Chicken Math. Or "The story of how I didn't want chickens and got hooked"

[azurbanclucker]

Nice! A dozen eggs is a rare sight for us at this time of year...17 Chickens and 3 eggs a day?!?! Come on...

They're laying better than they did all summer. My ceiling is 17 max right now, if everyone did their job on the same day. We're seeing 6-8 a day and based on size and color I think it's 10-11 of them trading off. I can only definitively tell 3 of them, and of those, they all 3 are laying 2 of every 3 days since it started cooling off.

 

[azurbanclucker]

I made a thing.

https://www.facebook.com/sundragonfarms/

Slightly different kinds of updates than you'll see here (because here I can be more candid), but if you'd like to follow along feel free.

 

[Jacquie Button]

The eggs are so pretty, I feel like it would be almost hard to eat them! I have a hard time cracking my quail eggs to inspect them when they don't hatch, I was thinking of making Xmas ornaments...any suggestions as to do that?

 

[azurbanclucker]

The eggs are so pretty, I feel like it would be almost hard to eat them! I have a hard time cracking my quail eggs to inspect them when they don't hatch, I was thinking of making Xmas ornaments...any suggestions as to do that?

For eggs that are still liquid, you can drill a small hole top and bottom and then blow the contents out. If they are noviable embryos, maybe carefully sawing them open? Not sure on that...

 

[Jacquie Button]

For eggs that are still liquid, you can drill a small hole top and bottom and then blow the contents out. If they are noviable embryos, maybe carefully sawing them open? Not sure on that...

Thanks I was looking at a egg blower that I saw on my pet chicken. They are so small but such a pretty color.

 

[azurbanclucker]

Chicken TV this morning, featuring langshans and a splash bresse.

 

[Jacquie Button]

Their feet are so cute!

 

[azurbanclucker]

9 today, and I know I have 2 blue/green girls laying too, so that's 11 out of 17 right now.

I'll take it.

 

[lawson1986]

At this point we ended up losing 2 of our Barred Rocks. A hawk of some kind attacked one of them but didn't get to finish her off because the dogs scared it off. She didn't end up making it. Then the dogs accidentally trampled one while playing and broke her neck. We were bummed, but decided we'd get some hatchlings and replace them. One of our local feed stores sells a lot of heritage and rare breeds, so we stopped in there for a look at what they had.

View attachment 855694 Above: Belle, Blue Langshan

View attachment 855695
Above: Blackie, Black Langshan

View attachment 855702
Above: Fluffy, White Bantam Silkie. Buffy, Buff Bantam Silkie. Fuzzy, Black Bantam Silkie.

At this point, I finally understood how addicting chickens were, and why. It's like having an aquarium in your backyard. Always something going on no matter where you look.

Lol...

A little variety in the zoo. This is the return trip from soak time in my wife's soaking tub. (Shhh, don't tell her).

View attachment 1133234

Can I buy a baby tortoise from you? Can you ship to MD? They are gorgeous and we've been talking about adding a tortoise to our zoo for a long time!

 

[lawson1986]

This story sounds very familiar... Chicken math is totally real. But I'm surprised you don't get more eggs...We have 15 hens currently, and 3 female ducks...I get an egg a day from each... I'm drowning in eggs!!!!