The Mystery of the Missing Eggs

For four days now, we have not been able to find our chicken eggs.  Let me first say that for a few days over a week ago, they were laying their eggs in the corner of my garden under the squash leaves.  We found seven eggs in the garden one day....

So we have taken to locking them in the large coop each day with plenty of space to lay, eat, and peck around.  We let them out at about 5 o'clock each night to graze on the grass and then lock them in the small (critter-proof) coop each night.   But we can't find the eggs.  Tonight, I am locking them in the small coop and locking them in so they can't even get food over night.  (its just for one night and it's nice and cool tonight!)  My thought is that if there is a large snake or a rat taking the eggs, they won't be able to get in.  But in all honesty, there is no sign of a rat or a large snake (and we are looking!).  So, either these very young hens have stopped laying or they are really tricking us and laying late afternoon in a place that I just can't seem to find.  Bruno and I (one of the trips) spent an hour  today searching for eggs.  It was a like an Easter Egg Hunt with no eggs, no prizes or no money!  It was no fun!   I need my eggs.....

If anyone has a clue, let me know!

The bad and the good....

The bad news is that on vacation, my son couldn't get two hens into the second pen.  A raccoon got them.  I am down to two hens.

The good news is that the other son set a trap last night and got the raccoon.

I will still have to be diligent in watching and taking care of my last two hens.

Look what I got!

My first one arrived this morning!

I'm very excited!

ETA:  I came home for lunch today and looked in on my pretty ladies in the coop area.  One of the hens was chauching(sp) (not a clue how to spell it - it is Italian dialect from the early 1900's) - Anyhoo, one was sitting on the nest and she let me pet her and coo at her.  Tonight when hubby got home, I had him check the coop and there was my second egg!!!  What a great day!!

A change in plans

I had posted several weeks ago, that I would be getting some freshly hatched chicks from my sister's place of work (she is a therapeutic recreation director and hatching eggs was an activity for the residents).  The chicks ended up being Sumatra's and Sumatra mixes.  After studying this breed a bit, I realized that I did not want the chicks.  Sumatra's are not good egg layers but worse than that, they are very good fliers.  Sumatra owners recommend a chicken wire roof (covering the whole coop area) so the birds don't fly the coop. 

Honestly, that is just too much work for me! 

Last week, I got two Red Star pullets.  Yesterday,  I got three more Red Stars!  I'll have five hens laying in about a month or so. 

That's as good as it gets this year.  And I'm happy with my decision!

My son is happy, too - he didn't have to make a brooder! HAH!

Pictures will be forthcoming once I get all the hens!

ETA: A picture that my daughter took.  We have changed the fencing, though!

The first night with the two pullets

Saturday was the first night that I had my two Red Stars, and one of them flew the coop....

I had to go out that night and I got home late and because I had not had chickens for about 4 months, I forgot that I was supposed to lock them up for the evening.  It was dark when I got home that evening and one of the hens was on the stone wall and one of them was gone!

We looked for her for about 20 minutes, but we couldn't find her.

First thing in the morning, hubby went outside and looked around.  He didn't see any feathers (which is a good sign), but it was still too dark.

I went out about half hour later and there she was - in the tree at my next door neighbor's house.
I brought her home and she ended up doing the same thing the next night (because I wasn't home in time again!!!).

So, now after three nights (M, T, and W) in the warm coop, I think she is much happier than sitting in a cold tree and she understands where home is.

New Chickens

Yesterday, I ordered two Red Star Pullets.  (Pullets are hens - you can call them teenagers - who are under a year old).   I will get them at about 17 weeks old at the end of March.  They should start laying at about 22 to 23 weeks old.   So, by the end of April, I should start getting brown eggs again.  This is a red star!

Photo: Courtesy of mypetchicken.com

I am getting four baby chicks at the end of March also.  These I will raise in the brooder until they are ready to be put outside with the pullets.  I'm not sure on the color of the eggs as it depends on the breed of hen.  I just pray that I don't pick up a rooster.  He will have to be soup before his first crow, as my neighborhood would never allow a rooster!

(Just a reminder - if anyone wants any baby chicks, I can get them for you!). 

I have two coops and both need to be cleaned out and the fencing needs to be fixed and new chicken wire needs to be put up for the Red Stars.  So, you know what I'll be doing for the next couple of weekends!

ETA: Just got my confirmation from Benedict's - pullets will be here late March....I'll be waiting by the phone for the call to come in!

New chicks

I talked with Lauren at the Livingston Ripley Waterfowl Conservancy this week.  Besides doing conservation and research on Waterfowl, they also work with chickens. 

My sister, who is the recreation director at a local nursing/rehab home, is having fertilized eggs delivered (from the Conservancy) to the residents at the nursing home.  The residents will watch the eggs under heat lamps and then watch them hatch.  Once the eggs hatch and the baby chicks are here, I am getting some of the chicks!  They should hatch around March 27th or so, so I should have my new babies by Easter! 


To anyone who would like to try raising hens this spring, let me know if you would like some chicks.  Lauren has told me that she thinks I will get barred rock, sumatra, brown and white leghorn, Rhode Island Red and americauna chicks.  I told her that I don't want the sumatra or brown leghorns (they aren't the best layers), but I'll take the others.  White Leghorns lay white eggs - I've never raised hens that have white eggs!  


Very exciting and something to plan for!

PS - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, to my wonderful hubby!  (and NO, Thomas, you are not 39 again today!)

The end of the hens....for this year!

Today was the day!

The chickens have been molting for well over a month.  Even though we have had some of the most beautiful November weather on record, I was getting maybe one egg a day.  The hens are almost two years old and it was time to say goodbye.  I will be getting either four or six new pullets in March next year.

My brother-in-law Joe came over to do the deed.....He and hubby did the killing and Joe and I did the plucking and cleaning, etc.

For those of you who do not want to see this process, please proceed with caution.  The pictures aren't grisly but they are a true representation...

First off, Joe cut off their heads and let them bleed out.   You can't really see much above.
Next,  Joe started plucking feathers.......

I channeled my dad.  I asked him for strength and all of a sudden, I started plucking the second one!  This one was the Silver Wyandotte and was my dad's favorite!

Here is one almost all done....

Joe is scraping the last of the feathers.  The big pot held the boiling water, which we dipped them into to help get rid of the hardest feather quills.  

I offered Joe one of the soup chickens.  He told me my sister would not want that in the house.....I need to have a discussion with my sister!

So, I froze two chickens for another time and two went into the pot for soup.  

I think tomorrow, it will be chicken with rice soup for dinner.....

Molting Hens

My ladies have been molting for about 1-1/2 months.  Egg production had taken a serious nose dive.  I was lucky to get one egg a day.  Sometimes NONE!  (but on a good day, I would get two.)

However, yesterday, I got three eggs!  I'm not sure if it was the beautiful sunshine all day, or the warmer temperatures after the snow filled weekend, but the ladies look like their feathers are growing back and have started to produce again.  I hope they can keep it up for a while longer! 

Come spring, a new generation of chicks will be heading towards a certain back yard in Derby......The lovely ladies that I have now will then be two years old and depending on their output, they may be headed for soup!  Ah, the circle of life! 

World War I Poster

I was reading Rob's World blog the other day and he has on it the Food Poster Tour of Posters from WWI and WWII  - I had to look because WWII posters always fascinated me especially the Victory Garden Posters.   (I am going to post a blog about some of the Women and Food Posters in the next week or so.)  I thought I would see more canning posters (which I did), but what I found was even better!  And it's older - this is from WWI!

To all my family and friends out there who think I'm (a little) crazy to keep my beautiful girls (hens), read the third to last line, "Its both Patriotic and Profitable to keep the laying hen"   My new mantra!!!

Have an EGG-cellent  day!!!!!

(Now I just have to find the $150.00 to buy the antique poster and frame it!) (It would look great in my kitchen!) LOL

Clipping Wings

The new fenced in area for the chickens has been completed by my son.  However, even though it keeps the dog out, the chickens decided that they can fly over and bother the dog!  The dog is bigger than them, though, so our yard was a cacophony of barking and screeching chickens...Not fun at 6:00 in the morning!!

So, I went on You-Tube and Google and learned how to clip chicken wings, so that the hens will stay on their side of the fence.  It was easy (once I caught the dang hens!), and all of the tutorials basically showed the exact same thing, so I couldn't go wrong (could I?).

As of 7:30 this morning, wings are now clipped and I'll let you know if it keeps the hens in their new area......it better!!!!!

 This is the new area - it is about 25 x 20 for four hens......and they have two coops as of right now!

 I think they were pretty P.O.'d at me this morning for clipping their wings, so they didn't come out of the coop to have their pictures taken! HAH!

Chicken Coop

As I mentioned a few days ago, we got a flyer in the mail last week from our local Agway and they were having a chicken coop sale.  My coop at home is four years old and was handmade by my sons when they were in high school/college.  It served it's purpose but was far from efficient or insulated or predator safe.  And there were no roosting poles in it.

We only have four hens and this winter, because it was so cold and so snowy, we had to bring them in to the house/shed multiple times. (More times than I care to remember).

Hubby and I had discussed getting one and I had just started to save some money for spring so this sale came at a perfect time and I bought one!  It is a four square chicken coop.

I think the hens and I will be much happier in this beauty.

Friends who live close, feel free to stop by and visit my new toy! 

We interrupt this regularly scheduled program.....

....to bring you my great news!  I got a new chicken coop today.  Big Sale at the local Agway.  Now I won't have to bring my ladies in to the shed or the house when it is cold outside in winter. 

My son has to put it together but it seems easy enough. 

I was supposed to do banking on my lunch hour today...oh well...I'll save that for tomorrow.  Getting the coop was definitely more important!!! and fun!!!!

Foursquare

We will now resume our regularly scheduled program......

Coop pictures - edited to add pictures

Pictures of the coop taken from the patio.

One of the boxes where the chickens stay at night - they have plenty of room......

The hens coming out of the coop at about 10:00 am this morning.  Hubby had put them back into their coop at about 6:30 this morning after their evening in the house.

Jumping over their boxes to come on the patio and eat the cat food.  I had to shoo them back to the yard. There will be too much poo on the patio if we let them hang out with us......It is going get up to be 20 degrees here today, and tonight it is getting down to (-2) again.....I know it is worse north of here and west of here, but these temps are pretty bad for right HERE!

These are the two boxes with the hens in them taken in at 10:00 pm for the night - it is about 10 degrees right now and is going down to below zero.....But the hens are happy!

Chickens in the Kitchen

And I don't mean in the fridge or in the oven!!!!

We just brought the hens into the kitchen.  They are in large cardboard boxes so with plenty of fresh hay on the bottom so they can't get out and walk around.  Temperatures are going below zero tonight.  I believe it will be -2 tonight and possibly colder tomorrow night!  There is no path through all the snow to the shed (where I would prefer to keep them!).  So, they will be in the kitchen each evening for a few nights until these temperatures start to warm up a little bit.....God Bless my husband and kids because they don't care if there are chickens in the kitchen....but I think the family would prefer them in a pot on the stove or in the oven!!!!  Oh well....

Hens on the Mend

We spent the weekend integrating the hens a little better. We kept some in the coop and some in a box (shelter) outside the coop, then we switched it up, then we let them all free range together.  My hubby stood outside for hours (literally), with stick in hand and showed who was top of the line pecking order (him!). 

I think we have finally got them integrated where, although, they don't hang out together, they won't peck each other to death! 

The Silver Wyandotte's head is healing very nicely. 

It is partially my fault that one of my hens died.  I should have known better. I have been integrating hens for a long time and usually there is a considerable amount of flapping of wings, pecking, and showing who is boss.  I have never had such an aggressive hen as the one I got from my dad.  I saw this hen every day over at his home for the past 10 months and had never seen aggression in it.  But it just didn't take too kindly to a silver hen (it looked different) and to a weak hen (the weakest link) and survivor of the fittest obviously took over.

So we kept them all in two separate boxes last night - it was about 12 degrees and I put them all out this morning to free range at 6:30 - in the dark.  And there was not one squawk!

I am praying for the peace to continue!

New Hen Update

I took the two hens outside this morning (the ones that we have been keeping away from the flock), but unfortunately, one had died during the night.  The one who couldn't see out of one eye.....I am pissed about it because I did the nice thing and took on two additional hens and then I lost one of my good ones....but it is what it is and I took it to the woods and put her there.  The ground is frozen, so I couldn't bury her. 

I am down to four one year olds (in March) and only one egg yesterday.....

Update on the Hen House

The two hens that we took from my dad are the top of the line pecking order....and for some reason, they are typical "MEAN GIRLS" and have decided to hurt two of my three hens.  One of mine, the silver laced wyandotte, was bleeding from the head.  They were pecking (picking) on her quite badly while we were at work yesterday.  Another of my hens cannot walk good, we thought she must have done something to her foot, to avoid being pecked by the mean girls.  However, on closer inspection, they pecked at her eye and she can not see, so her foot is fine.  She cannot walk good, because she can't see where she is going!!!  And the last of my hens, gets along famously with the new girls....I can't figure it out.  We kept the two hurt hens in the house last night (they have a special box). 

As of now, we have separated the two hens who are hurt.  I put them outside this morning and they can all see each other and be with each other through the chicken wire. 

But I don't know what is going to happen once the snow flies tomorrow. 

I really don't need this aggravation, but I am getting four to five eggs a day...so I guess I will deal with it!!! :)

Changes in the Hen House

A lot has been going on in the hen house.....First of all, we have got rid of our two older hens (almost three years old) to a farm in Southbury.  We have taken on two of my dad's hens (both under a year old). 

My dad had to get rid of his four chickens for various reasons, so we took my two old ones (red crosses), one of his old ones (a beautiful blue Plymouth Rock) and one of his new black sex links to Southbury. 

Right now I have four black sex links and one silver Laced Wyandotte.....it was bedlam in the coop this morning.  The pecking order was a little crazy.  Suffice it to say, no one was happy...not my chickens or the new ones.  The new ones actually got out of the yard after I had let them out to free range.  So, I put them all back in the coop and my son is going to watch out for them a little later on this morning. 

Who knows what I'm going to find when I get home tonight!

9 Degrees

Our temperature here in CT is supposed to get down to 9 degrees overnight tonight.  That means tonight will be the first night that I have to put the hens into the shed.  Our coop is really only a  three season coop and when the temperature gets under 18, I put the hens in a big box and carry it to the shed for overnight. 

I have a feeling this is going to be the first of many, many nights that the hens stay in the shed this winter!!!!