Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Green Eggs and other Chicken Tales

Until now, all of the eggs we have gotten from our chickens have been a beautiful peachy-buff color. Yesterday, we were surprised to find a green egg (which I am sure would be good with ham, Sam-I-am.) We think Lacy might be responsible for this egg. She must have some Aracauna in her - Aracaunas are called the Easter egg chicken because their eggs come in a range of colors from buff to blue to green.
The 100 chicks are growing rapidly. Soon they will be getting to their not-so-cute phase. Cadence is a very conscientious chicken farmer, tending to them many times a day. We haven't lost a single chick yet and they seem to be thriving, thanks to her attentiveness.
Already most of the chicks, which are only 4 days old, have feathers appearing on their stubby wings!


I have been wanting to allow the big chickens go outside, but I don't want them to run around free until I can be certain the dogs won't chase them. I plan to fence in a chicken yard (more to keep dogs out than chickens in) but the arborist will be coming any day now to cut down the gigantic dead maple tree that threatens to demolish our chicken coop if it falls in a big storm. I can't build the chicken yard until the tree is dealt with.
The chickens were looking longingly out the coop windows at the gorgeous afternoon today. So, I pounded in some fence stakes and wired on some plastic netting to create a temporary chicken yard and put all the birds outside. They mostly hung out next to the coop, a bit hesitant and possibly worried about the excited dogs, but they seemed to relish exploring and scratching in the dirt and stretching in the sunshine.

1 comment:

javier suarez said...

esa produccion de huevos va muy bien...lei que si tenias contacto con la gallinas y las acariciabas y les hablabas la produccion aumentaba casi al doble...asi que a consentirlas....un abrazo