Saturday, November 10, 2012

Coop done and HOLLY CRAP!

Another Chicken Post!

This is the day I was able to complete the addition to the Chicken coop. Added a second door on the back and installed the new nesting boxes. And cleaned the old bedding out and put in new.

OK, so it's not pretty. But it works. All made from recycled wood!

Both doors opened and one of the "Comets" checking out the new space.

The new Nesting Boxes. 3 milk crates and 2 office boxes on top. Lined with a sheet of cardboard to help ho;d the bedding in.

And installed in in the coop. New bedding in place.

All cleaned out and new bedding in place.

One of the "GC's and "RIR's doing an inspection! The area to the right is where they have been laying Eggs, If they decide to lay in the coop.

And the fruits of their labors.

Small, Medium, Large and .....

HOLLY CRAP! I have gotten one of the Extra Large Eggs every day! Bet they are Double Yokes!

A surprise in each one!
With the 10 I got yesterday and 9 more today, That makes 447 Eggs so far!

God I love my Chickens!
Tom

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Egg Update

Hey,
As you all know, I was working on a coop addition before "Sandy" came in last week. Thursday was the last nice day we had, Temps in the 70's and lots of sunshine. I got the addition closed up and the Chickens now have more room inside. I also started working on a new set of nesting boxes that I just finished today. I used 5 mike crates (3 on the bottom and 2 on top), lined them with some cardboard and wire tied (is there anything you can not wire tie in place? I think not!) a roost board across the front to help keep them from kicking a lot of the bedding out. I will place a 2 X4 under the front edge so Eggs will not roll out.

But the real reason for this post was to give you a update on Egg Production. The Ladies started to lay steady in the first week of August and as of today, they have produces 423 EGGS! This from 12 Hens! At least I will not go hungry! This morning when I got home from work I scrambled 3 Eggs with Han, Onions and Cheese and popped it into the microwave for a bit ,that and a couple slices of toast was breakfast.

As you can tell the Chickens are doing well and I have to smile at their daily retinue. One of the BLH's has taken to laying her Egg on the front porch right in front of Annie (I call  her "The Porch Queen") and she lets the whole  world know when she lays an Egg!  And when I go collect that Egg each day She stands in the yard and cusses me out! Well today, She was making all kinds of racket and I though that Annie had gotten to close. But another one of the BLH's had gotten it into her head that she wanted to nest in TPQ's spot and Queenie was standing on the other birds back, Raising all kinds of hell! Silly Chickens! When I went out later, there was another Egg in her spot. That gave me 9 for today.

The other day Terri was out with the dogs and called me over to one of her flower bed and showed me a clutch of 17 Eggs, Most of them were white (from the two RIR's). I took them into the house and tested them for freshness and put them in the fridge.

And to talk about "Sandy", She came in with a Bang! Lots of rain and wind! And she also brought cold temps with her! Today we are getting more rain and the high hit 44! Tonight is suppose to drop into the lower 30's. There was ice on the water containers the other day and frost on the truck windows. I think that "Summer" is really gone and I'm already tired of the cold!

Tom