A Hefty Bakers Dozen

After cleaning six and a half dozen eggs- I only dropped four. (Eggs that is not dozen.) Which is pretty nobel for a clutz like me, considering just this morning I dropped a beer glass from the cabinet on my head, and got a nice egg growing out of it. Oh, the irony.

The gals have stepped up their game in the last couple of weeks. 

For awhile it was getting a little frustrating, having 41 chickens and getting four eggs a day.  Our Amish friends who gave us the hens said they should be ready to lay within a couple weeks- but that was back in August. And in a impatient society all of my own I figured these hens would be as punctual as our little fox.  A couple weeks pass by in August and still no 41 eggs a day. The question marks grew a many around my nogan as each day passed with only four eggs to gather. I have since learned that you cannot rush a lady into laying an egg until she is darn well ready. And a "couple weeks," in the sweet society of the Amish who are sans alarm clocks might actually mean four months. After some researching on this vast innerwebthingy I found that some ways you can tell a hen is ready to lay is by the color of their cheeks, the size of their combs (the little red hat ontop of their head) and the feathers on their butt.  I have spent many a nice fall days comparing my hens butts to one another as they run around the yard. The softer the feathers are on the butt- the less likely they are to lay. The paler the cheeks (on their face this time) the less likely they are to lay. No comb? No eggs. We installed some lights for the ladies as well in their coop. The lights come on at 6 a.m. shut off at 9 a.m. and come back on around 4 p.m. then shut off at 7 p.m. The extra light helps to keep them emotionally well. Being happy hens they are more likely to want to pop eggs out. Chickens are weather friendly animals. Winter time they slow down on their egg laying. Summertime they step up their game. Some of our gals happened to begin their molt phase of life as well too. When the chickens molt (lose their tail, wing and top of their head feathers) they don't lay. Who would want to anyways? If your not feeling yourself, having a bad hair day and are bloated, do you really want to get gussied up and go clubbing? Prob not. Either way- the hens the Amish gave us are beautifully healthy with their feathers all a shine and their red combs growing so large that they flop into their faces. They squawk eagerly when they see me come across the lawn in the morning, and all jump into harmony.  It is a pretty cool sight to see all these hens pop out of the coop just to say good morning......and to get their scratch and feed.

as for the four cracked eggs-- they will be cooked up and fed to our foxy friend. Nothing gets wasted on our farm:)