From Chick to Hen.

When exactly does a chick turn into a hen? At a year of age if of course it's a she. Well the teenage era she is called a pullet. This time is when the hen is capable of laying and is becoming sexually mature. They are filling out adding their adult plumage and generally this is the time when their systems get going as well.

Most chicks start this process somewhere between 18 - 24 weeks of age. At this point a most people have a hard time telling them apart from adult birds.

One of my (not so) little hens Dusty, had a false start at around 20 weeks of age. She laid a single perfect egg. WOW! Small (as most pullet eggs are, but perfect. About a week later she laid another but this time it was very thin. A few days later she laid 2 and both were very soft. Neither of them were in the nest and both were broken. These are sometimes known as rubber eggs. Chickens can be culled (nice word for made stew out of) for continuously laying them. She laid 2 a day for another week and then...not. another. egg. Time passed and I was very concerned about her.

Was she egg bound?  I tried soaking baths, apple cider vinegar, adding extra protein, extra calcium, all sort of things. You see I was not concerned about the eggs. This particular bird is my girls pet. The other birds are egg layers, but this one? Not so much. This one is much more of a pet. She's a lap bird. I wasn't sure just how long she could go without laying again. 1 week went by and all was well. 2 slipped by and this was when I started to worry and the home remedies began. 3 went and that is when I started to think that I should possibly start looking for a replacement. Turns out right now isn't a good time to buy this type of bird (a Brahma) all the hatcheries are sold out!!! But, in my search I also noticed something else. She's not acting sick. After 3 weeks of not laying if she had a problem that was keeping her from laying she should be showing signs of some kind of illness. Upon further inspection I found that a few of her wing feathers had been replaced. Crazy chicken was MOLTING! Pullets (young chickens) aren't supposed to molt like that. But, she's a very heavily feathered bird and it is summer in Florida after all. Who could blame her? 4 weeks. Still no egg.

Then, just as I'd given up seeing an egg until Spring guess what I got? What?! You know the answer to this because I posted about it already! 4 out of the last 5 days I've had 3 eggs in the nest. I'm proud to say that the 5th day the third egg that was missing wasn't Dusty's egg.

How can you tell when a bird is getting ready to lay an egg? There are a few ways to tell, but the easiest way to tell is by looking at the development of the comb, ear lobes and wattle.

This is dusty:

Let me restate that. This is Dusty, NOW. Now that she is actually mature enough to lay regular edible eggs. On a regular basis.

Here she is at 18 weeks of age. Just prior to her false start:

You will notice that she had almost no wattles at all and no real comb. There are no ear lobes present at all. In addition to all those things (since not all chickens have combs or earlobes that stick out) the skin that can be seen is pink. This is a sign of one of 2 things. Either she is sexually immature and not ready to lay eggs or she is ill. We know this little ladies age and breed and can easily distinguish that she is simply young and ill equipped to lay just yet. But, she tried to lay only a few weeks later anyway. No wonder it led to disaster. Here she is 3-4 weeks later when she was laying rubber eggs, right about the time she quit laying:

She has little bitty wattles, some ear lobes and she is starting to grow her comb - but compared to what she has now, only one month later? What a difference. This girl has really stepped into her maturing while she took a little time off. It looks like that false start was a good time for her to rest her system up. Good thing. It's officially Autumn this weekend. That is when most hens start to slack off and since she's just coming into lay she should continue to lay all winter she may have a lazy day here or there but our weather is pretty warm here so I'm betting she'll keep laying 5 or 6 days out of 7.

It's the feathered feet that gave her the name. Can you see them there? I actually give her bathes! She has her own tub and she's the only chicken I bathe. Spoiled I tell you. Spoiled! The other 2 are Campbell (Barred Rock - think about it... Soup is good food!)  and Blondie the Rhode Island Red.

More stories later, but I thought I'd post this here. I can't tell you how many times I've searched and searched for people out there that had stories about their pullets going 4 weeks, or laying 2 rubber eggs a day looking for the outcome and couldn't find anything. So hopefully someone who needs this info will find it and they, too will watch as they figure out that their pullet just wasn't ready yet to lay that first egg.

Maybe it was just 'peer pressure' or group hormones because of the other hens. I mean women cycle together I'd imagine that animals together might as well, no? Possibly. And, if so her body just wasn't ready yet. Good for her to have gone for a mini-molt instead. She looks marvelous and will have a great warm layer to keep her warm for winter. *cough* Well. The nights can get cold and I have no intentions of heating the coop after all they do carry their own down blankets. ;-)

'Till next time!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 9.17.12

This week brought a rather large amount of disappointment for me. I continued to pull the peanut patch. It was all for naught. The peanuts are riddled with nematode damage. Pounds of them - ruined. The chickens are enjoying the heck out of helping, but they are the only ones. :-( I'm nearly done clearing the patch. Too bad I chose the wrong area to plant them. Seems they WOULD have been a good, productive variety after all. *pout*

What I did bring to the table isn't much. But, I'll brag that my 'pet' hen Dusty is finally laying again. I got eggs from her this week! It brought my normal dozen eggs for the week up to 17!

Hers are the lightest colored eggs there. They are also the smallest as she has laid the fewest eggs of all. I'm just so happy that all three hens are finally laying at the same time for once. YIPPEE!

Unfortunately I also had 2 visitors to the coop this week. A feral cat and an opossum.  >:-( I'm not happy. I don't know what, if anything I can do to keep them out. I took away the ladder from the coop. That should keep the opossum out of the coop. I think it only comes after the food. I do know that if it is truly starving it will eat a chicken, but I'm reinforcing the wires under the gate (where it came in at) as well to try to keep it out. The d*mn cat came in from over the fence. Most cats won't actually attack a chicken, but I don't trust that. Not for a nanosecond. This is the THIRD time I've seen this cat come in and that tells me it's only a matter of time until it is brazen enough to try. I just hope it tries during the day when they can defend themselves. If it does that it won't try again if it gets torn up by chicken claws. :-D

 I guess I'll be looking for some sort of way to turn the coop around and then another way to open and close the coop from inside the house in the morning. If anyone has ideas - I'm all ears.

Also harvested 2 more handfuls each of black beans, zipper peas and pink eye purple hulls. A few black eyes thrown in just for fun and a mess of chocolate mint (after drying I still need to take the leaves off here)

The picture is horrible, but my cell will have to do. Once again my memory card was where my camera wasn't. Sorry.

Linking in to Daphne's Dandelions for Harvest Monday! Thanks Daphne for being such a great hostess.

Till next time.

Barbie~

Three hens- three eggs- Who knew?

After months with these hens i finally
Got 3 eggs in one day. Not only one day this week but TWO!!!

Someone please tell me this us finally a trend?!?

Wahoo!

See you tomorrow for Harvest Monday.

Barbie-
Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID

Harvest Monday 9.10.12

Rain. Rain. Go away... You ruined my weekend - AGAIN!

Harvest Monday holds a dozen beautificus eggs.  That's about it. The peanuts that I paid for? Uh- not producing too well. Apparently they are more susceptible to nematodes. Even being interplanted with the marigolds they are falling pray. Severely. That and the excruciating amount of rain we've gotten. It's just too much I think. The beans have all rotted in their pods, on what is left of the vines. They need turning under. But, I'd need a tiller to do what is necessary now. The garden is too far gone. Only the perma-beds need left and cleaned, the rest all need to go.

This stinks. I need to be starting my Fall garden and can't even do that. Booo....2 cucumber plants are ready to bloom any day now and other than that the pesto is ready for making. Not much besides mint and rosemary are gracing my tables. The giant mulberry bush has fallen to some sort of fungus - we are trying desperate measures to save it, but with rain still forthcoming and the dry season still 6 weeks or more away it is not looking good.

So I sit and wait. I got one out of 7 sections of bed cleared this weekend. That's not much of a start, but I'll take what I can get for now. Apparently the heat and rain keeping me out of the garden was bad for me. I have blisters just form that little bit of work. Soft handed so quickly. How shameful. :-(

It's not that I haven't been busy. While the humidity has been at 96% outside -  I've been slaving away inside (when not in Baltimore on business) on a couple rather large projects. I'll be back to share more soon. Must. fetch. camera. I tried to take pictures with my phone and that did not work at all.

'Till next time!

Barbie~

Hen pen redoux

The hen pen is done.
There is still a couple things that need to be done to make it a little bit easier for me to clean the coop, and a little more comfy for the little flock. But the major overhaul is done. They've settled in here for the last 3 weeks and suffered through a tropical storm fairly well. This is actually just after the first storm band passed through.

It is still raining out. Not non-stop. But the sun is not shining, either. So the run is very moist. Not wet mind you. No puddles at all but it's not drying out either. It makes for, well... it's kinda stinky. Not crazy smelly, but there is an odor about. I don't like it. I do pick up their waste. So it's not a matter of sanitation. The coop is cleaned daily, as is the run. Actually the coop smells light, and MMMmmm The smell of fresh cut wood is somewhat intoxicating to me. *swoon* I don't know why. 2x4's or tree limbs it doesn't seem to make a difference it's all good to me. ;-)

Anyway - I need to create a second small shaded area for them to go. Under the coop shouldn't be the only area. I also would like to have a (small) compost pile there in the run for them to dig through when the mood hits them. I need to replace the roost in the coop. They don't like the one in there. I've not once seen them on it. I have the perfect branch, I just need to figure a way to get it in and attach it. One side would be easy enough, but the back side I may have to think about.

At any rate, here is the new and improved hen pen. Tonight we finally will be done tying the gate shut. I'm getting the latch finished. It was supposed to be done before the storm, but I was panicking over getting the chicken wire out from  the overhead lean to's. I didn't want one of them tangled up in it, or it collapsed on top of everything possibly cutting open one of them - a VERY likely scenario. Besides, it's really nice to be able to walk upright in there now. It's so nice not to have to crouch down the whole way through anymore. Now, if I just didn't have to stick my whole body into that little hole to clean the coop...

'Till next time!

Barbie~

Something to ponder....

Something little, something big...

But I do SO love the speckles!

They make my cheeks hurt form smiling.

:-D

I can't wait to get home and see what awaits me today.

'Till next time!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 8.27.12 & Isaac

It's Harvest Monday - I'm linking into Daphne's Dandelions once again to give my update on what's going on in my garden and what has been harvested! Thanks Daphne for always being such a wonderful hostess.

But, first the update on Isaac. For me he's just been a bit of a nuisance. Isaac took out my poor bean patch. My black beans are now none existent. Anyone who knows me knows this breaks my heart. I think it is too late in the season to restart them. (Daphne's seed for one  - I'd have to order this go 'round) and for 2 I need to repair the trellis the stupid storm took out last night. But for the most part this is what Isaac is:

It looks like the dead of night in broad daylight. It's raining, and windy. That's it. I'm glad. But, I think considering the timing I would have rather had it come here than where it is heading instead. :-( Hold on Louisiana!

As for my garden, I got 5 pods of black beans before the dagnabbed trellis came down, I also got a half pound of pink eye purple hulls, a pound of zipper creams (yummmm we had those last night) a few black eyed peas

a half pound of peanuts

AND... 2 small sweet potatoes. I totally forgot to weigh, in all my excitement I just cut those suckers up for sweet potato fries and snarfled! OMG.... I need to let the others grow more these were on the small side - but HOW - how do you leave behind the potatoes that taste like this?!?!?

Nom.Nom.Nom.

Also 'harveseted' 9 eggs.

Check out that range of colors from just my 3 hens. Can't wait till things settle down and I can figure out who is laying what eggs! Someone is laying a speckled egg that is absolutely beautiful. It makes it hard for me to break it. I want to keep them until the next one comes along just to make sure I'll get another that is just as pretty. LOL.

'Till next time!

Barbie~

  



Isaac...

It's still early - 3-4 days early. By Saturday I'll know a lot more. But right now it's looking like my poor garden and the flock will be wet for a little while longer. According to this Isaac has his eyes set on us. If this holds true and the models are right we'll be wet for another 3 days solid.

Leaves me wondering what to do with the poor hens that are just getting settled in their run outside. I'm thinking that along with trying to finish the overhead wire to keep them in the run I will also need to finish the temporary housing that could be used in the garage. It's only 3' square, but when it comes to a hurricane 3' square inside a garage is better than 35' outside - yes? No?

If only I had 3 separate dog carriers. Large ones. That would work better. But, I don't have them so it's useless to ponder the what ifs.  Alternately I could close them up into their coop for the 2 days it will be directly overhead. The coop seems like it should be in a sheltered enough location between 2 houses and against a fence. I could lower the roof and secure it down so that rain doesn't enter from the top. After all they did make it through Tropical Storm Debby just fine.

Tough enough critters.

I'll keep ya posted as the situation changes.

'Till next time.

Barbie~

Henboggled.

Yes, I am henboggled.

This week my lovely little trio went from living quarters like this:

Sweet, but - let us get a closer look...just over 6 ft long.... 39" across? This is no way for 3 hens to live 22 or 23 hours a day. I mean I was letting them out on Saturday's and Sunday's as long as we were home, but - that just did not seem enough. Not in my mind. Could they survive? Sure they could. But, I simply didn't know if they could thrive. If I was going into it KNOWING that they were going to stay in those hours I would have gone for smaller breeds. Ah, but one of these birds is an extremely large bird, indeed. A gentle giant if you please. And I do please. She is my sweetheart and when and if I get that dreaded letter form the HOA I will do everything in my power to keep her and rid myself of the other two.

Oh, I believe I got sidetracked there. Anyhow. This last weekend my itty bitty flock went from their tiny coop to what is now known in my home as 'The Hen Pen' LOL. It's still in transition. We got rained out. Big time - and have every evening since starting the project. So my gals haven't gotten any real attention since getting the new space. Poor critters.

Anyhow, behold the transtion:

They now live in 35' x 4'. It's not much to brag about yet... and it may never be a huge bragging right. But it beats the heck out of barely enough room to pace a cirlce, huh?

The roof remains unfinished for now. Hopefully this weekend the rain will break some and I can get that finished. Those poles are leaning all the way across and are in the way. For now they are holding up the wire, but they need to go. The idea I have is that there will be a furring strip along the wall of the house and the wire will be attached to that via screw eyes and 'S' hooks. For now this temporary solutions has kept the gals safe, but it won't forever. The storms we get will take down the loose wire quickly. I've left the grass long and it's unsightly but I know it will only take a couple weeks before the girls have it mowed down to the right height. The sprinkler heads will be taken out this weekend as well.

That coop needs work, too. We forgot to turn it sideways before moving it in. We actually like it better this way, but can't open it to clean it so the front will have to be restructured. I have no unearthly idea yet just how I'll make that panel a lift off - but I will do it. No doubt about that. I'm thinking about something like putting a door hinge on it and a lock to keep it closed...Then the area that used to be a door needs to be addressed. It now goes all the way to the ground and needs to be cut out. I may need to borrow someones jig saw to open that up. Then I can use that wood to build a new nest box and the entire coop needs to be centered in the back there so that the roof can over hang and protect all the way around.

Weather permitting - of course. *sigh* It's been nice to have so much rain again. Florida hasn't seen a year like this in ages, but it's been hard to get any work done.

As for my gal who lays 2 eggs? So far we are still laying 2, and they are still broken each day. On the ground. But, at least they are no longer at the foot of the ladder. I'm thinking of putting in a ground nest to see if she will try that. Maybe a kitty litter box or some other covered thing out of the way. She's earned herself a new name as well. This name is permanent. Campbell. She flew the coop (literally) a good dozen times while we were trying to get them set up in here and I'll be darned if she ever tried before. Try to give her space and nicer digs and how does she repay me? Hurumph! She'd better stay put in the yard or she will live up to her new name and be soup. She's the loud one after all so I don't know as I'd feel all that bad for it. They aren't supposed to be here, so I can't very well let her antics get me caught. I may seperate her for a day and make sure she's the culprit of the double eggs/soft eggs. If it's true and shes double trouble with the noise and eggs then I'll have to weigh my options soon.

Hopefully I'll be back next week with the scoop on the coop update. That should be easier than this upgrade. Less work, but more frustration. I'll also be looking at ways to solve the old what to do with the chicken poop problem. Well, I know WHAT to do with it. I want to compost it, but inside the coop it's a problem, and until I get enough to take it to the composter.

'Till next time!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 8.20.12

Hey, hey - It's Harvest Monday again! I'm joining in over at Daphne's Dandelions for he weekly  harvest recap. Make sure you stop by her place to see what's being harvested form all over the world!

At my place it's beans, and eggs!

1lb 6oz of Zipper Creams and some Pink Eye Peas as well. 

8 eggs. We got more but my ladies have only been laying for 3 weeks. Seems one of them has a Kink in her system. Sometimes she lays one egg a day. Some times every other day and she lays two. They are soft then, and when she lays them she lays them pretty close together. Maybe just an hour or two apart. She's not laying them in the nest box so they are breaking as soon as she lays them. I can't even use them to turn them into food for the hens. :-( It's sad really.

The barred rock seems the most distressed so I'm thinking it might be her. She will pace up the ladder and them drop down and inevitably that is where we will find the egg broken at. She's also extremely vocal about the whole thing. Maybe with more room in the new run she'll settle down now? Boy I hope so. I'd hate to have to find her a new home.

Anyone with a QUIETER barred rock around here? This one seems to be the only true obstacle in my way of keeping them here in the neighborhood. The other 2 don't seem nearly as keen on squawking and clucking like roosters! Shoot if most hens were as quiet as the other 2 I'd be able to get away with a couple more. :-) But i know better. I'd be happy if this hen would just close her mouth. (Or if someone really would trade for a quiet hen! LOL)

The Flock accompanied me in the garden to get the peas and were right at my side waiting for anything I would turn loose to them. It was nice to have company, but the one time I forgot they were there - sure enough I bonked one of the gals on the head. With a honk and some flapping she settled herself right back under me like it was just par for the course. Kinda like the kids in that aspect I guess? I suppose it takes time getting used to them being right underfoot. Later I had to chase one out of the peanut patch because she was eating the blossoms. Guess I'll have to start looking at the garden a little differently now. Try a chickens eye view.

'Till next time!

Barbie~