Diana's Desginer Hens
November 24, 2008
Okay, My news may not be as significant as the election results, but I was really, really, excited!!! The golden egg arrived on September 8, 2008!!! Robin, one of the Americauna hens, laid a beautiful, TINY, green egg!!!! It was awesome! She laid it in the corner on the floor in a scooped out nest in the henhouse. Then she proceeded to lay on the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, and on the 13th she switched to the laying box Doug mounted on the wall!!! What a girl. On the 15th Happyfeet, the Black Austrolorp, laid a cute little light brown egg (in the box as demonstrated to her by Robin). By the end of September 5 hens were laying, including one of the Golden Polish, the girls with the crazy hairdos. Total eggs for September, 48.
By the end of October 7 hens a-laying! Total eggs for October 165!!!! Now the eggs are normal egg size, and in fact, we have had 3 giant double yokers, all thanks to Robin!! All of the girls but two are using the laying box. The lovely nest in the corner Robin used for egg number 1 is still used by Big Mama and Thelma. As of today, 11 out of 18 of the hens are laying. The Golden Polish laid 4 eggs and then retired for the winter. It is too much work keeping her hairdo up and laying eggs at the same time, I guess! So the three Golden Polish are not laying (we knew from our research that they may never lay...they are just cute), and the 4 Speckled Sussex have not started laying, so I do not expect them to start until spring. But as you can see below, the variety of egg colors makes every day Easter at the henhouse!!!
The garden greens the girls have been feasting on since chickhood are almost gone, so to keep their veggie quota up, they now get supervised outings. They get such a kick out of cruising around searching for fat beetles to munch and eating our chem-free "lawn"!!! There are areas where dirt shows through, and they all scratch and peck there hunting for worms and other yummy bugs! They are very sweet girls, and when it is time to go back in their yard all I do is have a plastic bag of treats such as bread, fruit, etc. and they come a running'!
To keep the girls comfortable and laying for the winter, Doug fixed up a light that comes on at 5:30am to 7:30am to give them a few more hours of light. There is a space heater in the henhouse that kicks on at 40 degrees. The henhouse is very well insulated and 18 big fat hens give off a lot of heat. The heater hasn't kicked on yet! For winter, they get a can of cracked corn (organic of course) thrown into the yard every morning. We save any left-overs that are appropriate as well. They love all fruits, breads, steamed veggies, HATE beans, thank you very much! I also have Timothy hay and give them a flake now and then to keep them busy scratching and pecking. I really have learned by watching these interesting girls that they are very much like dogs and people. They never fight or argue and are happy most of the time because they have sufficient food, shelter and space, loving attention, and something to keep them busy most of the time. And of course, day trips are just icing on the cake!
More Later. Diana