The birds are building up to being in full lay now, I actually have a couple of dozen eggs in the fridge, the first time this year. (Yes, Mum I'll bring you some tomorrow.) For once supply is keeping up with demand and it feels good.
The lighter and longer days suit chickens and help their little bodies to get back into a natural laying rhythm, not for me the commercial egg producers trick of keeping a light on in the hen-house and making the poor little birds lay day in day out throughout the Winter. Going with nature rather than fighting against it or pushing it to it's boundaries, is what keeps hens happy, healthy and alive for much longer.
The blue eggs are laid by this lovely trio, Ethel, Dolly and Enid who's names were picked by Blog readers in what must have been my most unusual Giveaway ever.
See HERE for what it was :-)
The third blue egg is almost green in colour as you can see from this photo, but I didn't find one when I collected the ones in the top picture yesterday.
And something rather special is going on at the moment, and yes it is always special to me no matter how many times it is re-enacted.
Poppy and Caldwell II seen together in this photo are parents-to-be. Little Poppy laid a clutch of twelve eggs over the course of the last few weeks and started sitting on them a few days ago. Well she laid fourteen actually but I took two of them away as she is only small and for her to try and keep any more than a dozen eggs warm would have been too much of a struggle.
So in a couple of weeks we should have some new little chicks, the first to be born in Wales. Welsh Lavender Pekin Bantam cross Mille Fleurs, and rather magnificently they are due on my birthday which is when I got my first ever Lavender Pekin bantams in 2010 and Poppy along with her sister Daisy are the last two descendants of the original family.
How wonderful is that :-)
Sue xx
Awww I love little chicks, can't wait for the pics xx
ReplyDeletelove your chickens can't wait to see the chicks.
ReplyDeleteMother Nature at her best, chicks are so cute once they have dried out. As a child I often got up to find a hatch drying out in the bottom oven with mum penned in front clucking away in full contented mode. Oh how thw hygiene police would have hated us.
ReplyDeleteI bet they will be lovely little chicks.
ReplyDeleteMy husband wants to know if the hens laying blue eggs always lay blue eggs.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's in a hens genes what colour eggs they will lay.
DeleteEach of my hens lay different eggs, some with only a slight variation, for example the Hylines but most completely different. Some have little speckles on, while their sister of exactly the same breed will lay eggs of a consistent all over colour. The three Skylines that lay the blue eggs each lay a slightly different shade. One pale blue, one darker and one almost green.
It will never change over the lifetime of the hen. The quality of the egg CAN change and that is what tells a chicken keeper that there is something either wrong with the bird or wrong with it's diet.
Hope this helps. xx
We look after someone's bantams and one time one of the eggs had a soft shell. Wonder what caused that? A friend sometimes gives us some of her hens' eggs - they are absolutely delicious. Can't wait to see pics of the chicks! x
ReplyDeleteSometimes it's just not formed properly before it pops out. But a soft shell can also indicate a calcium deficiency, easily rectified by feeding them some calcium rich treats or just some of their own egg shells crushed, baked and mixed in with their food.
DeleteVery exciting news, yes looking forward to photos in time :)
ReplyDeleteShes a valliant liypttle soul if she can cover 12 eggs!
ReplyDeleteLittle soul
DeleteMy cream legbar rhode islands are in full lay but the Sussex is being 'special.'
ReplyDeleteI noticed while we where in the USA many years ago that they only have white eggs. My husband said they're deficient in something. Then I found out (like you said) it's the breed that determines the egg colour.
ReplyDeleteAlthough we are down to 4 hens at the moment, it is still a great thing to have our own eggs, so much nicer, hoping to get a couple of new girls to replace the 2 that died over winter.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful! Can't wait to see them when they arrive, chicks are so sweet and grow so quick it amazing!
ReplyDelete