Demeter's First Egg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

... There it is, as beautiful as you imagined it would be! The first egg has finally arrived!"

 Quote from Jenna Woginrich's book: Chick Days

The girls have been acting strange all day running around clucking, pulling hay out of the nesting box and jumping in and out, in and out.
And then later that day...
Seamus comes running into the house screaming "THE CHICKENS LAYED AN EGG, THE CHICKENS LAYED AN EGG. We run outside and there in the chicken coop is one beautiful egg.

Poll

And the Winner from the poll (If you got a chicken what type of chicken would you get?) is...                                                       Rhode Island Reds!!!

                       

Pic's of the Gals'

This picture totally Cracks me up :D

                                 Papagena Posing for the Camera
  (you can tell in this picture that Papagena's wattle and crown haven't totally finished growing)

                                            Exploring:

Building the Coop

My Dad, Grandpa and Brother were able to get most of the frame up for the chicken coop.
The whole coop is 5.5x14ft. The coop part is 5.5x7.3 ft.


                                                From the Front...

                                               ...And from the back.  

                                               Already exploring the chicken coop

Chickens

I have decided that If we are going to have more chickens we should get tons of different breeds. The few I have picked out are listed below....

The chickens Below are(in order from top to bottom) 

Ameraucana

Dominique

Leghorn (White)    Welsummer      Wyandotte

                                                                                              

And a little bit about the breeds below (curtsy of My Pet Chicken Website) Ameraucana The Ameraucana breed was derived from blue egg laying chickens, but they do not have the breeding problems inherent to Araucanas. In addition, rather than ear tufts, they have muffs and a beard, and are very hardy and sweet. They lay eggs in shades of blue, and even have blue (or "slate") legs. Less rare than Araucanas, they are still quite rare and only available through breeders at this time. They should not be confused with Easter Eggers, which can lay blue and green eggs, and do not conform to any breed standard. However, many hatcheries continue to call their Easter Eggers "Americanas" (and other various misspellings).     Dominique

Dominiques are considered a "heritage" breed of chicken in that they've been around for hundreds of years and are now critically endangered. Some people can't tell the difference between a Dominique and a Barred Rock, but the trained eye will notice that Dominques have a rose comb versus the Barred Rock's single comb. Dominques are a wonderfully cold-hardy dual-purpose bird, and hens make very caring, nurturing mothers. Leghorn (White) Remember Foghorn Leghorn the cartoon? Yep, this bird one and the same. (Seasoned pros know that Leghorn is pronounced "Leggern".) The White is separate from the rest because they lay large, white eggs practically every day! Other varieties aren't nearly so prolific. Whites are said to be nervous, but ours have been the sweetest, most tame of all our chickens! So give one a try and find out for yourself. (In winter, use petroleum jelly on the comb to prevent frostbite.) Welsummer The Welsummer is a beautiful breed from Holland famous for its deep reddish brown egg color. Many of the eggs are also speckled! Hens are a nicely proportioned partridge pattern, with hints of gold around the neck, medium brown on the body and tail feathers tipped with a rich brown, while males are the stereotypical vision people have of roosters. They're the rooster portrayed on the cornflakes box, and their colors are stunning. Welsummers are good foragers meaning you'll save on feed if you allow them to range freely! Wyandotte Wyandottes are a favorite amongst backyard flock owners for their dependable egg laying, easygoing nature, hardiness, and the great variety of beautiful feather patterns available. Silver Penciled, Golden Laced, Blue, Columbian and White Wyandottes are all rather rare.

Introductions...

We are trying to introduce Figaro to Demeter and Papagena. And to make sure that everything goes 'swimmingly' we have a water gun and the hose.  

AFTER.

I have to say Figaro has done nothing to make me trust him with the Demeter and Papagena.

after hanging out on the deck he sprinted down and when he was 5-8ft away from the chickens the kids sprayed the water gun and hose, and Figaro bounded off into the forest. The problem with that is I don't know what Figaro would've done if he had gotten closer. I guess that means the 'Introduction' is not over yet.

Zoë 

 

If you got a chicken what breed would you get?

The breeds or arranged in alphabetical order, there is no 'right' answer!
Also, there are many more breeds of chickens (obviously!) I just picked a few that I know are friendly :)
Below you can find out the characteristics of each breed.


Ameraucana




http://www.mypetchicken.com/chicken-breeds/Ameraucana-B5.aspx




Orpington




http://www.mypetchicken.com/chicken-breeds/Orpington-B80.aspx




Plymouth Rock


http://www.mypetchicken.com/chicken-breeds/Plymouth-Rock-B85.aspx




Rhode Island Red


http://www.mypetchicken.com/chicken-breeds/Rhode-Island-B97.aspx


Silkie Bantam 


http://www.mypetchicken.com/chicken-breeds/Silkie-Bantam-B100.aspx


Have Fun!
Zoë

Medly's Grave

I should have posted this a while ago...

Zoë

The Girls. From Chicks to Now

                                                    MEDIO POLLITO 
                                April 20 - June 26

                                                 

PAPAGENA 

April 20...

DEMETER

 April 20...

Zoë

Big Changes

My plan with having chickens had been to have at most 4 hens to have as pets and also to get some eggs from.  

Well, this plan has totally went down the drain, for good or for bad, I will find out in a few months.

Your probably thinking What is she talking about? or What changed her mind?

It changed with a few words from Grant:  "If your going to have chickens you might as well have enough  so we won't have to go to the grocery store to buy eggs".

So now I am going to get 6-8  hens ;) and maybe in the summer get 2 meat chickens.

The one main problem with that at the time was, Where am I going to find a chicken coop plan for up to 8 chickens? (the chicken coop I had bought plans for would only fit up to 4 chickens)

The answer came with the website BackYardChickens   http://www.backyardchickens.com/   

On BYC, users had sent in chicken coop designs and I found a design I liked: 
http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=10708 


Time to go and find materials and level out the ground!!!


Zoë