Our babies are growing up...

Golden Wyandotte, Dominique, Black Jersey Giant

Hard to believe that this is the same group, 6 weeks later!  It's easy to tell which is which now.

They've graduated from the cardboard box to Sunny's crate and now to the small outside coop.  The introduction to the existing flock has been pretty painless, so I think we'll try them overnight in the big coop tonight.  We still keep a close eye on them when they're out of the coop - fast as they are, a hawk would certainly be able to catch and kill them with little trouble.

If these were commercial chickens they'd be ready to start laying.  As it is, it will be another 4-5 months before we see our first egg.  No problem; the others are still going strong.

The whole flock

World's Cutest Little Egg

At this point in our chicken-raising careers we have seen a lot of eggs.  But we have never seen one this small!!

We think it came from our German Spitzhauben, whom we call Kaiser Wilhelmina, only because she's the smallest of the 3 younger chickens and seems more immature.  Goofy, even.  We can't really tell because all 3 of them lay white eggs with a pinkish/tan cast.

We were just amazed by this tiny egg and haven't brought ourselves to cook it yet.  It won't even make a mouthful!  Of course, it might be just right for me since I don't like eggs all that well.

For now, we're keeping it in the basket with our rotating collection of tan, white, and green eggs - our kitchen still life.

New egg!

Two batches of homemade eggnog this holiday season plus the homecoming of our 5 children really depleted our egg reserves!  Fortunately, one of our newest chicks - we believe it's the lavender orpington - surprised us with her first egg this morning.  What a cute little egg it is, so small compared to the brown one from Bucky and the blue one from Goose, and pink!

We were surprised to have an egg from one of them now because we didn't expect them to start laying until at least January and possibly not until February.  It seems that orpingtons are a relatively fast-maturing breed (good to know).

We've learned that 3 laying hens is about right to keep us in eggs for ourselves and our guests with a nice reserve for cakes and other goodies.  When the other 2 start laying - and I guess they will soon enough - we'll be overflowing, but that's a good problem to have.  Sadly, chicken attrition can happen without warning.

R.I.P., Mimique

Mimique 8-9-2010

9-14-2010

Sadly, when we returned to the B&F after our amazing vacation in Africa, we learned that Mimique had a paralyzed leg and was basically unable to move.  Three days later, she was dead.  We don't know what caused her death although she was found on the ground under the roost, next to a broken egg.  Going on 3 years old, Mimique was laying larger and larger eggs and a google search revealed that sometimes a very large egg can cause paralysis.  Maybe that was it.

We are very sad for our little amputee dominique.  She was a pretty, gentle hen and the head chicken of the flock.  We planted a memorial "Rosy Glow" barberry bush in our backyard and held a small burial ceremony for her.  RIP

There are two silver linings to this otherwise unhappy story.  First, Mimique was the first of our chickens to die of natural causes.  Yay for us.  Second, I now feel justified in buying some new chicks.  Chipmunk is the same age as Mimique and although she could live for another year or two (or more), we will want to make sure that we have enough laying hens to keep us in eggs for our guests.  So we have three day-old chicks arriving on Aug. 19 -  rare breeds, and hopefully including a Jersey giant and another dominique.

Head of the flock

Laying an egg

Future egglayers of the B&F

Picked up 3 new baby Buckeyes on Tuesday from Meyer Hatchery.  All survived the first night (not the case the last time) so I think we're home free for awhile, knock wood.  As always, they're just as cute as they can be.

In other chicken news, our 2 older hens, Chipmunk and Mimique, are molting and so all egg-laying is off for now.  They look awful.  Our other Buckeye, who is about 5-1/2 months now, has yet to lay her first egg but it should be soon.  In the meantime, fortunately, we're able to buy free-range organic eggs from our friend Kim at Wild Goose Gardens just outside of town.