The Dirty Dozen...

That's them - I had a few in there I needed to wash off still, but there's our first dozen eggs from "starting over" - pretty neat ain't it? All of them are brown - I get one very light egg and another darker one each day.

Never knew that raising your own hens could be so freaking entertaining huh? Seriously, seeing eggs from my own yard again has been a true delight each day. I actually run over to feed the pig first - who is growing in a rapid fashion herself on her gallon of milk each day and pig feed - and then I go STRAIGHT to the hens to see what we have haha!

Meet the "Dirty Dozen" - first of many to come this year :)

Chickens - HOURS of fun!

So...this one I HAVE to share! Mr Farmer gets up this morning and goes out to walk the yard with me a bit (he just wanted to stare at his piglet I think) and gets ALL excited!  He is practically running my way, talking about "We got eggs ALREADY???" and you can tell he can't quite believe his eyes...

Well, being COLOR BLIND he should NOT believe his eyes!  I put 3 plastic easter eggs in there with them right? To encourage them to lay in their little hay filled box....2 are pink and one is yellow and they are so bright they are almost neon!  Any color seeing person can tell they are fake...but not him...

I had to walk over and tell him they are plastic...he looked so sad....nope, no eggs yet and probably not for a week or more while they settle in and continue to mature....Already these birds are providing me hours of teasing and joking! Who knew right?

Then of course as I was walking over to the new piggy to get her picture for ya'll and feed her I got stung by a freaking wasp! Same one that got Mr Farmer here yesterday - neither of us had gone on a killing spree yet.  Don't worry loyal viewers - I came in and tossed the wasp spray at Mr Farmer and sent him out on a kamikaze mission to take down all and any flying stingers of useless value (i.e. kill wasps NOT bees).  Mission accomplished, dirty beast is DEAD! But my leg still smarts a little :(

Oh well, I shall have an entertaining day for sure I think!

A farm needs chickens....

Actually, that is mostly my opinion...I'm sure there are plenty of "real farms" out there that are chicken free.  But to me, a farm MUST have at least a few chickens!  Since the great downsizing and reorganizing of things around here, we have been chicken free....and that just will not do! I have missed my poultry a great deal :(

I love to watch them peck and scratch their way through the yard - like when they are hunting and zone in on a specific bug, I LOVE the way they run, and I most especially enjoy "the egg song".  If you have never heard the egg song, well, you just ain't livin'! See, except for a few sneaky hens, when a hen lays an egg she sings and makes noise and you can ALWAYS tell there is a fresh warm egg waiting for you (if you listen enough times you can also tell WHICH hen it was)....I don't know WHY they do this, I just know THAT they do this.  I have asked them why, and no one's talking :(

Anyways, I had been missing the egg song something fierce (and the fresh eggs that come with it) when I stopped in the feed store this week....oh yes, those devils had baby chicks!  I ALMOST did it...almost bought some...but I had soap class and other things to get to that day and no baby chick time....

And let's never mind the CONSTANT specials I get emails about from the nearest hatchery...oh yes, I am on their mailing list and they are VERY tempting themselves! However...I just am not in the mood for TWENTY of anything right now.  That's a lot of chickens, and with the soap stuff taking off, breeding around the corner and possibly starting to show the goats too...well...I just don't have quite that much energy you know....

So THEN I ran into Conroe today, about an hour away, and stopped at the only place even remotely close that carries the minerals I prefer for my goats...and THEY had baby chickens!  Now...while standing there eyeballing my options....here comes the owner (who knows I am the crazy goat lady) and I asked when and if they would be getting any of a few certain breeds in...and GUESS WHAT...no really, guess....

 Meet Eeeny, Meany, and Miny....Moe (when I find one) will be the rooster haha!

Yes, they are barricaded in....this is to teach them where to sleep :)  A farm is only a real farm with chickens you know!

Yup - they have grown (but still young) hens available at a VERY reasonable price! These ladies are about 20 weeks old, JUST starting to lay with a long, productive life ahead of them! I stuck with 3 because it was a nice number - if one should not make it I still have two left thus avoiding a single lonely hen.  If all 3 are just fine after a few days then I am in heaven.  Sometimes the move can be stressful on them...so you cant count eggs before they hatch OR birds before they acclimate to a new place!

For now, they will spend a week or so on lock down in THEN when they know where to sleep and lay and find lunch, I will remove the blockade in the day time...that front piece is set up for easy access for them but NOT for other things (like the goats or pig who would cheerfully eat the chicken feed LOL).

After a long, busy day of running around, and a soap class, I was happy to come home and see them all asleep and doing fine :) And VERY happy because I have chickens again!  What are they you ask?  These are "red stars" which is just another name for a red sex link chicken...layers of brown eggs and much clucking to come!  Now we need just one rooster...I MISS my rooster crowing!  Maybe in a few weeks I will go on a rooster search...until then I am content to have my ladies :)