I have decided to keep a small journal of my chicken life and all the other happenings here on the farm.I love my Chickens!
1-22-11/ The Chalky Egg Saga Continues
Today was a fairly ordinary day. I got another chalky egg from my Coturnix hen. I'm not sure which hen is the culprit, but I've gotten about 5 chalky eggs now and I can't figure out why I've been getting them. I've also noticed that these eggs are a darker brown than they normally are. I'm sure the eggs are still fertile and thet they will be just fine to eat, but it is such an eyesore and i have this nagging worry about my hen.
My Sumatra hen, Lauretta laid her first egg in the Nest Box today! I'm sure she's been laying other places, but today was my first egg to collect from her. The egg was very narrow and I was worried that if I incubated the egg I may have proplems with the chick if it developed, so this egg gets to become my lunch for tommorrow's potluck. I'm making a few egg dishes with some of my own eggs. So far Quail, Duck, and Chicken eggs are ont he menu. I mainly want to show off and also make them wonder why some of the Baked Eggs are tiny and some are ginormous.
This morning when I woke up the Quail were crowing as usual and the dove was cooing at the same time. Every time the dove cooed a quail would crow and he would stop short and get a very anoyed look on his face. I couldn't help laughing at him and the little quail in their fight over who was louder. My Sumatra roo tops them all with loud crows. His crow is long and deep throated. Unlike the Serama who has a short and high pitched crow. He's so over dramatic about his crows and Denny, The Sumatra, is just all around dramatic about everything. He even cackles with the hens every time an egg is laid.
1-23-11/ Eggs Have Viens
I candled my eggs. 5/6 doing well. the 1 egg is a porous egg that is developing anyway. I'm rooting for that little Serama egg, but you never know. I also candled a couple of my Button eggs from Florida and Coturnix Quail eggs from my own quail. The ones I candled were mostly developing so all is well I hope. These eggs are due to hatch on the 4th for the Quail and the 7th for the chickens. I can't wait until that day.
That is the first time I've been able to see the inside of the eggs in a few years. I love seeing the little chicks wiggle inside the egg. It is the most amazing thing. It is almost like an ultrasound.
I found another chalky egg. I asked the experts on the Qquail section of the forum and they don't know why it happens, but they assure me that she will be just fine. I got three coturnix eggs yesterday. Two normal ones and a chalky egg. This tells me I have 3 hens in there instead of 2 like I thought originally. Soon it will be time to start selling hatching eggs for the year. I'm not sure anyone will be buying, but It's nice to offer them anyway.
I trimmed Marybell's and Ninja's, My sheep, hooves. It was the 3rd time I've put them on the stanchion. Ninja did well and her feet were fine. It took me a minute to convince her that she could put her head back through once the stanchion is opened and another minute to convinve her to jump down. Marybell's feet were longer than Ninjas and she kept squirming when I trimmed them and laying down int he stanchion. I was a bit worried, so I soaked her feet in Ebsom salt water and washed them out. They seemed to bother less after that. She was walking fine, so I didn't think much more of it. I'll have to check them again Tomorrow.
1-22-11/ The Chalky Egg Saga Continues
Today was a fairly ordinary day. I got another chalky egg from my Coturnix hen. I'm not sure which hen is the culprit, but I've gotten about 5 chalky eggs now and I can't figure out why I've been getting them. I've also noticed that these eggs are a darker brown than they normally are. I'm sure the eggs are still fertile and thet they will be just fine to eat, but it is such an eyesore and i have this nagging worry about my hen.
My Sumatra hen, Lauretta laid her first egg in the Nest Box today! I'm sure she's been laying other places, but today was my first egg to collect from her. The egg was very narrow and I was worried that if I incubated the egg I may have proplems with the chick if it developed, so this egg gets to become my lunch for tommorrow's potluck. I'm making a few egg dishes with some of my own eggs. So far Quail, Duck, and Chicken eggs are ont he menu. I mainly want to show off and also make them wonder why some of the Baked Eggs are tiny and some are ginormous.
This morning when I woke up the Quail were crowing as usual and the dove was cooing at the same time. Every time the dove cooed a quail would crow and he would stop short and get a very anoyed look on his face. I couldn't help laughing at him and the little quail in their fight over who was louder. My Sumatra roo tops them all with loud crows. His crow is long and deep throated. Unlike the Serama who has a short and high pitched crow. He's so over dramatic about his crows and Denny, The Sumatra, is just all around dramatic about everything. He even cackles with the hens every time an egg is laid.
1-23-11/ Eggs Have Viens
I candled my eggs. 5/6 doing well. the 1 egg is a porous egg that is developing anyway. I'm rooting for that little Serama egg, but you never know. I also candled a couple of my Button eggs from Florida and Coturnix Quail eggs from my own quail. The ones I candled were mostly developing so all is well I hope. These eggs are due to hatch on the 4th for the Quail and the 7th for the chickens. I can't wait until that day.
That is the first time I've been able to see the inside of the eggs in a few years. I love seeing the little chicks wiggle inside the egg. It is the most amazing thing. It is almost like an ultrasound.
I found another chalky egg. I asked the experts on the Qquail section of the forum and they don't know why it happens, but they assure me that she will be just fine. I got three coturnix eggs yesterday. Two normal ones and a chalky egg. This tells me I have 3 hens in there instead of 2 like I thought originally. Soon it will be time to start selling hatching eggs for the year. I'm not sure anyone will be buying, but It's nice to offer them anyway.
I trimmed Marybell's and Ninja's, My sheep, hooves. It was the 3rd time I've put them on the stanchion. Ninja did well and her feet were fine. It took me a minute to convince her that she could put her head back through once the stanchion is opened and another minute to convinve her to jump down. Marybell's feet were longer than Ninjas and she kept squirming when I trimmed them and laying down int he stanchion. I was a bit worried, so I soaked her feet in Ebsom salt water and washed them out. They seemed to bother less after that. She was walking fine, so I didn't think much more of it. I'll have to check them again Tomorrow.
