Speaking of this week's weather (minus the hot tub)...

Lazy bums!

I'm quite peeved right now.

Of 28 laying girls I'm lucky to be getting a dozen eggs a day. Yesterday I got ten and today isn't looking any better, despite the main flock having been locked in their coop and run (no free-ranging) today as a test. It's pathetic.

46 chickens:
5 roosters,
4 chicks,
9 girls too young to lay yet,
and the rest on welfare!

Anyone else having a dry spell lately or am I just unlucky? :-/

-Technodoll aka Frustrated, Egg-less Mama Hen

The chickens know

Happiness is never stopping to think if you are.

~Palmer Sondreal

a-HAH!

I knew it!

Some of the girls have been laying eggs in secret (yet undisclosed) places since they've been free-ranging - grrr!

I got suspicious when the daily egg collection
dwindled down to about this:

Yep, a dozen eggs for over twenty laying hens - not normal!

I figured ok, a couple were molting, a couple were broody or coming off broodiness, a couple stopped laying for no apparent reason whatsoever... but come on, it's ridiculous - where the heck are those eggs?

This morning I found a hen in the garage, nesting in an empty box. I picked her up and brought her to the coop. Five minutes later she was back in the garage, trying to get comfortable in another corner - on a cement floor! Back to the coop and into a nesting box. The third time I caught her in the garage, I secured her in one of the chicken condos and not five minutes later - bam, a big perfect egg.

Gooaahhhh! What am I going to do?

Short of locking them all up just to get a few more eggs per day, there's nothing much I *can* do. I've searched high and low for those missing hen fruit but nada. Thems good hiders!

Ah well. Eggs are supposed to be a side-benefit to owning a big flock of sweet birds, not the main purpose. It's end of summer, soon cold winter will settle in and there will be plenty of time to collect eggs while we all wait impatiently for spring to arrive.

For now they have the run of the land and my blessing to go with it.

I love my (stubborn)(adventurous) girls!

-Technodoll aka Columbus Mama Hen

Oh dear!

Of course you want some!

Everyone should have a few chickens as pets.

Seriously!

Even city dwellers with tiny back yards should have access to a couple of hens - did you know that many cities and suburbs allow you to keep a few as pets? You should totally check it out, you may be in a lucky zoning and be able to discover the joy of chickens!

They offer you:

• fresh healthy eggs
• pest and weed control
• excellent fertilizer
• hours of entertainment
• chatty, personable pets
• great subject of conversation
• excellent for kids
• chicks are sooo sweet
• easy and inexpensive to keep
• etc, etc

The only problem is they're quite addictive, you start with just a few and end up with a bunch... a big bunch... :-D

Speaking of which, I may be due to add a couple of girls to the flock soon.

He he!

-Technodoll aka Addicted Chicken Mama

C'est moi :-)

Photo taken by my husband Vegas last spring...

Or was it autumn, judging by the leaves on the grass!
Oh, how times flies.
Live now, love now.
Peace :-)

The coop's been quiet!

I can't seem to find any funny dramas to write about lately...

The girls have been behaving, everyone's happy and healthy (hurrah!), I still have a little roo to re-home but nobody wants him, egg production could be better but isn't too shabby - I'm convinced some girls are laying under a bush somewhere though, since they've been free-ranging a couple of my best layers have mysteriously "stopped" laying... hmmm!

Warm summer days.

Gotta love 'em!

Weekend cluckles

No dramas, but...

...Hmmm.

At least one of the four chicks I hatched July 18th and kept hoping they were all girls is a boy. With my luck I'll end up with three boys and only one girl!

Oh goodness, please not again - I'm just cursed that way.

*need good girl hen vibes, peeps!*

This weekend we're going to an agricultural fair that's a couple towns over, hope to see lots of sweet chickens!

I'll take pics :-)

-Technodoll aka Testosterone Magnet Mama Hen

The possy, part II

They wait.

They plan.

Then they pounce! and follow!

I do love their sweet intentions though...

-Technodoll aka Treat Machine Mama Hen

The possy

Our girls run this neighborhood.
Chicken Mafia-style:

Sometimes they like to leave us little "presents" on the front steps.

Mostly though, they just want to know we're OK
and that they're watching out for us.

Chickens ROCK!

Sunday cluckles

Gotta love a new layer!

A few days ago one of our young girls, Molly, surprised us with a lovely egg!

And then another, and then another :-)

It's a pretty amazing feat at only 18 weeks of age, I'm just thrilled. She was part of my first incubation ever last spring, an experience of sorts to see if I could create an olive egg-layer from a regular brown egg-layer and a rooster that carried the blue/green egg gene.

Judge the result for yourself!

Molly has two sisters from the same hatch,
can't wait for them to start laying too...
Crossing fingers for more lovely olive eggs!

I'll have to post a pic of the different shades of green eggs the girls are laying... One of them is molting right now so no laying for a while, and the other one isn't laying for who-knows-what reason. Old age?

Ah well... It'll happen when it'll happen!

-Technodoll aka Proud Mama Hen

My friend the chicken

A good friend is cheaper than therapy.
~Author Unknown

You want a towel with that?

My girls are crazy.

Well, the boys too.

It's been pouring the past two days and what do the chickens do?

They stay out and take a shower. Yep. Ever seen a soaked chicken? It tends to lose some of its charms - the silkies, for example, look like drowned kittens! Silly birds.

OK I admit, it's really warm rain - almost tropical.

And the buffet of earthworms and other assorted bugs crawling all over the green lawn trying to escape the flood must be irresistible - mmm. Free snacks galore.

Maybe they have a point after all!

-Technodoll aka Soaked Mama Hen

Monday cluckles

We're freeeee!

Yep, it's that wonderful time of year again when the big girls get to break free of their luxurious living quarters to have free run of our yard until snowfall - go on sweeties, dig through those gardens for mama, hunt those bugs down! Eat all the greens you want! Woo!

They don't venture too far from their home though:

Happy hens :)

In other news I re-homed four babies yesterday (two sulkie roos and a bantam cochin pair), they went to a wonderful home so I'm very pleased for them - and for us, too, since that opens up more space and care-time for the rest of the flock.

Lacey, our remaining white silkie roo, is also going to a new home on Tuesday... We love him and he's a perfect little boy except for his horrendous screechy crow which is driving both us and the neighbors mad with stress. Sigh.

Ta for now!

-Technodoll aka Responsible Chicken Mama