Egg count to date...

about four dozen eggs.  I gathered four today.  Here is the egg basket--minus one brown egg I gave to my mother and a white egg I ate for breakfast!

These are the eggs (minus the two I've mentioned) that I have collected since Monday.

Rain sometimes affects the laying, but not today.  I covered part of the run with a vinyl tablecloth to help keep the rain off the girls.  The run was still muddy, but at least the rain wasn't falling on their heads.

I've been experimenting with treats.  So far, they like seedless grapes, cooked oatmeal (I'll cook it for them, but I hate cooked oatmeal!), all kinds of greens, apple bits, bananas, wild bird seed, hot dog buns, lasagna, cornbread, pinto beans, and lentils.  One of the great things about having chickens is that they will eat my leftovers.  But I don't feed them meat of any kind.  I do feed them eggshells, but I wash and dry them, then pulverize them with one of my food choppers.  I don't want them to start eating their eggs.

In addition to layer pellets and treats, they receive grit (for digestion) and oyster shells (for calcium).  I make sure they eat most of their pellets before I give treats, but I give treats two or three times a day.  It gives them something to do--they chase each other all over the run, trying to steal the treats from another hen!

I pulled up a few carrots, cut some collards and bok choy yesterday and threw it all in a pot for soup.  I love being able to walk into the garden and pick up what I need for dinner!

I cut the broccoli because it was beginning to flower.  The weather's been a bit too hot for broccoli.

I have tomato, pumpkin, and herb seeds germinating, so I should be able to get a head start on my spring garden.  Let's hope Punxatawny Phil was wrong about six more weeks of winter--though we really haven't had one yet!

The Chicken Obsession...

At some point, I'm sure I'll write about something else. But, for now, my chickens absorb quite a bit of my time.

I picked up four eggs today.  Since Monday, I've collected 15 eggs, all white.  I've found one broken brown egg, but I think Mrs. Bennet and Lydia, the two non-white hens, are low on the pecking order and are feeling a bit stressed about it.  I hope they'll lay soon, but they are older hens and might be at the end of their laying time.  Still, I'm not willing to slaughter them yet, especially since they are new to me.  They might just need a bit more time, and I'm not in any hurry.  To me, this is a long-term investment.

And what an investment!  I bought a 50-lb bag of feed today, as well as some grit.  Together, these cost me about $20, which I don't consider expensive.  That's about what I spend on cat food, cat litter, and wild bird food. I've also purchased wood shavings for the coop, but a bag of that isn't expensive either.  A bale of wheat straw costs about $4-$5; that's not expensive either.  They eat practically any cooked leftovers, which reduces the waste that goes into my garbage.  I'll also get some great compost for my gardens. And they are fun to watch and to talk to.  They know when they see the "blue bucket" that I'm bringing them some treats.  All in all, it's a mutually beneficial relationship.  And I love the eggs.

I also enjoy watching my cats as they watch the chickens.  It's great "cat TV"!

The hens don't need much prompting going in to the hen house at night, and, as soon as they hear me in the morning, they start making soft clucking noises. I've seen the sunrise every morning since they arrived; I'm usually a late riser.  Plus, I've been going to bed earlier and sleeping better.  Maybe my circadian rhythms are finally resetting.

I'm excited mostly because this is one more step towards self-sufficiency.  Now, if I could just figure out how to get my gardens to grow in 115-degree summers, everything would be great!