egg #2

Not sure if it is Chirpie again or another hen.  I was inside canning Kosher Dill Pickle slices all morning and no one else went out to check and see who was baulking so loud.  But we have a 2nd beautiful little brown egg again today.

We scrambled up the first egg from yesterday this morning.  Visually the egg is smaller than the large eggs I buy at the store.  The yoke was darker, orangey color and very round instead of flattened out on top like a store bought egg.  (I should have gotten a photo, maybe next time) We cooked it plain so we could taste just the egg and it was good.  A mellow flavor and a darker color when scrambled due to the darker yoke.  Although we had not added Oyster shell to the hen's diet the shell was a nice thickness.  Not as thick as the white Eggland's Best shells but thicker than the brown organic eggs I usually get at Costco.

I will pick up Oyster Shell in town this week and use that until we get a good egg production.  Then I will only use the our own egg shells to provide the girls with the extra calcium needed.  Many articles say their girls prefer the egg shells but I want to wait tell we have enough of our own shells since we do not know what the store bought egg history is.

The farm is coming together!  Yesterday I planted mint and peppermint in front of the house.  I am trying to create a tea garden so I can brew my own teas.  Ok that is way off in the future but it is a dream I have.

We have egg production!

Chirpie laid our first egg today!  Chirpie is a Road Island Red and we actually thought she was a he at first.  This morning she was in the coop making all kinds of noise.  I opened the side door by the nests and when see saw me she climbed into one of the nests.  I pet her for a couple minutes then closed the door.  I just went out to see if she was still in the nest and if she was ok and there in the next was a little brown egg!

 

Isn't she beautiful!  Standing next to her is Gogo, we are pretty sure he is a rooster but hasn't crowed yet.

the 4th...added photos

We had a good time for the 4th over here.  We first went to the beach and flew kites and the boys played in the water and Romeo LOVED all the new smells.  Then we brought the 4 legged boys home and picked up KFC and went to the park by the river to watch the fireworks. 

 

 

 

Only bad part was that the fireworks were going off all around us so if you were sitting you missed some of them because you couldn't turn around fast enough.  I still miss watching them from my living room, not going to lie, was nice on cold nights to not leave my house to see them but Aberdeen had as awesome a show as I ever saw in Spokane.  Best part was living out in the country we didn't have to deal with neighbors setting them off!

Shane wants to take the boat up the river next year so we can get a better view of all the fireworks.

Oh and they had the Lady Washington there too.  The town is very sentimental about that ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ok...

so... We lost 2 white babies sometime on Wednesday.  The 2 smallest ones.  We knew the runt was a long shot.  When I checked them yesterday evening one black one was very skinny so I brought him inside and got a couple ccs of formula in him to hopefully get him through the day until Lovie fed the babies again and it worked.  When I checked him this morning he is a big round belly.  This one is the smallest one still alive so he is obviously going to be pushed out by the much larger siblings so I will try to keep an extra eye on him to be sure he is getting a full belly each morning.  So we have 8 babies.  Rosie is due soon too.  hopefully she can do the mommy thing this time. 

On another note Christmas has attitude!  When I try to bet her she makes a new sound and tries to peck me!  She even was sticking her head through the fence to peck me!  Shane thinks she is a male.  In fact he thinks we have 2 males, they better watch their behavior because one will be dinner!  Really hoped to be lucky and end up with 2 girls and a boy, I just hope the 3rd one is a girl.

still have babies!

Lovie has been a wonderful mommy so far?  We checked and all 10 babies were still alive last night.  The runt is so small I worry about her but so far so good.  This is day 4.  We stuffed lots of hay around the nest to keep the babies from wondering around the cage and it has worked wonderful!  I don't want to get too excited because it is still early but keeping my fingers crossed!

Heat wave

So, today was the day I was to go to Spokane for a couple days but as we were getting the animals fed this morning we found 10 baby bunnies in Lovie's cage.  She made a wonderful nest of fur for her babies and all are doing fine.  With that and the fact that Romeo got so car sick last time we took him anyplace we decided it was best I stay here.  I am glad I did.  It is over 80 here and Lovie got way over heated today.  None of the rabbits were moving much except rapid panting.  I took bags of ice out for each cage and spritz their ears with cool water along with adding a tarp over the front to keep all sun from hitting the inside of the cages and having a fan blow across the front of the hatches.  All are moving around more and looking better.

Lovie delivered about 3 days early, I calculated tue or wed.  Here is a photo of all the live babies.  Keeping my fingers crossed!  This is her first litter and this is the longest a first litter have survived for us.  They are small and the runt (small pink one in the upper left corner) is very small.  We will have to wait and see, but Lovie appears to be a good mom!

 

Here is Lovie and her ice pack to keep her cool.

couple new photos

Christmas is the closest in all 3 pics.  Everyone else thinks Christmas is a boy but I still hold out hope that she is a she.  She is still friendly and likes extra love.

 these 2 pics are Gogo.  We are all pretty sure Gogo is a boy.  His comb is much larger and a brighter red then Spot which is the same breed of chicken.  He is always one of the first to come running when I head out to the coop with treats. 

Here is a pic of Romeo but he will not look at the camera.  As soon as he sees the camera come out he turns his head.  I guess this is his good side...