Any one want to join me in waiting for eggs, posting and comparing notes?

[debbie_nibbles]

Good Morning! Great News. I got confirmation that Lemon laid yesterday! When I came home we had two wonderful blue eggs. This means I think I can expect my 10 for 10 day any day now. Her chin feathers have almost all returned as well. So all is good in our chickin hood! Got to run for now all this reading about baking has got me very hungry, I think I see a trip to Dunkin Donuts this morning!

Red

YAY Lemon!!! So happy for you! Glad everythings good!!! Shes a beautiful bird

 

[debbie_nibbles]

Wild Blackberry Cake (This was passed on to me from my Grandma )

Cream together
2 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups room temperature butter (3 cubes)

Add 6 room temperature beaten eggs

then remaining ingrediants:

6 Tbls sour cream
2 tsps baking soda
2 tsps cinnamon
2 tsps all spice
2 3/4 cups flour

Take 2 cups black berries and coat with 1/4 cup flour (this keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the cake) fold into the batter.

Pour into a greased / floured pan. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven 50 mins. Test with toothpick
I frost with a cream cheese frosting

Enjoy!

 

[Melabella]

I'll try the egg shells. I was looking at the Ameracauna breed. I want to get 4 more this spring but haven't decided on breed. I really want a brahma but not sure how well they would do here in the winter so i'm a bit hesitant. Maybe another RIR or a Wyandotte. So many to choose from and I want them ALL...LOL I wouldn't mind trying to raise some meat birds.

Hi kdwag!

The Brahma's are very cold hearty, they'll be fine, they are also a wonderful dual purpose breed as the cockrels,even though they are slower growing than traditional meat birds, grow rather large, are wonderful meat choices. I like the idea of if I ever do decide to try my hand at raising a meat bird, of a slower growing bird, that does well at free ranging that I don't feel the need to get processed by 10-12weeks. Their dispostions sound lovely as well, sounds like a win/win.

I too am doing the day dreaming of breeds for a second small flock. I have put a limit on 20/24 birds as all I can handle due to space and time to devote. I have 10 now, (maybe soon 9 if Duke keeps up his antics!). I am definetely going for more rainbow in my eggs, and thinkig of a FC Maran, andLook at the dark eggs they lay! Certainly some Ameruacana, or EE. Olive eggers

are lovely too. May I suggest you take a look at Coronation Sussex. Another wonderful disposition bird, large, and they lay ex large "pink" eggs. Good dual purpose as well, get rather large. I am lusting for some cream legbars as well. They lay beautiful blue eggs

and are woderful free rangers. I also ADORE my Black Australorps, what classy birds. I love the black with the red combs. Thinking of getting some heritage stock.

What's in everyones Dream Flock? More importantly we should ask ourselves, "what's in your wallet" as some of these chickens are rather pricey! lol

Sorry for all the disjointed pictures!

MB

 

[CatSol]

OH those Coronation Sussex look gorgeous. I would also love some Brahmans... I was thinking of some meat birds as well, But I think I would do the hybrid cross broiler thing. I kind of like the idea of a shorter time they would be here. Less time to get attached to them. Maybe next year... It depends when I could build something... that could be a summer project I would also like some more Marans... I really like some of the other colors that are out there. Like the Black Copper Marans...
Debbie thank for the recipe... I so will try that. Maybe in the summer when I have some home grown black-berries.... wait... I have some. Last year we got so few black berries (very young plants) that we froze them as they got ripe. We have 2 sandwich bags of them.... hmmm. I may have to bake this weekend. Or when I have enough eggs. Meeting some friends this weekend and all my eggs I have saved are going or being used.
Oh and look at my new girls... So cute...


BO

Ameraucana and Buff Orpington



What about the name Buttercup for the BO? That was my mom's idea. I am not sure how the Ameraucan is going to come out but she looks like she has some blue in her... I thinking maybe 'Iris' for her.... Not sure... have to wait till more of their feathers come in... but then she will change color again as she gets older...
I have to laugh here.... my two little RIRs are sitting on my arm as I type this... makes it a little hard to type but is just way to cute...

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

Oh my gosh Catsol, those chicks are adorable! They're so cute when they fall asleep standing up!

My chicks moved out to the big coop today (with the lamp). I'm always so nervous when they move out of the house. I'll probably check on them several times tonight. It's supposed to get REALLY cold tomorrow, and I'm worried, even though they have the lamp and most of their feathers. They're so little!

I've started collecting green eggs yesterday for the hatch-a-long. And of course, today the chickens broke both green eggs in the nesting box. Why chickens why???

 

[ChickenGrit]

I considered the Light Brahmas, but didn't like feathery feet, so I got Light Sussex. I can say from experience that the Sussex have a great personality. The girls are friendly and the boys aren't bad--they are roosters after all. If they were too friendly the wouldn't be doing their job.

 

[Redangler]

With yesterdays production of 8 eggs, the girls hit 250 eggs since they started laying Jan 2. Yeah!!! I hope today is the day we go 10 for 10!

Happy Egg Hunting! Actually I should change this to Happy Egg Collecting! The egg hunting part can sometime not be too much fun!


Red

 

[Melabella]

Thanks Red, and Good Morning to everyone as well,

Got another two inches of snow last night! Urg... I am so ready for this to be done with. The girls and Duke just came out and drank, ate a bit, and ran right up back inside into the coop. I had a 7 egg day yesterday. Looking back, I have only had three 8 egg days so far. I truly think my one BA is not laying yet, never seen her in the nest boxes, or making the infamous trek up and down the plank to the coop. Very small comb and waddles as well. I couple of the eggs are still quite small, where as my RIR, and my red sex links are ex large. I love that the girls return to the coop to lay, even when they are quite far off from the flock, but then that worries me, as they could be an easy target for fox watching from the brush near the woods. I have been gifting some eggs away, and everyone seems to really enjoy them, either that, or they are just placating the crazy chicken woman who moved to the country and now talks to the chickens more than she talks to them!...lol....

Question for everyone. I try to keep my nest boxes as clean as possible. Any tiny evidence of moist hay, or dirty stuff makes me replace it straight away. Try as I might, the eggs still sometimes have some smear on them. I realize the eggs that we all used to buy in the stores have all been washed and cleaned. I try not to do too much to the egg as I have read that removes the bloom and then one has to refrigerate them afterward. DH takes the eggs to work if we gift them, so I want them to remain out on the counter.

How does anyone deal with cleaning eggs? I read on another thread someone keeps a sort of emery board surface and very lightly buffs any stains off. I have been trying to take a lightly damp cloth and wipe it off. I imagine when gathering eggs to incubate, this is very important to have the cleanest eggs possible. I would love to try and hatch some one day. Heck though, if you think about a barnyard broody, she collects eggs, and sits on them, and isn't' worried about smears on her eggs.

It's cold on top of things today, so hard to get motivated to get out there. Yesterday it was 50 degrees, I was actually doing chores with just a shirt on! Only a bit more time....

How's the bird watchin going Brooster? Cat, I love the name Buttercup! So darn jealous of those cute babies!

Have a great day all!

 

[16 paws]

Wow, what beautiful birds 16paws!

They are a stunning pair!

Your pullet Dixie is indeed a light brahma, and a beautiful one she is! I am no expert at all, but as you can see, my pullet Daisy has clean legs, with no feathering on them. Your Dixie has beautiful feathered legs, just as the light Brahmas should have. Below is another picture of some Light Brahma pullets, you can see Dixie looks just like them!

I love her white body,she is truly a pretty bird.


Now on to that handsome cockrel you have next to her. Is he a dark Brahma? He is stunning as well. They look the picture of health! Are they your only birds? How old are they? Looks like they are getting about that time soon enough!

Welcome aboard Marie!
MB

Hi again MB,
Sorry I don't respond back right away. I am a floral designer for Michaels and I have been getting up at 3:30 to be at work by 5am. They have been sending me to other stores near our area to help out some of the other designers so sometimes I am too tired to check the forum.
I want to thank everyone for being so nice to respond to my newbie questions...
Thanks for the nice compliments on my birds, the dark brahma was named Charlotte until we found out that she was a Charlie. We got 3 chicks to start with about 6 months ago, they were about a week old then. One Jersey Giant named Penny, Dixie the Light Brahma and Charlotte the Dark Brahma.Penny and Dixie just started laying for us about a week ago. I just wanted all hens to start with so I took Charlie back to the feed store. Well, after a day and a half of no sleep because I missed Charlie so much I went back to the feed store to try and get him back. Well that started a big ordeal of trying to find out what happened to him. They said he sold to someone about an hour after I left. But when I tried to pin down exactly who sold him I was told different stories by several different employees. One of the workers told me another worker took him but when I asked him about it he denied it. Then I went to the owner and told him what happened he said he would investigate it and call me back, he never did...I think I made a lot of people mad because I was so insist ant about finding him...I am really sad about Charlie, that was mistake, I can only pray he got a good home.
I have learned a lot in six months of having chickens, for one thing I never thought I would become so attached to these little feathery kids of mine....I thought nothing could compete with the love I have for my little Yorkies but chickens are now a big part of our lives here and I have a feeling that this chicken math thing is going to play out here also!
So even before Charlie went back we got 5 more one week olds from the feed store,I know 2 are RIR, 1BO and I am not sure what the others are yet. I am going to take pixs of them today and maybe someone can help me with the gender and breed.
Thanks again to all of you who read this and to everyone who takes the time to respond.
Have a great Saturday all, and may God keep all of our little critters safe and happy.

 

[CatSol]

16 paws... so sorry about charlie. Makes me wonder about that store that you keep getting the run around.
Brooster, I signed up for the bird watch as well. I am so close the to the wash I get some interesting birds out here. I seen some geese flying north this morning. I had seen some the other day... it is amazing to see this.
It is almost 80 degrees here... but that happens when we get Santa Ana Winds. These winds can get very powerful and destructive... Lucky they have not been to bad yet but it is still hard to do anything outside today. I am afraid that it will not help with the bird count.
Glad you are back Red... I hope the hunting trip was good. A friend of mine has moved to Washington... She has promised to take me hunting after she gets settled. I hope in the fall...
Yes, That BO of mine is just too cute... I think Buttercup will have to stick... I think my mom wants more of those....