22 weeks and counting...

Egg Watch 2012 has officially begun. 

Now that I'm a bit more seasoned in raising chickens, I didn't think I'd get so excited for the new girls to start laying. I'm not hanging around and giving them performance anxiety like I did with our original hens, but I'm still out there more than usual. Chickens typically start laying anywhere between four to six months and our older girls all started laying at 22 weeks. It could be several weeks still but I'm thinking my sweet Francie (yes, she is supposed to look like that - she is a naked neck) may start laying soon since she's been spending a lot of time around the nesting boxes. Anytime now chickies...we need more eggs.

2/7/11 Update: It looks like the chickens got the message because I found these in one of the nesting boxes today:

The light green egg on the right is Lucy's and the little brown egg on the left is from one of the new girls. I'm thinking it's from Minnie because her comb and waddles are super red today. I am a proud chicken mama!

One Little Egg...

I found an egg in the coop today. An egg!! We have six chickens (only three are mature enough to lay) and haven't seen any eggs in a few months. I about flipped when I saw this baby and of course had to run inside and take a picture of it. (Crazy chicken lady, I know). 

The hens all molted at the end of summer and with the shortened day light hours, they just haven't been producing. Hens generally need 12-14 hours of light to produce and lay eggs and they are only getting about 10 or so. We'll be putting a light in their coop this weekend set on a timer to turn on at 4am. Hopefully that will entice the girls to start getting back to business. It's either that or we'll be having some really good chicken dinners soon. Totally kidding.

 Egg Watch 2012 will be starting soon as the newest additions will be getting ready to start laying in just a couple of months. Thank goodness - we need some eggs here, chickens!

This is new to us as our hens were in their egg laying prime last fall and barely decreased in their production. Those of you with chickens, do you notice a huge decrease in egg production during winter/fall? If so, do you let the girls rest or supplement with light? Would love to hear your experiences and how you handle things.

Three Different Colors!

Do you see these eggs? Notice that they are three different colors! Do you know what that means? It means that Effie, who hasn't laid an egg since she started molting last September, is laying eggs again. I'm so stinking happy about this. I have no intentions of eating my chickens (they have names!), even when they stop laying. However, I was not happy about the fact that Effie may live another 6-7 years without producing anything for us. So stoked to see her pretty blue eggs again.

It also means that Flo is laying eggs in the coop again. I posted a few weeks back that we couldn't find her eggs. Last week I was in the coop and saw both Effie and Flo in their nesting boxes. Effie popped out, walked over to Flo and proceeded to peck the crap out of her until Flo flew the coop so to speak. I'm guessing this is why Flo started laying other places. She now waits until Effie is out of the way and busy in another part of the yard before she lays in the coop. Now we know who's on top of the pecking order. We've got eggs coming out of our ears again and it's definitely a good thing.

We've got lettuce coming out of our ears too and I have the cutest little helper who likes to pick it with me.

I don't even eat eggs.

Yet I'm completely obsessed with collecting them everyday. I thought I'd get over the excitement but now that all four of my girls are laying, I pop into their coop several times a day (poor chickens) to see if they've left us anything.

I check on them first thing in the morning and I either find this:

or this:

Poor Flo. She's the only chicken that sits in the nesting box sideways and always looks so awkward in there. Anyhow, once I collect the eggs, I put them in a little bowl on the counter until I have enough to wash. To wash or not to wash fresh eggs is the big debate with chicken owners. I'm a washer.

Then I take them and arrange them so I can take pretty pictures. I seriously need to get a life, right? I don't really do this that often...just once in a while ;)

Then I give them a little wash, stick them in the carton, and put them in the fridge. Fresh eggs can stay out for quite a while but since I live in the desert and it's ridiculously hot, I refridgerate them after a few days.

We are getting four eggs a day and I don't even eat them. The only time I eat eggs is if they are scrambled into a savory fried rice or in the breakfast quesadilla from Liberty Market. I've promised myself that I will try to be more open to giving them a try. We'll see.

One last note...I promise that this is not going to be just a chicken blog. I'll post about the girls only occasionally once the novelty of this whole chicken/egg thing wears off. I guess there's a chance that it won't wear off and I'll become a crazy chicken lady which is entirely possible. Let's hope not. Right now though, I'm absolutely loving it and you are all stuck reading about it.