Our chickens have gone on strike (they are moulting) and we aren't getting enough eggs. I have been watching Craig's List for a while now looking for a few young laying hens and this morning before daylight I found a fairly close listing for 6 8-month old Americana chickens, already laying. These are the one who lay what is referred to as Easter eggs. The eggs are various shades of turquoise and light blue and bluegreen. I have always wanted a few of them.....when I responded to the ad, he answered immediately.
He worked a night shift so wanted us to come as early as possible. I had just put biscuits in the oven and scrambled eggs so I told him we would come.....after breakfast. Of course,I hadn't planned to get chickens so needed to winterize the half of the chicken coop for these girls. This meant applying heavy duty plastic to the south and west sides of the wire with batten strips, cleaning the little 6x6 foot area and putting feed and water inside. It probably took me an hour and when DH came to help me move the chickens inside, he was surprised to find these inside the cage we brought them home in. The wet ones are the new girls gifts. I put one of the olders hens in for comparison (on the left side).
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| From Americana Chickens |
I took some pictures of them. I think they are going to settle right in and didn't seem too afraid as I caught each one and passed it to DH to put in the new coop.
Here are all 6 of them. The black one seems the hardest to capture with the camera.
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| From Americana Chickens |
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| From Americana Chickens |
So, I am feeling a little tired, but happy we will soon have fresh eggs again.
I may keep them confined the rest of the winter.
I put on a pot of white beans for our evening meal and lunch will be a 'doctored' up store pizza. I added extras sauce and pepperoni.
Nice hens and eggs. I don't have any but wish I did. Maybe some day.
ReplyDeleteOh, wow, what beauties! I am on my break at work. I don't know if I've mentioned my husband is the audio visual technician of the school I am a special education paraeducator at. I frequently take my break in his office so I can use a computer. I just showed him your post so he could see your latest adventure.
ReplyDeleteHave fun! How do you fix your beans? Do you soak them first? I haven't fixed dried beans for a long time. I've been thinking about trying it again.
Those little whiskers they have on the sides are so cute! And pastel eggs...you're all set for Easter!...:)JP
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new birds! We'll be buying some more layers ourself in the spring since we're down to only six hens now. How many does this put you up to?
ReplyDeleteOh this brings back memories from when I was younger. I had some hens and loved to get the eggs from them :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your sweet comment regarding my Dad also.
Have a wonderful rest of the week!
Hugs,
Laura
I'm glad you lucked out on craigslist. I'm hoping we can get a few chickens if we get to move to the country. I grew up on a farm and there is no comparison between the taste of fresh eggs and those bought in the store.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great addition to your farm. I used to have a friend who lived on a little farm and I remember how tasty his 'Easter-egger' eggs were. Hope the new girls do you proud.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm so happy you got those! That's the kind of chickens I would have if I had chickens.
ReplyDelete...And I've been thinking about it.... But I know nothing about raising chickens. And we'd have to get a chicken house built first. I think the dog would be ok with chickens though if they decided to follow him around he'd probably get afraid to go outside then. Do you have any trouble with the cats when you have chicks?
Craigslist really sucks here because we have to use the Tulsa one. So then we get all kinds of people replying that turn out not to want to make the 50-mile drive. I always put in my ad that we're 50 miles from Tulsa in Bartlesville, but they don't always read that.
You are living my dream Glenda! Would love to have fresh eggs, I could if I just find a farmer and go pick them up...on my list!
ReplyDeleteThose are really a bunch of pretty chickens-can't beat fresh eggs. I knew there were hens that layed those colored eggs but didn't know what the hens looked like!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nice photos.
They're really beautiful, and those eggs are amazing. It must be fun to raise chickens!
ReplyDeleteHey, I hopped over here from Granny's Place and I noticed you want the link to that crochet hat pattern. I had it on my blog, so here you go:
http://www.allfreecrochet.com/Hats/Snowy-Ridges#
I also have the link on my blog, if you want to visit. Just scroll down until you see the picture of the bear wearing a white one!