I have a mixed flock. Easter eggers, partridge rocks, naked necks, russian orloffs, mutts of my own creation, prairie bluebell and copper maran babies. Raccoons have taken a toll this year, so I'm down to 26 adult birds and the16 chicks that are still in the brooder. I don't generally use egg cartons, so I just have a picture of 12 of the eggs that I gathered this morning. If that isn't acceptable, I understand :)
My hens. I currently have 9, plus a gorgeous black breasted red Cubalaya roo as their able protector. Well, not exactly able vs the damn raccoons, but we manage.
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One broody hen. Another Cubalaya.
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Growling in protest as I pick her up, I find three eggs.
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The three I just harvested, plus the rest from this week. There, twelve. Or so.
Determining the difference between Bockings 4 and 14 is done by consensus. It's like trying to identify the difference between twins.
"There are other spots on the web to get my fix proving someone is an idiot but no other place for what I get here." -- former permie Brice Moss, 2012.
We have 12 hens and one rooster who are kept in a coop at night and free range all over our farm during the day. Our oldest hens are now six years old, and still giving us eggs, if not as often as the younger hens. Our hens are gold and silver laced wyandottes, buff orpingtons, one easter-egger, and our rooster is the grandson of our original roo, crossed with our friends flock and then returned to us. Gold wyandottes are the most successful members of our flock at brooding chicks for the next generation. Our easter egger is the smallest hen, but she lays the biggest eggs!
Completing this BB with my quail. I have 8 hens and 1 rooster. They are my first livestock (if you don’t count the pet rabbit/composter) and I’ve had them for three months. I love them, but they smell. Two males had to be culled, one being my first slaughter. I learned a lot from him.
One of my girls is molting right now so I only get 7 eggs a day, but it’s more than our family eats at the moment.
I collected a dozen eggs from our small backyard flock. We have a couple Barred Rocks, 3 reds, and two pullets that have not started laying. I get 3-5 eggs per day, so it takes 3 days to get a dozen.
Photos are:
- a hen peeking out of the nest box,
- eggs in the nest,
- and my basket from a day's gathering, next to a dozen collected on previous days.
I have 2 young hens, Paloma and Águila, who both started laying a few weeks ago. When I got them in spring earlier this year (together with Santos, the cockerel), they were so weak and easily scared, but they've grown to become rather fierce ladies who have yet to decide who's boss :D For now, I keep them in a pen, but I would like to switch to free ranging. It's interesting to have them in the pen though, because it's the first time that I have full responsibility over a chicken's health and wellbeing. I spend a lot of time observing them and I have learned a lot already. Wonderful, inquisitive little dinosaurs!
With just 2 hens, it obviously took a couple of days to get to a dozen eggs.
Normally I don't write the dates on them but I did it for this BB to keep track of the batches :)