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This past spring we let a broody hen sit on a mixed clutch. The rooster was Light Brahma and I chose eggs from Light Brahma and from Easter Eggers. The EE mix hens are coming into lay and I’m amazed by the outcome. The eggs are beautiful so far. One olive and one lighter olive with brown spots...

One of my flock laid this pretty egg today. Not sure what breed, but I thought it was interesting because of the lighter spots. I have several breeds: buff Orpington, Welsummer, gold lace Wyandotte, cinnamon queen, light Brahma, and EE. I can eliminate EE because all six of them lay either pale...

After a horrendous day yesterday of losing our rooster and two hens, along with more than 8 of our neighbor’s flock to roaming dogs, and said dogs being put down, I figured our girls’ first lay wouldn’t happen this week. I figured too much stress would delay them. But this morning, I heard the...

My flock of 25 pullets and one cockerel are 19 weeks old. Some of the girls look about ready to come into lay. They are all generally friendly birds, with the exception of one very aggressive cinnamon queen. It’s as if she identifies as a cockerel. 😂 She takes a defensive stance when I enter the...

Ok. I’m stumped. What breed is this beauty? My order included Welsummer, Cinnamon queen, and EE. Her feathers make me say cinnamon queen, but that comb is throwing me. She’s also a fairly large bird, so not leaning toward EE. Could be the hatchery threw in something random? 😂

My flock consists of 4 week old chicks of the following breeds: “Americana”(EE), Welsummer, cinnamon queen, gold lace Wyandotte, & buff Orpington. I ordered all females, from Hoover’s. This particular one is much more aggressive than all the other chicks, has a longer neck, and very thick...

After butchering our flock last fall and taking a long RV trip, we have started a new flock! Ordered an assortment of 30 females from Hoover’s and received them Feb 24. 10 EE, 5 Buff Orp, 5 Cinnamon queen, 5 Gold Lace Wyandotte, 5 Welsummer. Two Welsummers were DOA and one buff Orpington...

Heading out for an extended trip and butchering our flock over a month’s time. Today we harvested 9 hens about 18 months old. I was amazed at the quality meat and volume of fat. Mix of Jersey giant and EEs. We rendered 20 oz of Schmaltz. Scrambled the un-laid eggs and fed to the remaining flock...

All 17 of our girls produced yesterday! First time ever. 😁

Well, Stewy took a nice hot soak today. I seasoned him generously with salt & pepper and placed him in a Dutch oven with celery, garlic and about 12 oz of white wine, covered, in the oven for 3 hours at 300 degrees (F). 20 minutes with the lid off to crisp up the skin. The flavor was amazing -...

Our 7 month old Jersey Giant cockerel, Stewy, had become quite aggressive to the point that it was not in our best interest to keep him around. So, today we slaughtered him and he’s in the refrigerator, aging. My husband and I both researched various methodology. Having both killed game birds...

Fall has arrived in our area, and I’m fairly intolerant, mainly of the wind. So, this afternoon I put on my big, bulky Carhartt jacket to go change the chicken water. At the time I didn’t understand what was going on, but they went bonkers, two of them even flying into the fence head first, the...

My neighbors used to have a robust flock, well taken care of, beautiful birds. Long story short, the neighbors divorced and once the husband left their flock became neglected and has dwindled down to two. This evening one of her birds wandered over to graze with our girls and when it was...

Our EE’s & Jersey Giants are 5 months old and have been laying few a few weeks now. Not all of them are laying yet, but I am loving the variety of egg colors! We are getting anywhere from 7 to 12 per day so far and sharing with friends & family with the caveat “the first dozen is free”.

So I have 9 Easter Egger pullets & 9 Jersey Giant pullets. The EE’s are very distinguishable as individuals, however, the JG’s are almost identical so I just started calling them “The Marthas”. (Reference: The Handmaid’s Tale)

So, the hubs and I just retired and built a farmhouse on 8 acres. When it came time to build the coop, I wanted it to match the house and the barn/shop. (House/barn pics included for reference.) Fortunately, my husband is a great carpenter, so I knew he could do what I wanted. He managed to...

Our hens are 19 weeks old today and this morning we got our first egg! Based on the color, I’m sure it was one of the Easter Eggers. I expect the Jersey Giants will take another month or two.

Good morning! I've been a long-time reader of the forum for a wide range of topics. I've been meaning to sign up and participate for quite a while now, but getting our first egg today is what finally inspired me to take the leap! I've found such a wealth of information here already and look...