggs with a store bought egg (size large) for comparison:

Friday's Eggs in Comparison with Store Bought Egg

Our okra plants didn't do well at all, this year (it got too hot after we planted them) and only two tiny okra pods formed on them.  We gave the okra pods to the chickens (after checking if they were okay for the chickens to eat) and they loved them!

Today (Saturday), I woke up at 8:00 a.m. when my alarm went off, but, daughter had woken up earlier and had let the chicken out of the coop, given them fresh water and food, etc., so, I went back to sleep for another couple of hours.  Then, she went at noon to clean the coop and guess what?

Saturday's Eggs!

She found two more eggs in the nest box!  One was brown and the other was a pale tan and slightly smaller.  We read that some variation in egg shell coloration was normal.  Both eggs were well formed with firm shells.  

Gardener M texted to ask if there were any more eggs and I was able to tell him that, yes, we had two more!  He's just as excited about our chickens as we are!

The chickens arrived on Tuesday afternoon and we have had a total of five eggs already!  How wonderful is that?  I am assuming that it is a sign that they are happy in their new home?  

I think there will be scrambled eggs for breakfast, tomorrow!!  

I am grateful for:
- The hens are laying 

- The fresh eggs we are collecting
- M's help with the garden and the chicken coop 

- Daughter doing all the work of cleaning the coop, etc.
-The joy of backyard chickens

Niwatori and Henny Penny

Eggsperiments

 

Newly Laid Brown Egg and Store Bought White Egg

Yesterday, daughter decided to compare and contrast the egg our new chickens laid (brown one) and one of the store bought eggs (white one).  These are the pictures she took.

Brown Egg on the Viewer's Left 

We expected the new chicken egg to have a more orange colored yolk, but, we didn't see any noticeable difference.  Maybe, once they start being out in the garden and eating more plants and insects, in addition to their pellets, we might see a change in the color.  Also, apparently, feeding them pieces of dried red chili flakes will also turn their yolks a deeper orange color!  

Scrambled - Brown Egg on the Left

Next, daughter scrambled them, each egg separately, to see if there was a noticeable difference in taste.  We both tasted them and to be quite honest, neither of us could taste a difference!  

The store bought eggs are "cage free", but, that does not mean that they are "free range" according to the definitions used in the U.S., with cage free chickens being kept mostly indoors in large barns and free range chickens being allowed outdoor access.  Niwatori and Henny Penny are kept in a fairly large enclosure (which would technically be a cage, I suppose?) but, it is outdoors and eventually, they will have access to the garden as well, over the next few days.

There were no eggs laid this morning when I let them out of the coop into the bigger enclosure or at noon when daughter checked on them during her lunch break and gave them more food, fresh water, and cleaned the enclosure.

She checked on them again in the afternoon and gave them more food and cold water (we are freezing bottles of water and putting them in their water containers to chill the water).  She also poured some water over one area of the ground in the enclosure to create a damp spot in which they could be to cool off a bit.  It's 96F today and the poor chickens need all the help they can get to keep cool!  Even though they are supposed to be heat tolerant, they were raised in northern California where it doesn't get quite as hot as it does down here! Also, if they are less than a year old, they would not have experienced summer time temperatures.

We checked on them again, after daughter got off work, with both of us going to see how they were doing.  Henny Penny had dug out a nice bowl shaped depression in the corner where the ground had been wetted down and was relaxing there while Niwatori was in the area under the coop. 

We offered them a couple of kale leaves, yesterday, but, they seemed quite uninterested in them.  Today, we gave them a few freshly picked blueberries and, at first, they didn't know what to do with them, but, then, they learned to pick them up and eat them.  I had daughter bring two of the garden chairs to the area by the coop and we sat and watched them as they scratched at the ground and pecked around.  

We went inside after that, and I made a cucumber salad to have for dinner along with rice, salmon, and green beans.  I also ordered some groceries to be delivered tomorrow.

Daughter put the chickens into the coop for the night at sunset.  We had checked on them last night, around midnight, and saw that they had settled down for the night, on top of their feeder and water container, in the open area of their coop.  We have to figure out a good roosting place for them, but, today, we placed an old metal ladder with just two rungs inside the coop.  It just fitted inside and still allowed the lid to be closed. Ideally, it should be a wooden ladder, but, hopefully, they'll use it for tonight.

Today, I am grateful for:

- The chickens made it through the night!
- That first egg
- Daughter doing all the hard work of tending to them and keeping the coop and enclosure clean
- Easy access to water which helps with cleaning the food and water dishes, etc.
- The joy of having backyard chickens!

Better brace yourself to a few more daily chicken reports over the next few days until we figure out what we are doing!  LOL.  I am thinking we are doing this at the correct time as there seems to be another egg recall due to salmonella contamination according to today's news broadcast!  The recall includes eggs sold at the grocery store from which I get my eggs!  I need to check if the last batch of eggs I bought are among the recalled ones!  

Niwatori and Henny Penny

Fresh Vegetables?

On Tuesday afternoon, we received a long awaited, yet, much delayed due to various factors including a sprained thumb, a potential job-related travel out of town (tickets booked and paid for, but, the meeting was cancelled at the last minute), and a mini heatwave, delivery of a box of...farm fresh vegetables?  What?  Who ordered fresh vegetables from a farm?

But, wait, what's that peeking out from one of the holes in the box?

Peek-a-Boo!

Is that an eye?  And are those feathers? 

Feathers!

Could it be?  Yes, it is!  Chickens!  Our chickens have arrived! 

Daughter opted to get chickens that had been feather-pecked by others in the flock because feather-pecked chickens deserved to be loved just as much as any other chicken (maybe the fact that she was bullied at school made her feel more empathy towards them).  The fact that they were half priced was a bonus.  She was told that they had feathers missing and bare patches, but, were otherwise healthy. Presumably, the feathers will grow back, eventually.

Daughter requested heat tolerant chickens suitable for our climate, but, the exact breed and age of the chickens we'd receive would depend on what was available, and the chickens would be anywhere from 3 months to 1 year (daughter had originally wanted coop-ready chickens that were still fairly young).  

The chickens we received are a bit bigger than we had expected, but, here they are:

Niwatori and Henny Penny

Introducing Niwatori (Japanese for chicken, with niwa meaning garden and tori meaning bird), a Barred Plymouth Rock, and Henny Penny, who we believe is a Rhode Island Red.  Daughter has emailed the farm to ask if they knew the exact breeds and ages of the chickens they sent us, but, we haven't heard back yet.  Not that it matters that much.  We already love them!

We introduced Niwatori and Henny Penny to the coop yesterday and they checked it out.  The coop comes with a small run, an open enclosure, which them seem to prefer to the coop, itself as they refused to stay inside the coop when daughter put them in there to see - can't blame them because who'd want to be cooped up inside when there's so much to see?  LOL.  

Henny Penny Smiling at the Camera

 They both have small patches of bare skin on their backs, but, there are no wounds as such.  

Henny Penny giving me the side eye, but
Niwatori seems unconcerned

Daughter has made the coop as predator proof as she could and that's where they will spend their nights.  However, the coop and its small run is placed inside a bigger enclosure (6' x 10'), which gives them extra room in which to run.  

Chicken Enclosure with Coop Inside

Daughter assembled the enclosure and gardener M helped her with the canopy and laying down the hardware fabric underneath to predator proof it.  After the hens had explored the coop, we let them out to explore the bigger enclosure.

Coop and Enclosure

It was funny to see them explore this bigger area.  Niwatori seems to be the more placid one.  She happily stood in one spot and made some contented sounding clucking noises as she pecked at bugs in the ground.  Henny Penny, on the other hand, took it upon herself to strut around the enclosure, crowing every few feet, as if to proclaim that this is her territory!  Then, she went over to Niwatori, gave her a small peck on the back as if to establish the pecking order, and stood next to her, still keeping an eye on us standing outside the enclosure.  

We plan to let them out into the garden, eventually, but, with the garden cats and other critters around, we will do so only when either my daughter or I are there to keep an eye on them.  The rest of the time, they will stay inside the enclosure until they need to go inside the coop at night.  We still need to trim the zip ties and tidy the enclosure a bit (even today, M put more soil on some areas inside the enclosure to bury some exposed hardware fabric so that the chickens' feet don't get damaged when they scratch, etc.), but, the chickens seem happy enough.

The First Egg!

In fact, one of them gifted us with an egg, this morning!  I found it when I went to let them out of the coop run into the larger enclosure!  They both lay brown eggs, so, I've no idea quite who laid it, but, I rather suspect Niwatori as she seems more relaxed while Henny Penny is still a bit wary.  When daughter carried them, yesterday, Niwaroti allowed herself to be carried without any fuss while Henny Penny flapped her wings and squawked a bit at the indignity of being carried!  LOL.

I brought the egg in and washed it and refridgerated it.  But, first, I took a picture of it next to a grocery store, size large egg:

Not a bad size, at all!

I'll let daughter have the pleasure of cooking the first egg as she has done all the work and spending to get the chickens and the coop and enclosure, etc.  

But, isn't it "eggciting"?  LOL.

I do wonder what Chicken Little would have thought about all this?

Chicken Little
(neighbors' hen who spent her days in my garden
and taught the garden cats who was the boss!)

Today, I am grateful for:

- Our own chickens
- Who arrived safely
- Who seems to have settled in nicely
- Our first new egg
- M's help with the chicken coop and enclosure

This is the first time we are having our own chickens and we are learning as we go!  We are hoping that the chickens will like their new home and reward us with many more eggs in the days and weeks to come.  

Have you kept chickens?