restoring the roost

North Carolina Country Living and Farmhouse Style

North Carolina Country Living and Farmhouse Style
since 2010

Our babies are laying!

· chickens

I came home on Tuesday after a horrific weekend (more on that later) to two, tiny, bite-sized pullet eggs sitting in the corner of the babies’ coop. They are laying!!!!!!

The babies’ eggs compared to Rosemary’s eggs.

Albeit the eggs are miniature, but I’m so happy at least one of my girls, maybe two, are entering maturity. No matter how long you have had chickens, it’s always a thrill when one of your young pullets lays her first egg. These are some recent snapshots of the babies, which have grown incredibly since I last posted about them:

This little girl is super sweet, and she has already been letting Reggie have his way with her. 
these two were purchased from a different breeder, and because their mama hen raised them they are pretty afraid of us (except when treats are involved!) and do no like being handled. 
This little girl likes to continually be under or near my feet. I think she is getting pretty attached 🙂

I completely forgot to post about their ugly, in-between teenage stage of chicken life. Maybe that’s for the best 🙂  I will say that this bunch raised by hand are especially friendly with us, and don’t mind being picked up and petted at all. They run up to me when I come outside and like to jump in my lap when I sit down on their level. Awwwww.

We have decided to continue our herb and spice naming tradition and these girls will be given the names of:

Lavender,
Sage,
Parsley,
Peppermint (“Pepper” for short),
Pennyroyal (“Penny” for short), 
Sassafras

I think I will only need to band a few of them because several are already easy to distinguish from the others. One has a single-comb (recessive gene), one of them has a crooked toe, and one is much darker than the others with grey/black legs instead of yellow legs. All of these traits are defects that will make them unable to be shown. But that’s okay, I still have three others that could make decent show birds if I ever decide to venture into that the world of showing chickens.

hunting for bugs….

I am looking forward to seeing how much larger the eggs get as the girls grow up. When the other pullets start laying, we will be overrun with eggs. Perhaps around 35 a week!!! We plan to eat a lot, bake a lot, and give away a lot. We also have a local food pantry that our church is helping to get up and running to which we will be able to donate our extra fresh eggs.

What do you do with your extra eggs?




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Comments

  1. Our girls started laying about a month ago, and man, we are getting between 6 and 7 eggs/day now. I have been making a lot of fried rice, hash, and fritatas. But, when we have extra, I sell them to people at our church, or friends. It helps with the cost of feed 🙂 And most people are more than willing to take a dozen off your hands!

  2. Our girls started laying about a month ago, and man, we are getting between 6 and 7 eggs/day now. I have been making a lot of fried rice, hash, and fritatas. But, when we have extra, I sell them to people at our church, or friends. It helps with the cost of feed 🙂 And most people are more than willing to take a dozen off your hands!

  3. Our girls started laying about a month ago, and man, we are getting between 6 and 7 eggs/day now. I have been making a lot of fried rice, hash, and fritatas. But, when we have extra, I sell them to people at our church, or friends. It helps with the cost of feed 🙂 And most people are more than willing to take a dozen off your hands!

  4. We are raising ducks {only four} and we have yet to get eggs. I think we have a month or so more to go. But we are excited for that first one! We plan on giving eggs to friends and family…maybe selling some if people actually want to buy duck eggs. {Most people don't even know ducks lay edible eggs…haha…but neither did I until I started researching backyard fowl!)

    Your girls are beautiful!

  5. We are raising ducks {only four} and we have yet to get eggs. I think we have a month or so more to go. But we are excited for that first one! We plan on giving eggs to friends and family…maybe selling some if people actually want to buy duck eggs. {Most people don't even know ducks lay edible eggs…haha…but neither did I until I started researching backyard fowl!)

    Your girls are beautiful!

  6. Great ideas, Heather! I will have to consider selling them cheaply to help with feed cost too.

  7. Great ideas, Heather! I will have to consider selling them cheaply to help with feed cost too.

  8. Great ideas, Heather! I will have to consider selling them cheaply to help with feed cost too.

  9. Thanks, Jennifer! I have heard duck eggs are delicious and very good for you. We would love to get ducks if we had more land and a pond. I hope that first egg come soon for you!

  10. Thanks, Jennifer! I have heard duck eggs are delicious and very good for you. We would love to get ducks if we had more land and a pond. I hope that first egg come soon for you!

  11. Thanks, Jennifer! I have heard duck eggs are delicious and very good for you. We would love to get ducks if we had more land and a pond. I hope that first egg come soon for you!

  12. Oh how fun! We would love to have chickens, but aren't sure we could keep them warm in the winter. I'm jealous!

  13. Oh how fun! We would love to have chickens, but aren't sure we could keep them warm in the winter. I'm jealous!

  14. If you live anywhere in the south then the weather shouldn't be a problem as long as your have a dry coop free of drafts where they can generate enough body heat together to stay warm. Chickens can tolerate pretty cold weather if you have the right breed and be totally fine!

  15. If you live anywhere in the south then the weather shouldn't be a problem as long as your have a dry coop free of drafts where they can generate enough body heat together to stay warm. Chickens can tolerate pretty cold weather if you have the right breed and be totally fine!