Randy's Hen House

[Flockincrazy]

My babies

 

[NorseDad]

02/28/2022
Spring cleaning and a birthday gift.

This weekend was my first big clean up in preparation for spring. The hen house litter has gotten tall enough it was time to scrape it all out and put it on my compost pile. Pulled it all out and put some fresh bedding. My Sussex girls are always the first to come inspect. Queen, my darker colored egger is also getting pretty brave. They're getting very comfortable with me.

Mary in particular is the one who will consistently let me touch her. She's always the first in line. I got a good shot of the greens/blues coming through on her feathers. I just think they are so beautiful.

The hardest work was cleaning and re-leveling the floor of the run. As they've grown, the girls have been getting feathers everywhere. The ground has also become very dusty and uneven. I ended up raking everything out, leveling the floor, and then added about 5-600lbs of top soil to fill in gaps and cover the floor. I found some pavers someone was getting rid of, and started lining the outside. Finally, the picnic table, perch, gangplank, and feeders all needed to get hosed down scrubbed.

I think the girls are happy and healthy. The days are getting hot here in Florida. My wife has been obsessing with a new juicer, and I've been freezing the pulp in ice cube trays as a special cold treat.

It's also my birthday on Friday, and in anticipation for the eggs we should be seeing soon, my wife gave me this egg dispenser. It's a pretty cool design she got of Etsy. Can't wait to get my first egg!

 

[NorseDad]

03/14/2022

Rent was finally paid.

I've been eager lately. I know my girls are finally getting to their laying age. Last Thursday was the 20 week mark. Right now, my two eggers and one of the Speckled Sussex are really showing signs of maturity. The one Sussex, Mary, has had some rapid growth to her comb and waddles. They are blazing scarlet. The other two, Winifred and Sarah, are developing, but still very pale. It's harder to tell with the eggers, since they have bushy beards and muffs, but the pea combs are very red.

I've been going out each morning to check and give pep talks to them. Then, Saturday my son and I found Queen, my dark colored egger, hunkered down in the nesting box. Both ceramic eggs were tossed out to the shavings below. Queen is a timid chicken, but she stayed there and tolerated me reaching under and petting her. No egg, though. I checked again later, and it was empty. Queen was running in the yard like normal.

I came out this afternoon during my lunch break, to find a tiny blue/green egg. I was so excited that I yelled for my wife, and she ran barefoot out to see. I was grinning from ear to ear. I'm so proud of my bearded lady. I'm sure eggs are old news to the veterans on here, but I feel so happy knowing all the energy I'm putting in is paying off.

So here's my first egg: a nice pale blue gem from the Queen.

 

[Iluveggers]

03/14/2022

Rent was finally paid.

I've been eager lately. I know my girls are finally getting to their laying age. Last Thursday was the 20 week mark. Right now, my two eggers and one of the Speckled Sussex are really showing signs of maturity. The one Sussex, Mary, has had some rapid growth to her comb and waddles. They are blazing scarlet. The other two, Winifred and Sarah, are developing, but still very pale. It's harder to tell with the eggers, since they have bushy beards and muffs, but the pea combs are very red.

I've been going out each morning to check and give pep talks to them. Then, Saturday my son and I found Queen, my dark colored egger, hunkered down in the nesting box. Both ceramic eggs were tossed out to the shavings below. Queen is a timid chicken, but she stayed there and tolerated me reaching under and petting her. No egg, though. I checked again later, and it was empty. Queen was running in the yard like normal.

View attachment 3024828

I came out this afternoon during my lunch break, to find a tiny blue/green egg. I was so excited that I yelled for my wife, and she ran barefoot out to see. I was grinning from ear to ear. I'm so proud of my bearded lady. I'm sure eggs are old news to the veterans on here, but I feel so happy knowing all the energy I'm putting in is paying off.

View attachment 3024836

So here's my first egg: a nice pale blue gem from the Queen.

It’s a beauty!

 

[NorseDad]

Got two more yesterday. Not sure if Queen laid twice or if my other egger has joined in.

 

[sourland]

Are they all laying now ?

 

[TropicalBabies]