The Diversity of Eggs

We have four hens, all brown egg layers.  As you probably have noticed they give different shapes and sizes.  Up until now, it has been challenging for me to figure out who was laying which eggs.  Today, I had the special moment of having Donna, our Australorp (the black one) lay her egg basically in my hand.  As we have noted they have been laying not in the nesting boxes of our coop but near the door.  Today when I opened the door Donna was sitting there.  She is often trying to hatch our non-fertile eggs by laying on them.  (She'd make a good momma.) I petted her a bit and she stood up revealing the three eggs under her and then.. she dropped her egg for the day, warm and beautiful!

The eggs of the day: the bottom right is the one from Donna.

 Even though she has been one of our larger birds, Donna often lays the smallest eggs.  They are lovely though.  The one in the picture at the upper left corner, I am pretty sure is from Martha.  She and Donna lay the darkest eggs.  The other two are lighter in color and are from our Reds (Cherry Eggers)... the picture does not capture their lightness (they are both the color of the bottom left).

Another Friend!

So in an earlier post, we shared a little about the other critters that hang out at our house.  Today, I'd like to introduce you to Libby, our latest addition.  She is a Boston Terrier and came to us at 11-weeks-old on January 21, 2013. 

She is a bit of a fireball, all energy... and then crashes to nap... and snore!

Can you say, "Awww..."  Adorable Factor? Over the top!!

JUMBO! -- Biggest Egg Ever!

Well we had quite the surprise when we went out for our second trip to the coop today... a Jumbo egg... 2.75oz! 
Mind you we had not even really had any large eggs.  Many of the largest eggs we had gotten to this point were 1.75oz.  Pretty sure that it was Rosie who laid this 'duck egg.'
 

Patty with the Jumbo egg!

It was so large that it barely fit into the egg carton (see back row)

Comparing it to two of our other eggs from the week.
Jumbo on right.

The jumbo egg in Cindy's hand...nearly stretches across two spaces.

What we found when we cracked open the jumbo egg... a double yolk!

How many eggs?

So, as of today, our lovely ladies have produced 125 eggs since the day after Thanksgiving 2012. They are averaging 3-4 eggs everyday.

Found this little guy at the bottomof the coop ramp.  Think it rolled down.

 

Happy New Year!

Given our "About Us" section... some day we may be able to get the blue print to build a TARDIS chicken coop like these people.  I wish there was a kit.  I can put together a kit.  Not so good with building from scratch.

Happy 2013 from the Magic Castle!!

Christmas Outing!

The girls enjoyed some time out of the coop today... and we had family around for the holidays to be able to enjoy them. 

Enjoying time out of the pens

We even had a chance for our family to hang out with them. 

Josiah pets Martha, who hopped up on the pen right on cue.

Ben ventures forth to pet Martha.  He was concerned she would peck.
None of the girls peck at people, unless they think you have food.

Chasing around the yard.... They don't like the dreaded white towel.

Donna, Amelia and Rosie around our fire pit.

What's a nesting box?

This view shows part of our coop.  The nesting box sticks out on the right side.

This is what it looks like when it is opened.  This was what I saw this afternoon.

Open the little door for inside ... and surprise!

Yep, three beautiful eggs there this afternoon

Why use a nesting box?  :)