My ladies chillaxin in their run~
My pretty Rhode Island Red. She isn't shy and really likes to see what Im up to.
The girls checkin out their new digs. The nesting boxes are closed off for another 2 weeks and we will open them up closer to the time they lay eggs. It is wise to close them up at night so they don't sleep in their nesting boxes. The goal is to keep our nesting boxes as clean as possible therefore when time comes we'll have cleaner eggs~
We did end up naming all of our hens. Here it goes:
1. Leghorn: Big Bertha, she was the biggest chick than all the others in the very beginning. She is taller and fuller than the other Leghorn.
2. Leghorn: Pearl, she is just cute and petite and a white lil present!
3. Rhode Island Red: Rosie, is our biggest RIR and she is what I call my obese bird. LOL I named her after the comedian and ex talk show host. I do love Rosie so it's all good.
4. Rhode Island Red: Ruby, she is redder than the other 2 RIR and we liked her lil personality.
5. Rhode Island Red: Runt, self explanatory smallest of all the hens and still is petite... we didn't honestly think she would make it b/c of how tiny she was especially compared to her bread. I can tell them apart only when all the RIR are around to compare.
6. Golden Sex Link: Nugget, she is the perfect golden color. We laughed cuz there are golden nuggets like the $$ kind, and the nuggets that are golden that we eat... HAHAHA double funny but she is really the most hilarious bird. She LOVES food and happily awaits me in the mornings to come and feed her. She seems a lil higher on the pecking order and can sometimes be a mean bully which bugs me to watch her peck or steal food from her "friends." She makes the weirdest sounds and they make me giggle... I wonder what she is saying as she "talks" to me every day.
7. Golden Sex Link: Sadie, has a redder colored head and I thought a cute named for a red head was Sadie... she just has a deeper golden color with those hints of red and she is quite pretty.
8. Ameraucana: Diamond, as chicks these hens are SO awesome looking they look a lot like chipmunks. She was named that b/c she had a perfect dark black diamond shape on her head she was my favorite to hold and I was in awe of how pretty of a chic she was.
9. Ameraucana: Dot, she was multi-colored but only had 1 lil tiny black dot on her head. Now almost full grown her dot is gone and filled in with red/golden feathers.
10. Ameraucana: Spots, she had a ton of black spots all over her head, now they have grown a bit so they are more like speckles.
So far my Leghorns are very shy. With lots of coaxing they will come and eat from my hand but it takes awhile to get them over to me.
My Ameraucana's are CRAZY they are really fast hens. Diamond's looks have changed the most and she is just bitchy and ALWAYS has been, she acts like a total diva. They haven't loved to be held and are quite hard for me to catch. Their coloring is amazing and I can spend a long time just looking at their unique coloring.
My Rhode Island Reds have been quite interested in me and why Im there what Im doing and will follow me around the coop. They are curious when I hand feed them and they bite my thumbs a lot... Im wondering if they think Im a lil worm... hahaha
Golden Sex Links are curious and love love love food. They seem impatient and will hop in the bowls and watering trays just to be first to see what Im bringing them and get the goods before all other hens.
This is how I perceive my hens. It may be different for other hen owners. I really love watching and learning about my lil ladies. We don't plan on butchering our egg layers. Next year we are going to be purchasing many meat birds and will slaughter them ourselves. It will be a learning experience to say the least and I likely won't want the meat for days...so off in the freezer and then into the oven. Hopefully that will give me enough time to get over the A-Z process. Im excited to know that my eggs are coming from a great source, my hens are VERY cared for. I raised them from just 2 days old to full grown ladies and I love knowing how they're treated and their exact diets. I never feed them meat or egg shells. I never feed them rotten/spoiled foods either. They are on a great diet of grains and all organic foods we eat, no wasting ever.....we give whatever to them. I find it so funny that they love my boys' left over cereal with milk they get all giddy and it is great to see them happy. My hens are very loved and I hope to be a good "momma" to them as long as possible.
The possible MAX output of eggs is:
Leghorns: 1 white egg a day: (x2 hens)=14 a week
Golden Sex Links: 1 cream egg per day: (2 hens)= 14 a week
Ameraucanas: 1 -3 blue or green eggs a week: (3 hens)=9 a week
Rhode Island Reds: 1 brown egg per day: (3 hens)=21 a week
TOTAL MAXIMUM YIELD OF EGGS A WEEK=58 eggs
This should be quite fun and a great new hobby for me... one that Im LOVING so far. They are my lil pets and they make me happy.
