blue egg : cracked

We got our first blue egg!!!
Ark Boy found it...

 

... and cracked it :(
That wouldn't have been so bad except he's so well practiced in the ways of green (like insisting that when he pees in any toilet - even public ones - that we don't flush!) that he promptly brought the egg to the compost.
Ren Man was sad. This cracked egg was still edible.
Oh well.
More have since come.
We think only one of the aracauna's are laying so far.

 

We started keeping track of how many eggs we were getting since the middle of October.
We're up to 50.
And it hasn't been too many!
We gave 1/2 a dozen to a neighbor who we've only given one 1/2 dozen to before.
We definitely haven't given away as many as we'd hoped - not for lack of wanting, for lack of production.
And now Ren Man wants a dozen and some bourbon to do some aged eggnog for a holiday party...

"baby" chickens

I recently posted on facebook that our baby chickens have started laying (and followed that up with pictures).
Someone recently said: "wow! I saw your fb status - I didn't know baby chickens lay eggs!"
Hmmm.... well, baby chickens don't lay eggs - our baby chickens have started laying ... meaning the youngest addtions to our flock.
No, they aren't chicks any more.
They've been busy growing all summer.
We brought them in to Ark Boy's preschool class when they were new-ish last spring and then we recently brought 2 back in to show the class how much they've grown. I didn't realize how big they had become until then.

This is one of the original birds - Dixie - and the top of the pecking order.

 

The other original bird, Lulu - she's our lazy layer and I think we should cull her but surprisingly Ren Man is not on board with culling her.

 

And the not-so-baby babies:
This is Dippy or O'Rien - we have two easter eggers that are identical so we can't tell them apart... we also didn't try very hard to make sure we distinguished them from chicks. They looked like chipmunks when they were chicks :)

 

And there's all four "babies" with Luna in the front, Soleil behind her, and the Dippy/O'Rien, and furthest back another Dippy/O'Rien.

 

Having chickens is the best! I can't wait to have a huge flock next year!
In the meantime Ren Man suspects Luna was the small egg layer and she is now molting so the egg production will slow down for the winter. I hear though that Orpingtons (Soleil) lay just as frequently in winter. We'll see...

pantry

Our "baby" chickens have started laying. At least one of them has. I would guess Soleil (our buff orpington) because A)the eggs are typical in color (so that rules out the americanas) and B) she's the biggest of the babies. Here's an egg comparison: the smallest is the baby egg, the roundest is Dixie's (the Rhode Island White) and the longest is Lulu's (the Rhode Island Red).

 

And half of our apple stash from Vaillancourt Orchard in North West Vermont. These have since been turned into delicious apple butter. Yum!

 

I said we've been getting into canning. Below is our current stash of canned yumminess. These are the jams - plum made at home, plum/peach made with a friend, and peach made with said friend.

 

And then most of below is courtesy of Ren Man (because I have to share the fun some). He's done beets and most of the tomatos shown below.

 

I have been talked out of canning more tomatoes. I missed them so much last year and don't want to go without again this winter! Ren Man pointed out that his mom canned sooooo many tomatoes this year that there is PLENTY. But that means canning is done which is disapointing.

chicks? What chicks?

We're taking a house-plan detour... more details to come...
In the meantime here are our chickens!!

 

 

 

The above chicken is actually one of the original flock. She's welcomed the chicks with little to no trouble so that's why she's photographed because she was up with them, curious about what the excitement was about.

 

The "Babies" have gotten more friendly now that they've realized food is included when the run to us :) The "Big Girls" always come running!

chicken-not-so-little

The babies are out in the run.
Dixie does not approve so Dixie does not go in the run with them... much.
Lulu doesn't care either way.
So the babies have an area of the coop fenced off for them and then are only in the run with the big girls with supervision.
For the most part they have seperate visiting rights to the run.

 

 

Sometimes when we know we'll be out for a couple hours the big girls run loose in the lower yard.
Unfortunately they seem intent on scratching in the recently seeded half of the lower yard.
Ark Boy got lots of practicing catching and carrying the big girls back to the established grassy side of the yard.

 

Can't decide if I'm more proud of the budding chicken keeper or the patient chicken.

Chick Fuzz

The chicks are growing!
And this was from last weekend - woo! - you should see them now!!

 

They are so funny with their half-feathered look. I can't wait to get them outside with the big chickens!

 

Ark Boy still loves Luna!

 

Ren Man set up a perch for the birds and so far all four can fit up there - sometimes they don't let one up... they are figuring out their pecking order. It's not always the same bird so I don't think they have it figured out yet.

 

And in case you think I have forgotten about the "big" girls - here's Dixie and Lulu- they're walking in step - so funny. I'm so curious about their reaction to the youngers.

Getting Cozy with the chicks- edit

Just introducing our "get social" protocol for new chicks

 

 

 

 

I'm so impressed with both kids. Ark Boy is happy to hold the chicks (and the chicks are thankfully quick to cheep when they are being held a little too tight) and Farm Girl is a little nervous about holding them, but also gentle when she works up the nerve.

Adding to the flock

We were hmming and haaing about getting more chicks.
We debated processing the two remaining chickens in the fall or possibly giving them to a willing friend.
Ren Man doesn't want to bring them with us next year.
Thinking about it more I thought it might make sense to keep the flock we have so it's one less thing on the to-do list immediately after (during?) the move, considering the house building project and all.
So that's the plan, or so I thought.
Ren Man started making noises today about ordering chicks next year.
Either way- I tracked down some Ameraucana from craigslist.
I wanted these so so bad because they lay green/blue eggs.
Ren Man wanted buff orpingtons (docile and he thinks their pretty - I don't).
The person we got them from also had some barred rocks which we both like.
So in the end:

One orp, one barred, and two ameraucanas.
These are sexed, last year we did 6 straight runs and ended up with thee roos so we're excited to know that we have three hens.

Their names are Luna, Soleil, Dippy, and O'Rien.
I realize next year we will not be able to name the new additions because I assume we'll get at least 25 and that's just too many names to keep straight!
Sad, but true.

This is Luna, the barred.

It's a fun tradition, it seems, that started last year. Right before Ark Boy's birthday, May 5, we get chicks. We (I?) plan to hang out with these ones as much as we hung with the chicks last year because our flock of two are very tame and so social. I like to take credit for that.