Saturday, October 9, 2010

Happy Hens

Our beautiful ladies have been rewarding us with eggs finally. Last month (9/23 to be exact) we found our first egg.  It was small, but oh so cute!  We think it was Henny Penny, but it could be Chicken Nugget.  One day last week, I found 4 eggs, yesterday we got 3, and today the girls found 2.  Not sure if it's normal to not have a regular pattern, but whatever.  The eggs are so strong, and hard to crack, but very yummy.  My lovely ladies, which I call them, get very excited when they see me because I give them the goodies that they love.  Twice a day I bring them food scraps, along with some grass and flowers that I pick from our garden.  They are not free range, but have a nice sized pen, so I like to bring them stuff they'd find in our yard if they were free range.  They seem to eat anything with seeds, and they love marigold and carrot greens. Show up with some bread though, and they go beserk!  I love hearing them talk to me when I visit.  They cackle as if to say, "What do you have for us today, is it yummy? Is it BREAD?!".  My girls love finding eggs, you should hear the excitement. I was telling my neighbor that we are finally getting eggs, and she was confused because I don't have a rooster.  She was under the impression that they didn't lay unless there was a rooster around.  I guess she thought we got the hens for the fun of it? We get eggs, but they are not fertilized eggs. So no potential chicks, just eggs.  I heard that hens are happier with a rooster, and so would lay more eggs.  I've also heard that fertilized are healthier.  I don't know, but my hens seem happy to me, and I like the idea of eating an egg that is just an egg...not a pre-chick embryo. 

Oh, and something weird is happening.  I'm starting to like the rooster decor for my kitchen!  I am not a "country type" decorator.

Cluck, cluck- I'll add pics later, as they are on my other computer not my laptop.
Stacie