Lucille is one of the two red sexlink hens who defected from the neighbors' coop. Distinguishable from the remaining two Rhode Island Reds by their blond highlights and oversized brown eggs, they have been our most dependable layers this year.
Gold-laced Wyandotte Tawnie took the first half of the season off, but is back to semi-dependably laying pale beige torpedo eggs.
This Rhodie seems bent on passing as a rooster. We know she is not, but her large comb and developing spurs have fooled more than one visitor. I was calling her "Rhooda" as a nod to her masculinity, but Brian morphed that into "Roosty."
Easter Egger Ebony has become a total freeloader. Even though I see her in a nest box occasionally, she hasn't produced her signature green eggs in months.
What are we going to do with you, Ebony? You're too pretty to go into someone's stew pot!
Last night we put 95 bales of fresh second cutting orchard grass hay in the barn. Rick is bringing home another 60 bales tonight; that's all this grower will likely have for us this year and the other grower we buy from may not have any. It has been a bad year in the valley for growing hay; the single cutting crop got too mature for sheep and horses before it got warm and dry enough to put up, and very few in this area irrigate to get more cuttings. We need another 8-10 tons to feed the horses and sheep until next year's hay season; the horses may have to make do on too-mature stuff so I can save this for the sheep!That's it for now from . . .
8 comments:
Our Easter eggers lay plenty of eggs. We just can't find them half the time. GRRRRR.
I have heard of hens in a rooster-less flock taking over the roll, even up to a kind of crow that slightly resembles a rooster :)
I love seeing your hens. I'm curious, how old are they? I know they lay less as they get older, but I'm not certain when to expect that. Year 2? 3?
Interesting comment from thecrazysheeplady. My Easter eggers are my flyers! They're the only ones who fly out of the field to go lay their eggs anywhere but the hen house!
Leigh, I couldn't remember if the hens are two or three years old, so I just looked through my blog to find out. They were all hatched the spring of 2008, so they are 2 1/2 years old. I am only getting 2-3 eggs a day from eight hens this summer, so am very disappointed they are dropping off production so dramatically at this age. :-(
Hi Michelle,
Lovely hens you have there. They should not be dropping production because of their age. My hens are all seven to ten years old and I still get a few eggs every other day (this summer has been the slowest production ever though--but it's been really hot). It is an odd thing that your easter egger would take off that long of a period. How much daylight are they getting? You might consider adding lighting to the hen house on a timer if you don't have something already. My Grandma used to feed cottage cheese (fresh made, of course) or clotted cream off the milk mixed with pepper in the winter. She swore that the cottage cheese would get them laying again--I think the pepper was to help warm them up :-). I have a huge old black hen that has a large comb, spurs AND she crows (it's pretty sickly sounding though). However she is also the roosters favorite gal..so go figure...
Tammy
Michelle, I have 7, so I'd better plan for something in the future! I'm hoping maybe one of the ladies will grow broody next spring and hatch a batch.
Spurs? Just so long as she has hen manners and not roo attitude!
My chickens slowed down when the heat hit and have been moulting. Out of (18) 9 month - 2 year old hens, we're only getting 6 to 10 eggs a day. We've had a few cooler days here recently, and yesterday it spiked to 12; however, today it's back down to 6. :( At least we're in the eggs, but my family & local buyers are disappointed.
Side note: I ordered several chicks from a hatchery about 7 weeks ago, and they called me last week (this week was supposed to be delivery date) to tell me that half of my order wasn't fertile, due to the heat. We're going to try again in the spring.
Ps. If I lived close by I'd loan you one of our broody hens. We have 3 of them that have taken turns sitting in them all summer. We're rooster-less so it's a bit futile.
Man, Kim, pick up a rooster and get yourself some free chicks! I see them available for free around here frequently. None of my hens has ever been broody, so it wouldn't help me....
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