Hi! I don't post much here, but I read BYC *all the time*
I got my first chickens last June. My chicken math started that day, when they said I had to buy a minimum of 4. Granted, in hindsight, I would have done that anyways now that I know a bit more about chickens, but already chicken math had started for me. My 2 chickens I'd decided on had already doubled. In August I was at TSC getting some pine shavings, and POOF 5 more chickens just jumped into my basket while my spouse was in the restroom. I did my best cutesy face and paid for my little fluffballs.
Now, they are all laying. Really I didn't even expect them to start laying until March or April because everybody said since I got them so late, it would be too cold & too dark for them to start. Yea...nobody told THEM that. All of a sudden I've got 8-9 eggs every day, and my family isn't quite used to eating eggs that much so suddenly I have surplus.
SOOOO I found a couple "customers" to buy my eggs.
Then we moved. We moved from 0.2 acre to 5 acres in the woods. LOVING IT. BUT I wasn't as prepared as I thought! At the "old place" the chickens just stayed in the yard. When I let them out of the coop they had an open area that was all theirs, and a little fence they could jump to get to the rest of the yard - the fence was there to make sure that there was a dog-free area for the chickens. Regardless, they'd nearly ALWAYS left me eggs in the nesting boxes. So I just figured they'd continue to do that at the new place.
Well let me tell you, when you read that chickens are forest animals, that's no joke. THEY LOVE IT IN THERE! The edge of our wooded area is currently surrounded by wild blackberry brambles, and they just cruise on in through those thorny vines, head to the over sized ferns I have all over the property, scratch out a little dip in the pine needles, and hide their eggs underneath!
So now, it's an egg hunt. Every. Single. Day.
To compound my situation, I only have ONE bird that sings the egg laying song, and she doesn't seem to sing it for herself, but when other chickens are trying to lay. So when I go running in hopes of learning where said egg was laid, Ms. Pink is running back & forth among SEVERAL chickens screaming that egg song.... not an egg to be found!
Yesterday, I saw one of our Sapphire Olive Eggers walking down the driveway like she was going off on a shopping trip. The fact that she was solo caught my interest, as most of my chickens wander with a friend or six. I started to follow her, and she stopped and looked back at me, like..."yes, may I help you?"
So there I was in my own driveway trying to look like I'm not watching a chicken that I'm stalking, looking at trees and plants and talking to the rocks like a crazy person. She dips under a fern. I wait a few, she doesn't come out, so I decide to give her space. About 10 minutes later I head on over, and sure enough, there's TWO eggs under there.
Out of nine chickens, I have found one nest behind the hoop coop 8ft or so into the woods under a huge fern, one off the driveway under a fern, one is laying in the coop but on the floor, not in the nesting box, and I have one French Wheaten Marans who apparently just loves a particular a cardboard box in my garage. I know I've got more laying in the woods, but I can't find them, and I don't know how to train one of my crazy dogs to find eggs!
Welcome to the farm life!
They do have a good coop to sleep in at night, and they always come back home and settle in, so that's good! I am working on a "hoop coop" type of run for them, with plans to build a NICE one in the future. It's covered and has good bedding. I think "Free Ranging" will be changed to "hoop pen ranging with field trips"
Now to figure out what I need in place for goats, because I can't stand all these blackberry bushes.
I got my first chickens last June. My chicken math started that day, when they said I had to buy a minimum of 4. Granted, in hindsight, I would have done that anyways now that I know a bit more about chickens, but already chicken math had started for me. My 2 chickens I'd decided on had already doubled. In August I was at TSC getting some pine shavings, and POOF 5 more chickens just jumped into my basket while my spouse was in the restroom. I did my best cutesy face and paid for my little fluffballs.
Now, they are all laying. Really I didn't even expect them to start laying until March or April because everybody said since I got them so late, it would be too cold & too dark for them to start. Yea...nobody told THEM that. All of a sudden I've got 8-9 eggs every day, and my family isn't quite used to eating eggs that much so suddenly I have surplus.
SOOOO I found a couple "customers" to buy my eggs.
Then we moved. We moved from 0.2 acre to 5 acres in the woods. LOVING IT. BUT I wasn't as prepared as I thought! At the "old place" the chickens just stayed in the yard. When I let them out of the coop they had an open area that was all theirs, and a little fence they could jump to get to the rest of the yard - the fence was there to make sure that there was a dog-free area for the chickens. Regardless, they'd nearly ALWAYS left me eggs in the nesting boxes. So I just figured they'd continue to do that at the new place.
Well let me tell you, when you read that chickens are forest animals, that's no joke. THEY LOVE IT IN THERE! The edge of our wooded area is currently surrounded by wild blackberry brambles, and they just cruise on in through those thorny vines, head to the over sized ferns I have all over the property, scratch out a little dip in the pine needles, and hide their eggs underneath!
So now, it's an egg hunt. Every. Single. Day.
To compound my situation, I only have ONE bird that sings the egg laying song, and she doesn't seem to sing it for herself, but when other chickens are trying to lay. So when I go running in hopes of learning where said egg was laid, Ms. Pink is running back & forth among SEVERAL chickens screaming that egg song.... not an egg to be found!
Yesterday, I saw one of our Sapphire Olive Eggers walking down the driveway like she was going off on a shopping trip. The fact that she was solo caught my interest, as most of my chickens wander with a friend or six. I started to follow her, and she stopped and looked back at me, like..."yes, may I help you?"
So there I was in my own driveway trying to look like I'm not watching a chicken that I'm stalking, looking at trees and plants and talking to the rocks like a crazy person. She dips under a fern. I wait a few, she doesn't come out, so I decide to give her space. About 10 minutes later I head on over, and sure enough, there's TWO eggs under there.
Out of nine chickens, I have found one nest behind the hoop coop 8ft or so into the woods under a huge fern, one off the driveway under a fern, one is laying in the coop but on the floor, not in the nesting box, and I have one French Wheaten Marans who apparently just loves a particular a cardboard box in my garage. I know I've got more laying in the woods, but I can't find them, and I don't know how to train one of my crazy dogs to find eggs!
Welcome to the farm life!
They do have a good coop to sleep in at night, and they always come back home and settle in, so that's good! I am working on a "hoop coop" type of run for them, with plans to build a NICE one in the future. It's covered and has good bedding. I think "Free Ranging" will be changed to "hoop pen ranging with field trips"
Now to figure out what I need in place for goats, because I can't stand all these blackberry bushes.
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so I disguised the nest boxes to look more enticing to my wildings. It's worked pretty well, rarely ever have egg laid in the forest anymore.
